Christmas, Politics, and the Cross

So now McCain and Huckabee both have Christmas ads, featuring a cross in the sand and an alleged bookcase cross (not unlike those Virgin Mary inkblots that keep popping up). I find McCain's to be far more self-serving, as long as we're knocking the men. A real sense of Me-too-please-pick-me-I-love-Jesus-I'm-practically-a-martyr.

But "Boris" left a comment to the Huffington Post article that intrigued me:

I dont think the crucifixion cross is a proper symbol for Christmas since it is about the death of Christ and not his birth. THE symbol for Christmas is the Manger or the Star of the East, or Joseph and Mary, etc. In fact, using the crucifix for Christmas shows the lack of understanding of Christ's life and the willingness to confuse the issue. What does this show about McCain's understanding of Christmas? Not much.

I disagree strongly. I think the cross ("crux" in Latin--origin of the phrase) is the "crux" of the matter, the crux of history, and the crux of Jesus's ministry. It was the crux--the whole point--of the Incarnation in the first place. It's why He came. As I argued to Boris.

Forget the politics. Politicians will do what politicians will do.

But the crucifixion is certainly the heart of Christmas. Consider Matthew 20:28, in which Jesus says of Himself, "the Son of Man did not come to serve, but to be served, and to give His life as a ransom for many."

The point of Christmas is the point of the nails. As one song puts it, He was "Born to die, to rise again, to crush the power of Satan's sin."

For many of us, it is not the baby lolling in the manger that moves us, but the overwhelming love of a Creator God who gives up His throne (Philippians 2) to rescue His beloved creation. His arrival was extraordinary, but when He said of His work "It is finished," He was speaking about the redeeming work of the cross.

Jesus explained, "No greater LOVE has any man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." That is the love that makes Christmas so special.