Trinity and Humanity

In many religious circles, the emphasis of the Christmas season is rightly pointed toward Jesus Christ, Humanity’s Greatest Gift and Good News! After all, without Him, there is no season and no us! (Colossians 1 or Acts 17:28!).

However, I have noticed a trend that I don’t like very much or consider to be very Christian. It sometimes immediately follows, and even precedes, our emphasis on Jesus. Maybe you have noticed it too.

That trend is the seeming continual need to emphasize how partying, rushing to buy gifts and putting up all the lights is NOT what the season is about, and if we would all just focus more on Jesus, we would all be much happier (and God would certainly be more pleased, wouldn’t He? Nooooooo!!!)  Overemphasis on that kind of talk is one of my stresses during the holiday season!   Now, I can admit that being overstressed, in debt, and getting so plastered in alcohol that I can’t even remember my own name is NOT the way we were designed to experience our inclusion in Christ! Ha! Hardly! But neither were we designed to sit in our living rooms by the fireplace and think and talk about Jesus 24 hours a Christmas Day! Ha! Hardly! Believe it or not!

Do you see the either/or trap of that thinking?! I think we believers DO want to emphasize Christ on Christmas! But we don’t want to forget that emphasizing Him is understanding that our entire Human life is already included in His shared human life and we can (and should) engage in both activities (Talk more of Jesus and party hearty in our gift giving under the bright lights!!) Ha-Ha! How about that?!

As we point toward Jesus we want to remember that He is human, and that Advent and Christmas are REALLY about Him sharing His full humanity with us!

Jesus is from and thoroughly immersed in THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL Relational Being in the cosmos, that of the Triune God (I John 4:16), and we are only experiencing His relationship with His Father in the Spirit along with him (2 Cor 13:14.) The meaning of Christmas is that Jesus, in His Fully God/Fully humanness, is sharing that exact Godly fellowship with us, RIGHT NOW, and believe me – it is a life of communication, partying, and gift-giving!

There is a Word in God, so we know God communicates within His Relationship! (John 1:1-14!) There is a partying and fellowshiping Spirit in God! (Luke 15 – where every parable ends in a party!). And each distinct Person in God gives Himself away to each other (John 16:12-15!) Yes, giving, partying and rushing to serve others and meet their wants and needs is Triune God’s idea, no other creature or human being made that good stuff up (James 1:17!)

This relational being of Father, Son and Spirit even gives fully of Himself under stress (see Jesus’ entire human life, especially as seen in the book of John, and Philippians 2!) He even wrapped His gift up in something fleshly, FOREVER (Matthew 1:23, Luke 23:36-39, Col 1:19!) I think you get my point! The idea of relating around a party is God’s idea, as well as adding the music, putting lights in the sky, eating and drinking things hot and cold, etc. In Luke 14:15-24 the parable even seems to imply that when you want to do things in your own self-centeredness, instead of joining in on the relational party, you will MISS the party and fun! That seems natural and logical doesn’t it?! How can you enjoy a party you never participate in? Ha-Ha!

Jesus is not some egotist demanding 24/7 worship from us, in the sense we tend to speak of! In Jesus, the totality of our lives is already a 24/7 act of worship! We glorify Him by being truly human, just like a Bluejay glorifies Him by flying around and being a Bluejay!

So, whatever you do this Christmas season, BE MORE HUMAN by sharing in Jesus’ Humanity. It is a humanity SHARED with all of humanity and creation in our Adoption into the life of Triune God (Ephesians 1:3-6). After all, Jesus wasn’t called a “glutton and a drunkard” because he stayed at home worshiping God all day! His life of worship definitely INCLUDED being out and among the “rowdy” crowds as a genuine, down-to-earth, relatable, human being (Luke 7:33-35!)

Go ahead and do both…you know you want to!!

~ Timothy Brassell