Give Me Your Sin

Christmas is about salvation. But what is salvation to the one who does not feel the need to be rescued? C. S. Lewis once put it like this: “Christianity has no message for those who do not realize they are sinners.” That’s it. We are sinners, God planned for our salvation, Jesus Christ was born to present the plan to man. The manger, the Babe is swaddling clothes, the shepherds, Joseph, Mary – it is all about salvation. Yes, the meaning of Christmas is Jesus, he is the reason for the season, but the reason why he had to come is sin.

That is a side to Christmas that the world won’t hear, because, quite frankly, they don’t want to hear it. They will gladly extract the appealing parts of Christmas – the decorations, the sweetness, the good cheer, the giving of gifts, etc. – but they have no concept of the deeper meaning and reason of the Christmas event – that the holy God has invaded our world to restore our brokenness of sin. That's a word our world needs to hear.

Jerome, a Roman Catholic scholar, translated the Bible from Greek to Latin. Near the end of his life, Jerome was living near Bethlehem translating some of the Bible when he had a dream. In the dream, the Christ child appeared to him. He was so overwhelmed by the appearance of the Christ child that he felt he had to give Him something. So he got some money and offered it, saying, “Here! This is yours.”

The Christ child said, “I don’t want it.” Jerome brought some more possessions. The Christ child said, “I don’t want them either.” Jerome said, “If there is anything in the world that I can give you, tell me what it is. Tell me! What do you want? What do you want me to give you?”

He said he dreamed that the Christ child looked at him and said this: “Give me your sin! That’s what I came for.”
That is what Christ came for — to take away our sin.
Christmas is about salvation!

Merry Christmas,
Phil