“Mankind is a great, an immense family. This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas.”
Throughout history Christmas had its significance, though history tells us that Christmas as a celebration took its full form towards the later part of history, the essence of Christmas has always remained the same. The time surrounding the 8th Century saw a lot of things happening. There were developments in terms of innovations, religious structures and other areas.
The world saw the rise of other religions and violence broke out in different parts of the world. And there was a great rise in the number of Christian missionaries that went around proclaiming the work of the Lord. Each of them endured a lot of suffering and pain, but they went to extremities to fight for what they believed in. They believed in the one true God, they put their trust in the God whom they believed to be the true Lord and Saviour. Now you may wonder what pushed them? What made them pursue what they believed in? Despite the trouble and the pain that came their way, they still kept on believing the truth and they made sure come what may, they will make sure that the whole world would know the truth they believed in, because that’s what the world needed.
In a time, where people were blinded by evil and lots of wrong beliefs, they took it upon their shoulder as a responsibility to carry the gospel forward and proclaim it to all mankind. What made them do it? What made them leave everything behind and follow a God through toils and trouble? It’s simple, it’s the baby in the manger. The one the heaven proclaimed, the one the angels sang about, the one history had written about. They believe in who the baby was and more importantly what that baby would do for all of mankind. That faith is what led them forward. For them, Christmas was their message. That is what made them forget their life, forget luxury, forget everything else and go around sharing the good news. Because Joy has come to the world, and they made sure the world knows about the joy that came.
It was not about the lights or the decorations or the music, it was about what that baby meant for the world, and what message that baby carried for humanity. That’s what it was all about. Because that baby would grow up and go on to take the sins of the world upon his shoulders. He would redeem humanity back to the creator, and he would restore the lost fellowship of the creation and the creator. Now, that’s what they believed in.
For the 8th Century Christians, Christmas was their message