|Everything that Christians believe and teach can be found in Luther’s Small Catechism. Luther’s Small Catechism calls everything that Christians believe and teach the ‘six chief parts’. We call the six chief parts ‘Christian doctrine’. Sometimes [and, speaking from experience], ‘Christian doctrine’ can be difficult to understand, out of focus, and creates numerous questions [e.g., ‘Why is this important?’; ‘Why is that important?’]. Everything that we believe and teach as Christians, our doctrine [i.e., ‘Christian doctrine’], comes into focus more clearly at Christmas. Christmas can answer a lot of questions for us.
The Ten Commandments. What is the connection between the Ten Commandments and Christmas? The Ten Commandments epitomize our heavenly Father’s law. We violate His law. Why? – we are sinful. We can never atone for our own sins because we are, in fact, sinful. Only a perfect sacrifice can atone for our sins. Only a sinless sacrifice can atone for our sins. Jesus is the perfect and sinless sacrifice who atoned for our sins. For such a reason, He was born at Christmas.
The Creed. What is the connection between the Creed and Christmas? The Creed merely explicates what Christians believe and teach. It tells the story of the three persons of the Christian Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It is also dominated by the story of Jesus Christ (information about Jesus accounts for most of the lines of text found in the Creed). We, as Christians, know the story of Jesus: what He did, and how He did it. We, as Christians, also know that, what He did, He did it for us. This is the reason why He was born at Christmas.
The Lord’s Prayer. What is the connection between the Lord’s Prayer and Christmas? Jesus was born at Christmas in order to fill three holy offices: Prophet, Priest and King. As the ultimate High Priest, Jesus intercedes for us with our heavenly Father. Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer for such a purpose.
The Sacrament of Holy Baptism. What is the connection between the Sacrament of Holy Baptism and Christmas? Jesus was born at Christmas in order to die. By dying, Jesus performs the final and ultimate sacrifice needed to atone for our sins before our heavenly Father. By dying, Jesus saves us from sin, death and the devil (to paraphrase Luther, in his Small Catechism). When we are baptized, we are baptized into Jesus’ death (to paraphrase Paul, in his letter to the Romans, chapter six). Thus, the connection between Baptism and Christmas. When we are baptized, our sins are forgiven. But, our sins are only forgiven if Jesus dies. For such a reason, He was born at Christmas.
Confession. What is the connection between Confession and Christmas? Our heavenly Father forgives our sins. But, our heavenly Father does not forgive our sins because of what we have done, are doing, or will do in the future. He only forgives our sins because of what Jesus did. When we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness, our heavenly Father forgives our sins on account of Jesus’ suffering and death. This is the reason why Jesus came at Christmas: to suffer and die.
The Sacrament of the Altar. What is the connection between the Sacrament of the Altar and Christmas? Consider the Sacrament of the Altar. – what is it? It is the true body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins (to paraphrase the Communion liturgy from Lutheran Worship). In order for Jesus to give and shed His body and blood for our forgiveness, He must die. In order for Jesus to die, He must be crucified. In order for Jesus to be crucified, He must first be born. For such a reason, He was born at Christmas.
Christian Doctrine is important: so is Christmas. They both come together for us at Christmas. Christmas is a time of celebration. We, as Christians, celebrate the coming of the ‘Christ Child’ at Christmas. But, do we celebrate what the ‘Christ Child’ came to do? – probably not: at least not at Christmas. Perhaps we should. Jesus didn’t come at Christmas just to be born. He came to die. Christian Doctrine, our doctrine, reminds us of this fact.
