Where is Christmas.

Advent 2011 Day 14

Mark 1:1-11
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Christmas? Isn't Advent supposed to be a lead up to Christmas? Where is Christmas in these verses? I'll tell you where. Anything about Jesus is about Christmas in a way. We use Christmas to remember Jesus' birth, but nowhere in the Bible were we told to remember his birth. We are told to remember his death, but Christmas definitely ends up more celebrated than Easter. So Christmas should be a time to remember more than just the birth of Christ.
It would have been so easy for John to say, "Ok, listen, I want some attention. I want to be noticed. I want to be the one who is talked about for more than just being the guy in camel skins who eats bugs." But he turned people's attention away from himself.
We need to know when we celebrate Jesus' birth, that we are not only celebrating his birth. We are celebrating who he would grow up to be.
He's the boy who stayed in the Temple, talking to the priests for a few days while his parents accidentally left him. He's the man who was baptized by John, then was tempted by the devil while he fasted. He's the man who worked miracles. And ultimately, he is the man who died for us, and rose again, and became the saviour of the world. And that should make Christmas even more spectacular for us.