When—and How—to Tell Children the Truth about Christmas
(Nothing to Do with You-Know-Who)
a sermon on Luke 2.22-35
by David C. Mauldin
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Mobile, Alabama
The event I am about to describe happened early in 1975. The sanctuary in which
you are now seated was under construction but would not be dedicated for another
six months. I was about three months shy of my fourth birthday. Most of what I
will share with you I was told later, although I remember two things about it.
I remember how it started. I was lying on the floor in my room looking at two
picture Bibles. One of them was called The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. It
is still around today in a new edition. The edition I had featured pictures that
were more like classical paintings than cartoons. I think the stories are the
same. I had that Bible from before I could remember. The other Bible was also a
children’s Bible, but it was for older kids. I had received it as a gift for
Christmas. It featured pictures that were, in some cases, more graphic. I
remember lying there comparing the pictures in the two Bibles. “Hmm … Moses
looks different in this one; same hair and beard though.” “Goliath looks bigger
and meaner in this one.” Who knows why I did it? I just flipped through
comparing the pictures. Then I found something that made me stop—the
crucifixion.
In the Little Eyes Bible, Jesus was sort of suspended in front of the cross. I
seem to recall ropes, but no nails. Certainly no blood. He did not look happy,
but he did not look to be in pain either. I have noticed many children’s Bibles
will show an outline of the cross from a distance or some other perspective to
avoid making the crucifixion scene too graphic. The other Bible, however,
although it was for children, was about as subtle as Mel Gibson’s The Passion of
the Christ. Big nails, lots of blood, Jesus in agony. The women were not
standing idly by with curious expressions on their faces; they were weeping.
Soldiers were in the picture too—mean looking ones.
I ran to find my mother. “Who is this?” I asked her. She had me describe what I
was looking at. My mother is blind, so she couldn’t see it. She realized right
away what I had found. “That is Jesus,” she told me. “BABY JESUS?” I shrieked.
“He wasn’t a baby anymore,” she tried to calm me. “He was grown up. He was a
man.” “Like my Daddy?” I wailed again, not about to be calmed down. The other
thing I remember is running to the front door. I opened it and had my hand on
the latch of the storm door. I wanted to go find Jesus and get him down off the
cross. I couldn’t understand why my mother wasn’t coming to help me. “We’ve got
to get him down!” I pleaded.
She explained that Jesus was down. And that is when she first explained to me
about the cross and resurrection. She had planned to tell me at Easter, but my
discovery meant the truth could not wait. Was I ready for it? Who knows? Did I
understand it? Perhaps not so much. But at least I knew. Jesus died on the
cross. Somehow this was OK because he was supposed to. He did it on purpose. He
did it for us and to show his love. Three days later his Father raised him from
the dead, and he is alive today in heaven and we can pray to him. Christianity
for Preschoolers. We build on those basic truths throughout our lives, but we
never outgrow them.
When … and how … do you teach your children these things? That is the topic of
our sermon this morning. If you are not a parent or your children are grown, you
will not be left out, because this sermon is about what Christmas means to all
of us. Nothing helps you sort through your beliefs like having to answer a
child’s questions. And that is what we are going to do. The truth about
Christmas is that Jesus came to be our Savior. Christmas is a joyful holiday
with lots of happy things associated with it: angels, shepherds, a little baby,
courageous Mary, good news, God-with-us—there is no lack of feel-good truth in
Christmas. But despite all the good news, the birth of our Savior entails at
least two truths that are no so pleasant. One is: If God sent a Savior, we must
need a Savior. If we need a Savior, then not everything is dancing sugarplums
and happiness. Two is: The Savior dies on a cross.
We adults are able to tolerate a little bad news when it is mixed in with lots
of good news. We have been around long enough to know life is not all sugarplums
and holiday loot. That’s not news to us, so anything that acknowledges what we
already know and holds out the hope for something better—well, that sounds good
to us. As for Jesus dying, that is not news to us either. Whether you are a
Christian or not, you know the central belief of Christianity is that Jesus is
the Son of God who gave himself for us on the cross and rose again. Children,
however, do not know everything that we know, either about life or about Jesus.
How … and when … do we tell them the whole truth about Christmas?
Luke does not keep his readers waiting for long. The first couple of chapters of
his gospel are filled with exciting promises and amazing results. Mary sings of
God’s power; Zechariah sings of God’s faithfulness; and now old Simeon sings of
God’s blessing. But he has more to say, something less than comforting.
Mary and Joseph have gone to the Temple to fulfill the rituals prescribed by the
Law of Moses for Mary’s purification and Jesus’ dedication to God. The fact that
they offered doves instead of a lamb reveals the poverty of Jesus’ little
family. Jesus did not grow up with the advantages money offers, but he was
raised in a family that loved and honored God. While Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are
at the Temple, a holy man who loves God and is waiting patiently for God to keep
his promises comes up to them. He tells them his name is Simeon and that God had
promised he would not die until he saw the Savior God was sending. He recognizes
Jesus as the One, and he breaks forth in praise to God. “My eyes have seen your
salvation … a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people
Israel.” Simeon knows something it will take Jesus’ friends a long time to
comprehend—the scope of his mission. Nothing less than the salvation of the
whole world is his destiny.
Simeon is overjoyed. Mary and Joseph are amazed. Then Simeon blesses them, and
he says to Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many
in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of
many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
There it is, the truth about Christmas. This child has a destiny greater … and
more tragic, than anyone had imagined. What could Mary have said to that? This
is one of those little things that Luke tells us she treasured in her heart. I
wonder if, in later years when Jesus was traveling around preaching and arousing
opposition, if she found comfort in these words. Or when he died, if somehow
they helped her. Who knows about such things? But we know what Simeon knew, what
he hinted at because even he did not know everything. We know the whole truth
about Christmas, and we must share it with our little ones as they are able to
understand. Why? Because without the cross, Christmas is not Good News. If Jesus
is not the Savior, why celebrate his birth at all?
How do we teach our children this important truth? I have several suggestions,
which I have numbered to make things easier.
1. Begin with the basics. Teach the story. Get a good children’s Bible—one that
is not too graphic—and read the stories. Around this time of year, tell the
Christmas story. If your children are preschool age, they should be able to tell
the story back to you. Go over it again and again. Children love repetition. Use
a crèche. Let them start with the empty stable. Then Mary and Joseph come. Then
Jesus. Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, the shepherds see an angel, and
soon they come to find Jesus. Tell them about Jesus’ death and resurrection too.
Don’t get gory. Just explain that Jesus died on the cross and God raised him
from the dead. Explain that we celebrate Jesus’ birth because he is the Savior
God promised to send.
2. Start right away. I read Bible stories to my son even though he is too young
to comprehend most of the words or meaning. Let your children hear the words and
stories before they know the meanings. The meaning will come, often growing over
an entire lifetime. I realize that even as a preschooler looking through my
picture Bibles I already had a foundation for what I was seeing.
3. Look for teachable moments and questions. As children begin to discover the
reality of evil—and they will do this at different paces and ways; there is no
set age—be ready to explain to them that God is more powerful and what God has
done. For example, when a grandparent dies, you might ask how the child feels.
Suggest that God feels sad too and that God does not want things to be this way.
God does not want us to die, and that is why God sent Jesus. Remember Christmas,
when God sent Jesus? Well, the reason that is so important is that Jesus is the
Savior. He died and rose again, so that we might have eternal life with God. You
get the idea. Relate your child’s struggles to the Good News about Jesus. It
will help your child to know God gets sad about a lot of the things that make us
sad; but even more, God has done something about it.
Children can learn the gospel in practical ways. For example, they can learn
about forgiveness by forgiving and being forgiven. If they have siblings, they
know all about it. They can learn about justice and what is right by playing.
Suppose one child is playing with a ball, and another child runs up and takes
the ball away. What do you do? In my opinion, an adult should stop the children,
explain why that was wrong and the importance of sharing, make the second child
give the ball back and apologize, make the first child accept the apology and
forgive, then have the children hug and be friends. You can build on that sort
of experience as you explain the cross. “What happens when we do something bad,
but we can’t make it right (by giving back the ball, for instance)? Jesus makes
it right.”
Let understanding grow with your children. Start right where they are and teach
from there. Do not encourage a sense of guilt in a child so that he or she will
have a reason to turn to Jesus. Instead encourage gratitude for what Jesus has
done for us. Give your children a tangible sense of God’s love. Let them know
God’s promises are for them. They will uncover the brokenness of life soon
enough. Teach them, so that when they do understand the bad, they already know
God’s answer. Teach them along the way, using their growing understanding to
explain the Good News.
4. Make Christmas joyful but whole. Christmas is a joyful time, but it is so
precisely because the baby in the manger grows up to be the young man on the
cross.
I suppose you know that Christians have not always celebrated Christmas—or
Easter for that matter. For the first 300 years, Christians celebrated Jesus’
resurrection not once a year but every Sunday. They did not, so far as we know,
celebrate his birth. That changed after the Roman emperor Constantine converted
to Christianity and began unifying his empire under the cross. December 25 was
chosen as the date to celebrate the birth of Jesus. And do you know why? It was
not because anyone thought Jesus was actually born on that day. No one knew the
correct date, but they did know that shepherds around Bethlehem do not stay out
on the hills in the wintertime. It was not Jesus’ birth date but rather the date
chosen to celebrate his birth. And it was chosen because most Christians at the
time had recently been pagans and church leaders could not persuade them to stop
celebrating the festival of the unconquered sun, which took place on … you
guessed it, December 25. It is right around winter solstice. For six months the
days have been getting shorter. The sun, it appears, may be losing its power.
Will the days keep getting shorter and shorter until there is no daylight at
all? No. At winter solstice the tide turns and the days begin getting longer
again. The sun shines on, unconquered. If you are a pagan, that’s as good a
reason as any to celebrate.
Some Christians are uncomfortable with this knowledge, but I kind of like it.
For me, it is another example of how God took something worldly and pagan and
transformed it for his glory. December 25 was baptized in a sense, and became
holy to Christ. I know a lot of people who were at one time pagan at best, but
God changed them too. That’s what God does. Lots of Christmas traditions are
like that. Christmas trees, for example. In fact, one of the few Christmas
symbols indigenous to Christianity is Santa Claus, but to get the truth about
him you’ll have to read my newsletter article this month.
I am going somewhere with all this, and we have arrived. What is the difference
between a Christian Christmas and a pagan Christmas? Most people would probably
say a pagan Christmas has lots of snowmen and elves, trees and mistletoe,
presents and food, but no baby in the manger. I say they are right, but that it
takes one more thing to make Christmas truly Christian. We must have not only
the baby in the manger, we must know who he is. He is the Savior of the world.
This means we need saving, and it meant for him a painful sacrifice to save us.
Now, let me finish by saying how all this is most relevant to everyone here.
Simeon spoke of the falling and rising of many. A cute, cuddy baby arouses no
opposition, but a baby born to save the world does. This is the crisis of
decision. Each of us must decide whether we believe in him or not.
Frederick Buechner is a Presbyterian pastor and writer. He once wrote a series
of monologues in which the innkeeper, a wise man, and a shepherd, tell the story
of the Christmas from a first person perspective. Here is part of what his wise
man says:
So we finally got to the place where the star pointed us. It was night. Very
cold. The Innkeeper showed us the way that we did not need to be shown. A
harebrained, busy man. The odor of the hay was sweet, and the cattle’s breath
came out in little puffs of mist. The man and the woman. Between them the king.
We did not stay long. Only a few minutes as the clock goes, ten thousand,
thousand years. We set our foolish gifts down on the straw and left.
I will tell you two terrible things. What we saw on the face of the newborn
child was death. A fool could have seen it as well. It sat on his head like a
crown … this death that he would die. And we saw, as sure as the earth beneath
our feet, that to stay with him would be to share that death, and that is why we
left—giving only our gifts, withholding the rest.
And now, brothers, I will ask you a terrible question, and God knows I ask it
also of myself. Is the truth beyond all truths, beyond the stars, just this:
that to live without him is the real death, that to die with him is the only
life?”
Amen.
[Quotation from Secrets in the Dark, by Frederick Beuchner, pages 12-13.]