What Would Jesus Do?

Last week I heard a report on the news, saying that people just weren't getting out there and shopping the way retailers would like them to. This dry fact was presented as if it was a mystery.

There is no mystery. We've hit maximum capacity, that's all. They're putting the Christmas stuff up in stores the day the Halloween decorations come down, and from that point all roads lead to Christmas. The ads are blasting out of the TV, the jingles pollute the radio airwaves, and "the buzz" is impossible to ignore. We all know Christmas is coming. The horses have been led to water.

But they can't make us drink. We just don't seem to be buying enough stuff, soon enough, for long enough. The ads work, but only up to a point. We've hit retail maximum. This is all the enthusiasm that we can be cajoled into showing.

Good, I say. It's about time. Maybe it will finally occur to someone that if left to our own devices, we might just figure out the Christmas season, and start to show a little Christmas spirit, all on our own.

It's tough to imagine wise men bringing gifts to a baby born in a stable when you're shopping for Barbies. It's hard to think about a brand-new star in the sky when a six-story TV screen is promoting perfume and lingerie. It's a challenge to feel fellowship with all humankind as you jostle for a parking spot at big box stores. How do you feel grateful when you're frantic? How do you feel humble when you're harried? How do you feel generous when your credit card is maxed?

All the fuss, all the noise, all the hawking of gadgets and gewgaws and bric-a-brac, is enough to turn people off Christmas entirely, and it does. I've heard people of non-Christian backgrounds complain that they feel assaulted by the whole matter. A Jewish friend told me she'd had enough when she had to stand in line at the post office listening to a CD of dogs barking "Jingle Bells." I'm with her. I'm no humbug - I just think the season has gotten all wrapped up in itself. And the irony is that the tacky wrapping paper, the hideous bow, the outlandish size of the whole package is completely at odds with what's really inside it all.

There's a folk tale that says one of the greatest teachers and most enlightened spirits of all time was born in a stable. There's a tradition that he was presented gifts by wise elders who recognized his special importance. There's a set of customs that honours all that by gathering friends and family at the darkest time of the year. It's a time of grattitude and grace. That's what's inside the package, and it's the only thing that matters.

I love it when people ask "what would Jesus do?" I wonder what Jesus would do about Christmas right now? Well, the real Jesus only experienced one Christmas, at most, and that was the first one. Chances are he spent most of it eating and sleeping, enjoying the company of his family and pretty much ignoring the goodies, lovely as they may have been, and all the fuss everyone was making.

That's what Jesus did, as far as we know. That's what I'm gonna do too, if I can. The reason for the season, indeed. Merry Christmas!