For this purpose, the Son of God appeared, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8

With the commercialization of Christmas, it is easy to lose sight of why we celebrate Christmas. Governments in Canada and the US have banned the use of the word Christmas. Some go to the extent of banning government employees from greeting people 'Merry Christmas' when working in government offices.

It is because of this that the 'Holiday' season is reduced to a season of parties, of feeling good, of giving and sharing. It has reduced the celebration of God's love to a shallow season of doing good for no reason at all. There is nothing wrong with doing good. But if this brings us to a legalistic view of our faith, then we are losing the point. It is therefore very refreshing that the Knights of Columbus have a 'Keep Christ in Christmas' initiative.

We should remember then that Christmas is Christmas because of Christ. Christmas is about the Son of God becoming man. It is about the immense love of God to humanity that he sent his Only Begotten Son to be human. Christmas is about the Word of God becoming man to destroy the works of the devil.

This goes beyond us doing good because Christmas is about God himself not only doing good, but totally destroying evil. Christmas does not point to a cute child with cute animals and shepherds. It points to a convicted man dying a shameful and bloody death on the cross to pay for our sins. It is about this same man who rose from his death to enter heaven and is now seated at the right hand of his Father.

This is why we celebrate Christmas. We celebrate Christmas because we celebrate Christ. He is the one whose birth bridged the gap between God and man. His becoming man made God accessible to man.

We celebrate the God who became one like us, “tempted in every way yet without sin”. We celebrate the one who “appeared to take away our sins, and in him there is no sin.” We celebrate Jesus, True God and True Man who now sits at the right hand of the Father and who encourages us to “go with confidence to the throne of grace; that we may obtain mercy and find grace in seasonable aid.”

This is why we celebrate – Jesus has destroyed the works of the devil. We had been set free from the chains of sin. We can now live in the freedom of Christ. We now have the power to say No to sin and evil.

We celebrate our victory in Christ. We celebrate our freedom from sin. We celebrate Jesus.

This Christmas season, let us Put Christ in Christmas. Because without Jesus, there is no meaning to our celebration.