IS IT CHRISTMAS YET?

“The reign of God is at hand.” —Matthew 10:7

When the Messiah, the Christ, comes:

• “No more will you weep” (Is 30:19).
• Our prayers will be answered quickly (Is 30:19).
• The Lord will meet our needs (Is 30:20).
• The Lord, our Teacher, will give us practical direction for our lives (Is 30:20-21).
• We will prosper (see Is 30:23ff).
• We will live in a supernatural light (Is 30:26).
• The Lord will bind up our wounds and heal us (Is 30:26).

Partly because these messianic promises do not seem fulfilled, conservative Jews believe that the Messiah, the Christ, has not yet come and therefore the true Christmas has not yet come. Christians believe that these promises and many more have been fulfilled in the Incarnation, death, and Resurrection of God Himself. We Christians admit that the new, abundant life given us by Jesus (Jn 10:10) has not been fully accepted because of our sins. However, this does not mean that the Lord has not fulfilled these messianic promises (see Jos 23:14).

This Christmas, let us repent of sin and receive His messianic promises. Thereby we show that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, and that Christmas is real.

PRAYER: Father, by my total commitment to Christ, make my life a Christmas present to all I meet.
PROMISE: Jesus “said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is good but laborers are scarce. Beg the Harvest-Master to send out laborers to gather His harvest.’ ” –Mt 9:37-38
PRAISE: St. Ambrose was not intimidated by civil authorities. In his disputes with Emperor Auxentius, he declared, “The emperor is in the Church, not above the Church.”