This time of year, there are a great many movies and shows that I love to revisit year after year. Whether you are a fan of Home Alone, The Santa Clause, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol, amongst many, many others, there are just so many to choose from. One that I find myself coming back to, year after year, is a Charlie Brown Christmas. This classic, which was first aired in 1965, has been around for some time, and yet it has a timeless element about it. To delve into the plot in a very brief way- Charlie Brown has a problem. He is entering into the Christmas season, and he feels like there is something wrong at the outset: he is depressed and disappointed in the midst of the season, and just wants to know: what is Christmas all about? He goes on a search in vain, and becomes the director of a Christmas play. He goes out and buys a Christmas tree. Yet, no matter what he does to help answer the problem- he just can’t figure it out. At one point, Charlie Brown cries out in desperation: isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?!
It is Linus that comes up with the answer. It isn’t anything original, but it is striking. Linus, when he pipes up starts to tell Charlie Brown about the Gospel and how it announces the birth of the Savior. He ends this speech having told Charlie Brown all about what Christmas is all about, just by citing to Him the Gospel.
Perhaps even these days, though, we need a Linus in our day and age. We need someone to remind us, in the midst of the trappings of all the other things surrounding the holiday- what are we celebrating?
What is this Christmas business all about anyways?
Throughout the entire season of Advent, we have been hearing from the prophet Isaiah. Whenever it comes to prophecy about the coming of Christ, he is the heavy-hitter amongst others, because it seems that he speaks so eloquently and at some length about the coming of the Christ child. Yet, we should remember the context of the people that he is speaking to. These are the Israelites, but not on the best of days. In fact, they feel that they are on the down and out. They feel abandoned and that God has rejected them. To be clear, this was not without foundation, because they realized that they hadn’t followed the Lord and His commandments. He had adopted them, and they had taken advantage of that simple fact. So, they found themselves living in ways that were contrary to what God had asked of them, and so they were eventually given over to the consequences of their actions. They were living in exile, and so they were in the dark. They found themselves alone, in exile, and in a world of hurt. So, they may have been tempted to think that they would be in this place forever- but it was not to be so
Isaiah comes into the midst of this time of colossal sadness, and while the people might have expected to be chastised (and rightly so). However, that is not what he says. Rather, what he tells is a sort of love story. He tells of light in the darkness. He tells them how they are still chosen. He reminds them- even though there are moments where they have done wrong and not chosen after the Lord. What he says is to encourage them, that even though they are in a moment where they feel despised and rejected by their God- God has not given up on them- and in time they will see this light. That was what he spoke to them so long ago- and while that was what Isaiah was prophesying so long ago- they couldn’t have understood the depths of what the Lord was saying to them. He wasn’t just speaking about restoration in their time, but He had something much larger in His mind- how He was going to make things right yet again, by sending His Son into the world.
When we move into the second reading, we are hearing from Saint Paul, as he speaks in so many ways to the fact that the Lord has appeared to them- and how He has done something so unprecedented. He has taken the form of His creation- something no other God or rumored God has ever done before. He has appeared, and what’s more, He has brought about restoration to a fallen house. As far as David had fallen- even to the point of being a mere stump, the Lord still made good on His promise to make of David a great nation. Though the people were unfaithful, and continuously so for many, many years- God still remained faithful.
Finally, we arrive at the heart of what we celebrate today- the Gospels that announce to us the glad tidings of good news. Today is born a Savior- who is Christ the Lord. This moment is so unlike any other because it is a moment of hope- a hope that has never been seen or heard before! This is the moment when Jesus Christ is born- and it is a sign of hope because the world needs a Savior. It is at this very moment that they begin to realize that this Savior is now here. And the Gospels at each of the Masses bear testimony to this fact- the Lord has come and has given us hope. He has descended through generation after generation- and has planned to save us, and was willing to do all the work necessary to come to us to ensure that we would be saved from ourselves and from our sins. We are told how Jesus’s parents are looking for room during the census at the time- and they cannot find any. They have had to return to their hometown of Bethlehem, emphasizing that point that this is a miracle taking place in the house of David. During this time, that precious moment arrives, when the Christ child is to be born.
We are told how the babe is born in a manger, because there was no room for Him in this cruel world, and yet He came anyways. We hear how the shepherds heard the news from the angels, and they were so curious that they approached the manger, and wanted to see the miracle that had taken place for themselves. They just couldn’t believe the good news, and so they went in haste to see the Christ child, and they find everything as it has been told them. They relate this news to Mary, who ponders everything in her heart, wondering at the miracle of it all.
That is what we celebrate today- but what is this all about? How does it actually change things for the better in our day and age- and not leave us wanting for more? How is this the answer to what this is all about?
Like Charlie Brown, we can find ourselves at times being depressed and disappointed in this life- or perhaps even more acutely in the mystery of Christmas. Why is it such a let down at times? That is so often because we forget the good news- that today- this very day- a Savior is born to us! But what does that mean?
First, it means that we are not captive of sin any longer. Like the Israleites, if we are truly honest with ourselves, we can find ourselves in a place of want- where we realize that we have not done what the Lord has asked. Each of us have those places in our hearts. But, this Christmas mystery still tells us we are beloved! We are told about how we are chosen- that even in the moments when we choose wrongly- we are still given the possibility of new life- and life abundantly in Jesus Christ.
Further, as we recognize the way that we are told about the way that Christ has appeared- it gives us a moment to consider how our Lord is now in our midst today. This is not a vague or generic notion that is only a mere wish, but this is very much factual. This is where we find Him- in our Church, in our parish, in the tabernacle, in the sacraments, and in so many various ways. He is here, especially in the midst of our questions- in the midst of our weakness, and in the midst of our confusion. Even in the midst of our darkness, the Lord still works.
Finally, as we recognize this good news- it is a moment for us to consider- are we receiving this news with great joy? Do we understand what makes this season so “Merry”? Do we understand that we will never find the peace, the joy, and the happiness that our souls desire, outside of our Lord, Jesus Christ? It is only by his power, and by his grace that we will find what we are searching for.
Charlie Brown was on a search. In the midst of the commercialism and the consumerism of his own time, and perhaps even in our own, he was still trying to make sense of it all. Perhaps today we too need to receive that news of great joy- that today is born a savior- and this is truly what the Christmas season is all about.
