For years now, exactly 59 years, I have heard very earnest people ask some very serious questions about Christmas like this:

“What do you think is the reason for the season?”

“What is the true meaning of Christmas?”

“Why do we celebrate this time of year and exchange gifts with one another?”

These questions are often asked in desperate tones of complete sincerity, as if the person who is asking it has stumbled across one of mankind’s most mystifying problems that only brilliant men like Einstein or Aristotle could solve. “Hmmm, that is a great question, I wonder what this hustle and bustle is all about? I have no idea why people sing songs, direct plays, and bring trees in the house to decorate them?”

You will always have that one luminous historical scholar in the group who likes to bring up controversial takes on the pagan roots of the season, trying to shock all the naive Christians so they will eventually abandon their childhood myths. They usually will discourse with a very sophisticated tone holding thier chin up high, clearing their throat, and then saying matter-of-factly, “Did you know Christmas comes primarilly from the winter Yuletide celebration which is derived from winter soltice fertility rites where ancients celebrate the rebirth of the sun as they honor the god Odin. Some will even say this season is derived from Celtic rituals, where they contact the spirits of the dead who will convince the excited worshippers to start frolicking around fire and making merry with sweet libations. Why else do you think people make eggnog? Definately not for the taste!”

Or you will always have the cynical friend that throws in the snarky off-handed comment, “Maybe it is a time to just make stuff up so we have a good excuse to have fun. Kwanzaa anyone?”

Can I be honest about these “very serious “questions concerning the reason for the season? They are all rather silly because everyone already knows the answer to why we celebrate Christmas. Most people just choose to ignore it. You have to be a complete ignoramus not to know why people celebrate Christmas. It reminds me of a classmate I had in the fifth grade at St. Raphael’s school. Everytime we had to hand in arithmetic homework to Sister Joan of Arc he would forget it at home. She would ask him, “Where is your work?” He would reply, “I didn’t know we had homework to do? No one told me.”

She would then look at him with eyes blazing hot, red with fire, and say, “Johnny, get up here and write on the black board 100 times, ‘I will do my math homework, I will do my math homework, I will do my math homework.’”

Johnny knew, and so do you.

I did a google search on the song “O Holy Night” and asked the question, “How many times is O Holy Night sung on the radio during the Christmas season?” Here is the answer I got back:

“There’s no exact number for how many times “O Holy Night” plays yearly, but it’s hundreds, if not thousands, of times on holiday-themed radio stations during December, with different artists’ versions (Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Carrie Underwood, Trans-Siberian Orchestra) dominating airwaves alongside other classics, making it a staple of the season’s extensive rotation.”

Have you ever heard the lyrics of that song? Sure you have, don’t play dumb. And after hearing them, the message of Christmas couldn’t be more clear! In fact many of the lyrics are lifted straight from the Gospel of Luke. Here are some of the words:

• It’s the night of our dear savior’s birth
• Long lay the world in sin and error
• The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger
• Chains shall he break, for our savior is our brother

So what happens when people hear this song and they still ignore the one who sent his Son? How can people not know what is going on? Was it lost in translation? Highly doubtful.

I think what is happening is one of the biggest problems with all of mankind: “Feigned and Willful Ignorance.” People know the reason, they just don’t want to admit it, or submit to him who it celebrates. Every day of life Almighty God has sprinkled clues of his existence in all of reality so the searching heart can find him. He hides just enough to be found by those who care to look. Deuteronomy 4:29 says it like this:

“If you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Isaiah 55:6 says:

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.”

And then Hebrews 4:6-7 even warns about the dangers of willful ignorance:

“Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’”

What would you do if a local gas station was looted by a mob of teenagers and your 15-year-old son was caught on the video camera pilfering a box of Snickers bars and stealing a case of Monster energy drink? Would you act like he was just caught up in the action and it wasn’t his fault for the store being looted? Would you pat your son on the back for getting while the getting was good? Or would you hold your son accountable for stealing stuff that was not his?

Christmas has become a grand looting scheme where people join in the ongoing celebration, they party, spend money out the wazoo, and then act like they have no idea why we make such a big deal of this season. Ignoring the importance of God the Father sending his Son to die so you could live forever is like looting a store. You think you deserve all the benefits without acknowledging the cost.

I think that is why Psalm 14:1 is so adamant in its simplicity:

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”

I have one final argument to prove my point of how people have not excuse for not knowing the reason. It comes from one of the most respected historians in the modern American age, illustrator Charles Schultz. He can’t be any more clear about why we celebrate Christmas in his most famous theological work: “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

He has his one of his characters, Linus, the sweet boy with the security blanket, declaring before the questioning Charlie Brown what the true meaning of Christmas is:

“I guess you were right, Linus. I shouldn’t have picked this 

little tree,” said Charlie Brown. “Everything I do turns into 

a disaster. I guess I don’t really know what Christmas is 

all about. Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas 

is all about?”

“Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about,” 

said Linus. [Linus walks to center stage.] 

“Lights, please.”

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding 

in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them,

and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: 

and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, 

I bring you good tidings of great joy, 

which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour,

which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe

wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the

heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 

good will toward men.“

Any further questions?