We need to, first and foremost, celebrate Jesus for who he is and for what he does, for changing our lives, and for his exaltation at God’s right hand.
Do we really realise who Jesus is? And if we do, is it not enough reason to spend all of our days celebrating him? Jesus, who was born a human being, is truly God, and we should celebrate that.
He is an earthly picture of our heavenly Father.
“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.” Colossians 1:15.
Jesus came to show us what God is really like, to learn about the love, grace, mercy, kindness, holiness, justice and many other attributes of God. Jesus said “To see me is to see the Father.” John 14:9. Jesus acted out, as a human being, who God truly is, that we may know, enjoy and glorify God always.
Jesus is the way to God.
Jesus is the only way for human beings to connect with God. “Jesus said, ‘I am the road, also the truth, also the life. No one gets to the Father apart from me.” John 14:6. When we get lost, Jesus is the road to the Father, when we are confused, Jesus is the truth that shows us what really makes sense in life. He shows us how to get a life. The unbelieving world has a completely different way of understanding how to get a life.
Yet, when we come to Jesus, we are set free from our wickedness and we can get a life, and one that never ends, not even after we died!
Jesus is the friend of those who follow him.
“Greater love has no one that this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves…… But I have called you friends.” John 15:13-15.
We believe that the Lord anointed as God’s Messiah, because he is one with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, came to us to set up and proclaim and live out the Kingdom of God. He did this by his perfect life, through words and deeds of grace, and ultimately by his death on the cross. He rose triumphantly in order to save us. He sacrificed himself, perfect and unblemished, to be our Saviour, Redeemer and Mediator!
Jesus is worth celebrating, simply because of who he is.
Jesus loves us just as we are.
Jesus loved us even before we loved him. Paul writes in Rom 5: 8:“But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.”
Jesus forgives the wickedness of our past.
We read about a woman caught in adultery in John 8:1-11: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ … When they kept on questioning him, he said to them, ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ … Jesus asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.” While others condemned the guilty woman, Jesus restored her. What Jesus does is to restore condemned sinners and give them the right to be called children of God.
Jesus makes our lives new again.
We believe that Jesus Christ, being for our offences crucified, killed and buried, his body never saw corruption, but he was raised again on the third day. In and through his risen life, we live anew, and receive the fruit of his resurrection. In heaven he continually intercedes for us as the Head of the Church, where he is honoured as Lord over all.
Paul writes: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17. Jesus makes us new, even if we broke and destroyed ourselves.
We celebrate Jesus for who he is and for what he does for us! And the best way to celebrate him is to turn from our world conforming lives and embrace the new life he gives as the result of his cross and his victory. Our transformation into the image of Christ, our Lord, celebrates Jesus for what he does and for who he is!
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