Jesus of Nazareth is indisputably the most influential person that ever walked the earth. Have you ever asked yourself how this could have happened?
Jesus was born to a poor Jewish peasant couple who lived in a tiny village out in the country in northern Israel. The Roman Empire, whose capital was 1,400 miles away, was reaching the height of its power. The notion that this Jewish peasant child could one day have a deep and lasting effect on the entire world is unlikely in the extreme.
And yet, here we are at Christmas. We gather in buildings erected in his honor. We sing, light candles, and exchange presents to celebrate the birth of a baby born in a stable over 2,000 years ago. How can this be?
Philosophers and theologians throughout history have taken note of the inherent restlessness and longing of the human soul. It is as though we know there is something more, but we do not know what it is or how to get it.
C.S. Lewis, professor of medieval and renaissance literature at both Cambridge and Oxford Universities in England, wrote,
“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
Blaise Pascal, a seventeenth-century mathematician, scientist, and philosopher whose impact puts him among history’s leading scientific figures, wrote this about the “hole” inside of us that seems to be a natural part of the human condition:
“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words, by God himself.”
It is shocking how modern Pascal’s quote from the 1600’s sounds. People have a sense that there is happiness and peace that can be found. They look everywhere and try everything to fill that hole. But the truth is that every person is born with a God-shaped hole that only God can fill in their lives.
Welcome to the celebration of the birth of Jesus! People who knew Jesus personally came to believe that he was the “image of the invisible God and the exact imprint of his being.” Currently, 2.4 billion people (almost one-third of the world’s population) across continents, nations, and cultures find that Jesus fills this “God-shaped hole” in their souls.
Even though our Christmas celebration in the U.S. is wrapped in cultural traditions and infected with materialistic consumerism, there is a deeper truth at play in this holiday. I urge you to be open to the possibility that in some mysterious way, Jesus of Nazareth is the savior of the world and the only one who can fill the natural void in the heart of humankind. And I would love to talk to you about it more! Hit me with a DM.
Merry Christmas to You!