Posted by
Billy on Friday, December 25, 2009 3:22:18 PM
Speaking Monday afternoon to a group of children from the Washington, D.C., Boys
and Girls Club, the president delivered a mini sermon on “why we celebrate
Christmas.” He asked the children if they knew. One piped up and said “The birth
of baby Jesus.”
The president spoke of what Jesus “symbolizes for people all
around the world,” which he said, “is the possibility of peace and people
treating each other with respect.” And then, in the best tradition of a
community organizer, the president said Jesus is about “doing something for
other people.” Even the “three wise men” were invoked to support the president’s
idea of wealth redistribution: “…these guys … have all this money, they’ve got
all this wealth and power, and they took a long trip to a manger just to see a
little baby.”
And what conclusion should be drawn from that journey? The
president told the children, “…it just shows you that because you’re powerful or
you’re wealthy, that’s not what’s important. What’s important is … the kind of
spirit you have.”
To the president, this means the spirit of government taking from
the productive and giving to the nonproductive. To Him, Jesus is a socialist, or
perhaps an early Robin Hood. Any first-year seminarian (if the seminary is a
good one) could destroy this flawed exegesis.
(The above is part of a column Cal Thomas wrote. Read a few more lines from it, below.)
Jesus of Nazareth was not a symbol. Neither was He just a good teacher as some
who do not fully accept His teachings about Himself like to claim. As Paul the
Apostle put it, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst.”
(1Timothy 1:15)
The call of Scripture is to do for other people, as we would like to have done
unto us, but that call is personal, not corporate. That’s because only people
can be compassionate. A government check too often brings dependence and a sense
of entitlement. A personal touch builds relationships horizontally with others
and vertically with God.
What those “wise men” brought were symbols — gold, frankincense
and myrrh. What they symbolized was the grandeur of the baby who would become a
man and who, in the words of John the Baptist, would “take away the sins of the
world.” (John 1:29)
Ponder that this Christmas and every Christmas.
(Amen Cal. Who is Jesus to you? Is he a symbol , some kind of political leader, leader of a faith or is he something personal. This is why followers of Jesus will talk about a relationship with God instead of saying they are religious. Do read the whole column by Cal Thomas Jesus the Socialist.)