What Christmas traditions does your family keep? Growing up, we could open up one Christmas present on Christmas Eve. However, we couldn’t open up just any gift. Mom chose which one we could open and it was always a new pair of pj’s. Mom did this so we would look good in the photos on Christmas morning, sporting our new pajamas. When Christ came, He started a new tradition, one in which He gave to the whole world, and not just the Jewish people.
While still in the Upper Room, after Judas Iscariot left to betray Jesus, He gives His farewell speech, giving comfort to His disciples and giving a new law. In John 13:34 & 35, Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Love one another, even as I have loved you
To love one another, was not a new concept, but to love one another like Christ loves us was new. Christ showed sacrificial love, giving His life so that we may have eternal life. Jesus showed us that we are to put others before ourselves. Love is not just a feeling, it is a commitment, a choice to show kindness, compassion and love for our fellow human beings and God’s earthly creations. Acting in love is not always convenient. We need to give up our own busy schedules and surrender them to the opportunities God gives us to show His love to others.
Putting love first
God gave the ten commandments to Moses and gave laws in the Pentatuch for the Israelites to follow. These were laws that were to be kept that showed the Israelites were different from their neighboring cultures. They were told to put God first, honor one’s parents, don’t do bad things like murder and stealing. The book of Leviticus is loaded with rules about touching someone who is sick or dead, etc. These rules were to guide the Israelites in a monotheistic society that didn’t burn their children for a sacrifice and taught how to live peaceably with neighbors. These were rules for an upright society. Within these rules, it talks about how God loved His people and how they should love Him in return. It also speaks of how we should love our neighbors as ourselves. However, Jesus took the action of love to another level. In His ministry, Jesus teaches that love is way more important than all the rules.
More than going through the motions
The Jews had been taught for thousands of years that all one needed to do to be right with God was to follow the law to the letter. But therein was the problem, no one could follow the law completely. This is why they had to sacrifice animals for their sins. In a way, this was a convenient way to pay for one’s sins, that is, since everyone sinned, sacrificing a goat or a bull now or then for one’s sins was just common practice to cover the sins.
This became common place, so that the Jewish people followed the letter of the law with their actions but not the spirit of the law, which was unconditional love. When Jesus started His ministry on earth, He often argued with the Pharisees and Sadducees, many were often scholars of the Torah. Jesus taught the sacrificial love was more important than keeping the rules. God didn’t give the law to the Jews to burden them, but to protect them and point the way to Jesus – to love. Unfortunately, many leaders got stuck at the rules and missed the whole meaning of the coming of the Messiah.
Let’s take a look in the mirror and make sure we are following the example that Jesus set for us, that of sacrificial love for one another. Join me this Christmas season in celebrating the sacrificial love of Jesus the Christ.
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