Sheep or Goats at Christmas

It’s that time of year. We begin to see lights on houses, trees decorated showing through windows, and seasonal ads and specials all over the television. It’s Christmas season; that time of year where we fight through crowds to buy gifts for our families, light a candle each week in church for Advent, and talk about a “season of giving”.

But does any of that change our lives; our hearts? Recent terrorist attacks in Beirut and Paris have reminded us the world is still a broken, scary place. How do we respond? As followers of Jesus, how do we live out a Spirit of Christmas in a world we fear?

I think back to the story of Christmas. Though His people were disobedient and the world full of sin, God decided to give His Son to us. So He chose a young, unmarried, middle-eastern woman and the man she was betrothed to. He knew that they didn’t have the right situation or status, and He watched as they traveled to Bethlehem and were turned away from any comfortable place to sleep. And there, in a stable, Jesus was born.

I think about the way Jesus treated people. I love the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman and offering her living water. Though He shouldn’t have even been talking to her since He was a Jew and she a Samaritan, Jesus changed her life through their encounter. I remember how Jesus touched the lepers, though he could be contaminated. I think of how He dined with prostitutes and tax collectors; the outcasts of a righteousness-obsessed culture.

Then I think about the way Jesus died. Though He is the Son of God, the Creator of the universe, who is limitless in His power; He chose to allow His own creation to murder Him in the most humiliating and excruciating way possible. For the sake of His children, He allowed Himself to die, and He did so willingly.

Jesus tells of judgment in the book of Matthew. He says,

... ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink?  Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing?  When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

 “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ ...‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ “

This Christmas season, who do we choose to be? Will we be like the sheep, like Jesus Himself lived out His mission on earth? Or will we ignore the hurting, the poor, the refugees, the sick?