A Christmas Woe

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”

Matthew 23:25

I’ve been having quite an uneasy feeling this year around “the spirit of Christmas”¹ and I haven’t known how to articulate it. But upon reading the above statement this morning by Jesus, the One of Whom this holiday is supposed to be centered around, I feel that greed and self-indulgence pretty much wrap up what I’ve been feeling. 

Buying and shopping is everywhere you go right now and everyone is consumed with getting the greedy little person on their list exactly what they asked for. Christmas parties that have little to no mention of Jesus abound where everyone is self-indulging in all the sweet treats and delicacies.  

I used to criticize Muslims for their self-indulgence during Ramadan, their high holy month of fasting, because typically more food is consumed during their fasting month than any other month of the year. That’s because they tend to wake up early before the sun rises and feast upon a large breakfast, fast during the daylight hours, and then feast again when the sun sets. “Woe to those hypocrites!” I would think to myself. But let’s take that bony little finger and point it right back at ourselves for a moment.  

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.“

Matthew 7:1-5

That quote comes from Jesus’ famous sermon on the mount and here He isn’t telling us not to judge at all, He’s telling us how to judge rightly– how to actually help someone struggling with maybe self-indulgence and greed or whatever their sin may be. “Take the log out of our own eye first, Eric, so that you may be able to help your brother take the speck out of his eye.”

I will be the first to say that this time of year is a difficult one for me when it comes to self-indulgence and greed. I love to partake in all the delicacies and gift-giving as well. As the pounds and credit card debt begin to pile on let me (and maybe you as well) take a long hard look in the mirror and ask the question, what kind of woe would Jesus have for me (us/the American church) at this time of the year?  

Let us be the first to “examine ourselves” and place our focus on the real thing that matters, not just at this time of year but every day of our lives – Jesus, our beloved Lord and Savior. Let’s repent of our greed and self-indulgence, renounce “the spirit of Christmas,” and ask the Lord to fill us afresh today with His Holy Spirit instead.

1. I use the term “spirit of Christmas” as this has been a prevalent theme in all the Christmas movies my family has watched this month. To me, it encompasses how America has taken a holiday that was supposed to be focused on the birth of Jesus Christ and turned into a time of year that is best described in the picture at the top of the page. ↩︎