Christmas is a unique time of year.

Traditionally, it’s seen as a season of joy, hope, celebration, and family—a chance for many to unwind and find rest as the year draws to a close.

Yet, for others, the story is different. Christmas can be a lonely and isolating season, marked by fractured relationships, the pain of missing loved ones, or financial pressures that overshadow the festivities. It can feel less like a time of rest and more like a whirlwind of exhaustion and unmet expectations.

For many, Christmas is a complex mix of emotions—hopeful yet heavy, joyful yet sorrowful, warm and welcoming but also marked by loneliness and discouragement. It’s a time that holds both the brightest lights and the deepest shadows, depending on where one stands.

It seems to me that all these emotions are deeply rooted in the true Christmas story—a story far removed from the sanitised, child-friendly version we often share. Yes, Christmas is a time of hope and celebration as we mark the birth of Jesus Christ. But it’s also a season for introspection and solemnity as we reflect on why Jesus came and the profound purpose of His arrival. 

Christians are often accused of being overly focused on sin—and it’s true that we sometimes tend to emphasise sin more than the grace that forgives those sins. But sin, and humanity’s separation from God, are central to the Christmas story.

Without sin, there would be no need for redemption or reconciliation with God. Without sin, there would have been no need for Jesus Christ to come “to save his people” (Matthew 1:21). Without sin, Jesus would not have had to die. At the heart of the Christmas narrative lies a profound hopelessness—a darkness that calls us to pause and reflect.

Jesus | The Hope Of The World

Before there was a baby in a manger, there was a crisis in a garden—a catastrophic severing of humanity’s relationship with God. It was a moment that cast a long shadow of darkness over the world and which set the scene for the arrival, many centuries later, of a Saviour. Jesus came as the light that would pierce the darkness, bringing hope and redemption to a world in desperate need of reconciliation with God.

One of my favourite chapters in the Bible is the opening of the Gospel of John. John begins his account of Jesus Christ’s origins with words that echo the first chapter of Genesis. He reflects on the darkness present in the beginning—a world without form and void—and reveals how light entered that darkness. That light, John tells us, is Jesus, through whom God’s unfailing love and faithfulness has come to humanity. It is through him alone that God has been fully revealed to us.

“Comfort, comfort my people,” the prophet Isaiah would write, “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the LORD has punished her twice over for all her sins.” Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the LORD! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The LORD has spoken!” | Isaiah 40:1-3

It’s Definitely Good News

“Keep it positive,” my daughter urged when I mentioned I was writing about the deeper, darker side of Christmas. “Not everything has to be a negative.” And I do understand her point. Christmas, with its twinkling lights, joyful songs, and festive feasts, is a season meant for happiness and celebration.

Do we really want to turn our thoughts to more solemn, existential realities? Do children really need to understand why Jesus came into the world? Some might say it feels like ‘raining on the parade’ or being a bit of a party pooper during such a joyful season.

But I think the answer should be yes. 

Reflecting on the deeper meaning of Christmas doesn’t take away from the celebration—it adds depth and significance. The joy and festivities are wonderful, but they become even more meaningful when we understand the “why” behind them: Jesus came into the world because of God’s immense love, to bring light into darkness and offer hope and reconciliation. Christmas is definitely good news, but its true significance shines brightest when we understand just how broken things were before it.

For children, this truth doesn’t need to feel heavy or complex. Instead, it can be shared as a simple, hope-filled message—that Jesus is the ultimate gift, given to bring peace, love, and joy to the world. Far from lessening the joy of the season, this understanding can make Christmas even more special.

God-With-Us

Christmas celebrates the gift of grace found in Jesus, a gift that came at a great cost. While the festivities—lights, songs, and feasts—bring joy, they are merely the wrappings around this profound truth: Jesus Christ is the ultimate gift, the hope of the world, fulfilling God’s mission to redeem humanity.

John tells us that the light that was in the beginning, the Word Himself, would step in the very creation He had made in order to save and redeem it. In his human body, the war against sin and death would be waged and won.

His name would be Emmanuel, that is, God-With-Us, and he would save us from our sins.

“What gift of grace is Jesus, my Redeemer,
There is no more for Heaven now to give,
He is my joy, my righteousness, and freedom,
My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace” | City Alight

As we celebrate Christmas, we can embrace both the joy and the meaning of the season. The twinkling lights, festive songs, and shared meals remind us of the happiness this time of year brings. But it’s also an opportunity to reflect on the deeper story—the arrival of Jesus, the true light of the world, who stepped into our darkness to bring grace, redemption, and reconciliation.

At its heart, the Christmas story contains both joy and sorrow, loss and restoration, light and darkness. Christmas is about this extraordinary gift—freely given—and a hope that continues to shine brightly today.

“In the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

 

He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” John 1:1-5, 10-14, NLT”

“Death having gained upon men, and corruption abiding upon them, the human race was perishing, rational man made in God’s image was disappearing and God’s handiwork was in the process of dissolution. Death had a legal hold over us from that time forth and it was impossible to evade the law, since it had been laid down by God because of the transgression. The result was truly absurd and incongruous. For it was absurd that God, having spoken, should prove false. God had ordained that man should die if he disobeyed the command and it would be absurd if he were not to die after having transgressed and God’s word should be broken. For God would not be true if man did not die, after He had said we should die.

Again, it is incongruous that creatures who were created rational and had partaken of the Word should be ruined and returned to non-existence through corruption. For it is not worthy of God’s goodness that the things He had made should waste away because the devil deceived men….

…The Word perceived that human corruption would not be undone except by fulfilling the necessary condition of death, but he was unable to suffer death, being immortal and the Son of the Father. So he took to himself a body which was capable of death so that it might be worthy to die in the place of everyone, through partaking of the Word who is above all, and remain incorruptible because of the Word dwelling in it. Thus corruption might be stayed from all by the grace of the resurrection. He offered the body he had taken unto death, as a spotless offering and sacrifice and thus put away death from all his fellows by the offering of an equivalent.

No one else but the Saviour himself, who in the beginning made everything out of nothing, could bring the corrupted to incorruption; no one else but the image of the Father could recreate men in God’s image; no one else but our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Life itself, could make the mortal immortal; no one else but the Word, who orders everything and is alone the true and only-begotten Son of the Father, could teach men about the Father and destroy idolatry.

Since the debt owed by all men had to be paid (for all men had to die), he came among us. After he had demonstrated his deity by his works, he offered his sacrifice on behalf of all and surrendered his temple (body) to death in the place of all. He did this to free men from the guilt of the first sin and to prove himself more powerful than death, displaying his own body incorruptible, as a first fruit of the resurrection of all.

Two miracles happened at once: the death of all men was accomplished in the Lord’s body, and death and corruption were destroyed because of the Word who was united with it. For there was need of death, and death must needs be suffered on behalf of all, that the debt owed by all might be paid. The Word was unable to die, being immortal, so he took to himself a mortal body in order to offer it as his own on behalf of all and in order, by suffering on behalf of all through his union with it, to ‘destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were enslaved by their fear of death.’ (Hebrews 2:14-15).

By death, immortality has reached all and by the Word becoming man the universal providence and its creator and leader, the very Word of God, has been made known. For he became human that we might become divine; he revealed himself in a body that we might understand the unseen Father; he endured human insults that we might inherit immortality.”

– The Incarnation Of The Word, Athanansius (c 296-298AD – 373AD)

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Ephesians 3:9, Colossians 1:15-16, Colossians 2:9, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Philippians 2:5-7, 1 John 4:2, Hebrews 1:3, John 1:18, John 8:12-30, Revelation 3:14, Revelation 1:8; 21:6, 22:13