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Resurrection-Shaped Stories from the Emmaus Road.

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Countdown to Christmas: Re-Imagining the Celebration, 6 of 7




Part 6 of 7: Christmas, Easter, and the Usual Suspects.




Have you ever seen the movie The Usual Suspects? Remember how at the end, after we discover that Verbal was, in fact, Kaiser Soze, we get a series of snapshot-flashbacks of the various points in the narrative that suddenly make sense based on that startling revelation? You remember that feeling of “ah-hah!” you got right there at the end. I don’t know about you, but I went back and watched the story again after my newfound revelation. In fact, I’ve watched the movie about six or seven times, all told.


I think Christmas is kind of like that. It comes from, and only in light of, the perspective of people who already know the secret of the shocking climax, who have reflected and lived for many years in light of it, and who then retell the story in light of that revelation. And the shocking climax, of course, is that the baby born on that day, a birth that caused quite a stir, would go on to be bodily raised from the dead, thereby inaugurating the Kingdom of God, an event that caused a bit of a larger stir, to say the least.

In other words, we would not have Christmas without Easter. Actually, without Easter, Jesus would be nothing more than a curious historical footnote, another in a long list of failed would-be messiahs during the few centuries before and after him. Christmas only becomes significant inasmuch as we are privy to the final revelation of the saga of the child whose birthday we celebrate, and the conclusion is this.

He is risen.

It's sadly noteworthy, though, how Christmas has become the focal point in our world today, and Easter has been relegated to a second-rate holiday. I assure you, this was not the case with the earliest Christian communities, though it is even so for the Church today.

Let's never forget, especially this time of year, that we are resurrection people. Yes, let us celebrate the birth of the man who would go on to make us resurrection people, but let's keep things in proper perspective.

You won't find too many Easter sermon/lecture posts/links out there this time of year. So let me offer one, one that may help put Christmas in proper perspective.



Grace and Peace,
Raffi



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3 Comments:

  1. The Seeking Disciple said...
     

    I fully agree that we miss the point of Christmas unless we first understand the resurrection. I can remember my first Christmas as a new Christian and how wonderful it was to me to know that this Baby is not dead but alive and that He died for me.

    Good post.

  2. Anonymous said...
     

    Amen and amen!

    Great post - it is so true that the birth is really a moot point without the resurrection. One of the problems with Christmas is that people often get to leave Jesus a little baby in their minds.

    I picked up my old Student Life Application Bible recently, and at the Christmas story it had some of the same things there, about letting Christ grow up in your own mind and heart.

    Thanks for the encouraging words... I'm looking forward to getting to read the rest of your posts on Christmas

  3. Raffi Shahinian said...
     

    Thanks for the encouraging words, Luke. And thank you for sharing the concept of "letting Christ grow up your own mind and heart." I had never thought of it that way, but it seems the exactly appropriate way to view Christmas on a personal level.

    Grace and Peace,
    Raffi

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Parables of a Prodigal World by Raffi Shahinian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.