Jesus is not a baby anymore! This word is not to downplay Christmas and the eternal salvific importance of the incarnation, God becoming flesh and dwelling among us, but to highlight the fact that Jesus is not just a historical figure of the past who remained in a perpetual state of infancy to be statically celebrated over and over again, but instead grew up as also human into a mature adult man and who became the source of eternal life through His death and resurrection, who ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father forever and ever, Amen.

Jesus is alive today, not as a baby in a manger, although we need to recognize Him in the least and most vulnerable such as the pre-born babies in the womb, but as a reigning King who commands His people in the Church to proclaim salvation through His Holy Name so that men and women everywhere might respond to Him in real time today because He is alive and waiting, and watching, and calling all people to Himself and obedience to the Gospel, and not the mere observance of Christmas, not matter who wonderful it is, and I do as well.

The secular participation in the Feast of the Nativity of course hopefully draws people to the truth of Christ and the historical event of His miraculous birth on earth through the Virgin Mary, but it is the Risen Lord that they will have an encounter with if they have one, whether today or tomorrow.

The historic liturgy of the seasonal Church calendar of events serves as an important reminder and declaration of His Holy Incarnation, but it is not the Christ child that the Apostolic Church is called to proclaim to the world today, but the Christ man who endured the crucifixion and was raised to life on the third day, and Who commanded that forgiveness of sins be preached and disciples be made and initiated into the new life of Christ in His Body through baptism and the reception of the Holy Spirit.

It is very easy for the Church to become complacent and nostalgic through its liturgies and services, deceived into thinking that by celebrating them annually, year after year, that they are fulfilling the Great Commission through them alone, instead of and like Jesus, growing up and living out His public ministry every day and getting out from behind the table of remembrance to fulfill what He was called to accomplish when He was lifted up in glory for all to witness.

Jesus was born to die and be risen again, so that people everywhere might be born again and raised to new and eternal life. This cannot be accomplished unless the Church once again is renewed in its baptismal and Pentecostal call to follow Jesus and proclaim His death until He comes again, not as an infant child, but as a fully grown Jesus Christ who reigns over all the whole universal creation, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is the Jesus that calls all peoples to Himself today, no matter what the holiday is!

There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. – 1 Tim 2:5.