There is a certain joyful anticipation during Christmastime, whether one is born poor (mangers) or rich (mansions), or within the wide spectrum in between. We who live in the Philippines have a special affinity for the holidays, as the country is well-known for having the longest Christmas celebration in the world. Reasons for the five-month festivities vary, with the more devout one being that the Philippines is still very much Roman Catholic.[1] Aside from the religiosity of the Filipinos, I believe a far better reason for the long holidays is that the Filipino is miserable. Regardless of one’s social or economic status, Filipinos face the same challenges and struggles. And contrary to some well-meaning pundits, we are all not on the same boat; we’re on different boats but all are traversing an unsteady ocean, though one with the occasional calm before the storm. Christmastime is almost like a getaway holiday, as if extending the holidays increases its joy, even if it’s still celebrated on the same boats.
To a certain extent, the intensity of joy one feels does have something to do with the Philippine Advent Calendar. Who can deny feeling a slight thrill of hope when one hears the familiar tunes of Jose-Mari Chan’s well-loved Christmas songs, even if Christmas day is still about a hundred days away?[2] Or does not hearing the last few notes at the tail end of January still give rise to lingering last-minute hopeful dreams or last-minute shopping?
While religiosity plays a good part in the Philippine festivities, it is not the “good part.” What do I mean? In general, Christmas in the Philippines is a lot like Christmas in other places where materialism has gained a strong foothold. Christmas is romanticized, commercialized, and emphasized for all the wrong reasons. And the so-called “reason for the season” is far from many people’s minds and hearts.
Christmas is Romanticized.
The holidays are associated with broken hearts. Songs like “Last Christmas” and “Pasko na Sinta Ko” are prime examples of this. It seems like there is something missing when “Silent Night” is not paired with songs about failed romances. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with feeling romantic or looking for love. And there is much to be said in favor of the company of spouse, family, and friends during the holidays. Companionship and the desire for it make us human (“It is not good for man to be alone…”).
Does it glorify the Lord or edify his people when the emphasis of the holidays is on anything but Christ and the presence of Christ is not enough to bring joy?
Christmas is Commercialized
I really don’t need to go in too deep on this one. A quick look around our metropolis will bear witness to how commercially invested people are during the holidays. I’ve heard rumors that some businesses rely on their Christmas sales to stay afloat the rest of the year. On a more personal level, I once had a colleague who loudly proclaimed that he doesn’t celebrate Christmas, as the origins of the holiday are pagan.[3] The irony is that they’ll be one of the first people to fall in line for their Christmas bonuses!
Is it possible that at the heart of it all, and even in the best of times, it all boils down to the “love of money?”
Christmas is Wrongly Emphasized
This last part is a bit tricky. I don’t mean that folks don’t put emphasis on Christmas. It is emphasized as a holiday; it is emphasized as a time to be kind and loving. And probably we’ve all seen the Nativity plays and have heard stories and have been encouraged to not be like the people who “turned away poor Mary and Joseph in their hour of need.” In churches, sermons are built on topics like humility, kindness, and “making room in one’s hearts for the Lord Jesus.” (By the way, stories about Joseph and Mary being turned away—a heavily pregnant woman at that!!!—are just that, stories. It’s all fiction.)
When I say that Christmas is wrongly emphasized, I mean that our attention to made to focus every which way, except for the reason there’s a Christmas to begin with. A good example would be Jose-Mari Chan’s, “This season may we never forget the love we have for Jesus.” All well and good, but what about his first loving us and the reason why we have something to look forward to beyond the mundane? This is not theological nitpicking; this is an illustration of man-centered (mundane) theology versus God-centered theology.
Mundane Musings
The last part of this piece’s title speaks of mundane musings. “Mundane” hear means ordinary or commonplace. It describes something experienced in everyday life that has become routine or monotonous. For some folks, the commonness of our Christmas celebrations has turned what should have been joyful remembrance and anticipation into something ordinary or commonplace. Most of our thoughts on the holiday never seem to rise above what we need, Earthwise.
The true meaning of the holiday is not in either its commercialization or the wrong emphasis on emotions and on good works. It is the looking back and the looking forward in joyful anticipation on two facets of God’s promise: one fulfilled and the other waiting for fulfillment, both resting on the Word of a God who never goes back on his Word. The Advent brings with it the anticipation of sins forgiven, of new life in Christ.
Can we ask if we have lost that meaning?
Remembrance and Anticipation
I wrote above that Christmas is both a remembrance and an anticipation. It is a remembrance because the birth of our Lord and Savior, together with his passion, death, and resurrection, is a historical event—it happened in history; we worship a God-Man who actually lived and died and rose again. He is neither a reverie of the whimsical nor is he an invention of the desperate. Our very salvation depends on his being a real person.[4] We remember this as God’s fulfilling his promise of a Redeemer.
Christmas should also be an anticipatory event. We all know what anticipation means: it is the confident expectation of something that has been promised. Even though Christ has already been born and has gone back to the Father, he has promised us that he will return and gather his people to himself. We anticipate this consummation between Christ and his bride, the Church.
In glory,
…he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:4).
How About the Not So Mundane?
In contrast to the mundane, we can lift our eyes heavenward. There are four passages of Scripture I would like us to focus on. Collectively, these passages have been called The Four Canticles (or Songs) in the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke. These four are: the Magnificat (also called Mary’s Song), the Benedictus, the Gloria, and the Nunc Dimittis. I’ve reproduced parts of the canticles below, with emphasis on certain elements.
| Mary | Zechariah | The Holy Angels | Simeon |
| My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. From The Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55 | And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God. From The Benedictus, Luke 1:67-79 | Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased! The Gloria Luke 2:14 | Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel. The Nunc Dimittis, Luke 2:29-32 |
In the events leading to, and shortly after, the birth of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit spoke through several individuals about the anticipated Messiah and his work.
There is Mary, the mother of the Savior, exalting God after having received a singular greeting from her cousin, Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. Her words are remarkable: The Lord’s mercy is for those who fear him, throughout the generations (paraphrased).” We often speak of grace as getting what we don’t deserve; mercy on the other hand, is not being given what we do deserve, which is eternal death due to our sins, under the wrath of a holy and righteous God. We rejoice with Mary because we have been spared from his wrath, through the workings of Christ.
Then there’s Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, just recently given back his ability to speak after his disappointing encounter with the Angel Gabriel. What does he say about his son, John, and by extension, Christ? He was sent “to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God.” We are amazed as Zechariah, because in God’s mercy we are given not just the knowledge of salvation but the reality of a saved life in Christ.
Jumping ahead to Simeon, whom Mary and Joseph met in the temple during Jesus’ dedication, we learn that Christ, salvation personified, is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Israel.” God’s mercy, and thus salvation, is not limited to a particular people, but extends to all (Gentiles). Also, Simeon is at peace, ready to depart this world, because he has seen with his own eyes the fulfillment of God’s promise to his people.
Finally, we hear the heavenly voices of the Lord’s angels announcing God’s glory and peace towards his people. One wonderful meditation of this passage is that in the person of Christ, heaven and earth met. The thrice-holy God, with all his authority, power, holiness, and majesty, in Christ Jesus saves mankind condemned under God’s wrath. God alone gets the glory for this wonderful work. And man? What about him?
“in whom he is pleased.” That phrase speaks volumes. The phrase in its fullest sense applies to Christ: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” We see in the angels’ song that being pleased extends to those whom God favors in Christ. God is pleased with us because he is pleased with Christ, who covers us and stands in our place.
What Does This All Mean?
So what is Christmas really? To summarize what we’ve covered so far: The celebration of Christmas is the joyful remembrance of Christ who came, and the anticipation of Christ who will come again. While Scripture does allow some allowances when it comes to the expressions of worship and how we go about observing holidays, may we never forget that these expressions mean nothing without the foundation of Christ’s finished work in our behalf.
It is a good thing that amid all the hustle and bustle of the holiday, we take a step back and remember the grace and mercy of our God and Savior, who came, “to save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray.” Some of us live associated with mangers, while others live in association with mansions. Regardless, let us move forward above and beyond the mundane musings of the world around us. Look heavenward but keep your feet planted firmly on the soil in which the Lord has planted you.
Prayer and Thanksgiving Items
In the waning days of 2025 and look forward to 2026, let us continue to be strengthened, encouraged in the Lord.
- May the Lord use the holiday to cause us to keep growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ our Savior. Let us keep learning to trust in him and his providence for us his people: “Let your will be done.” Conversely may the Lord lead us not into the temptations and trappings of this world. May we have the mind of Christ and not the hopeless and blinded way of thinking that burdens the worldly man.
- Apropos, may the Lord forgive us for our worldly thinking, including love for money, the praise of men, “the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.”
- “And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.” We thank the Lord that he never tires in showing mercy to his people. As he described himself to Moses, he is a God who “…keeps steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression…” Let us confess our sins to him and he is [always] righteous and just to forgive us.
- “…to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God.” We thank the Lord that his salvation goes beyond the theoretical (i.e., mere academic understanding) but is an actual salvation, based on his never-ending grace and mercy. Let us continue to embrace our God in faith—fully relying on the finished work of Christ, the work that covers a multitude of sins on our part.
- “…a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Israel.” Contrary to our Dispensational brothers and sisters, this is not a proof text for the “two peoples of God.” What it is, is the unveiling of God’s plan for salvation, a plan which includes those whom the Israelites deemed unworthy. Let us thank the Lord for sending the light of Christ to us Gentiles. In Christ, the church which is made up of both Jew and Gentile, is the spiritual Israel.
- “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” This Christmas, may we be humbled by the reminder that our salvation is soli Deo gloria and undeserved. God is pleased with us! Not because of anything we have done or do but because the love of the Father to his Son extends to those for whom the Son died.
[1] https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/21/asia/philippines-christmas-decor-traditions-intl-hnk-dst
[2] I learned the other day that if the Philippines has Jose-Mari Chan’s “Christmas in Our Hearts” as the holiday “anthem,” America has Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas [Is You].” At least Chan’s song mentions Jesus in a good way. Still, heaven help us!
[3] We can have a Bible study on this, if you folks want. Short answer is: No, Christmas is not pagan.
[4] The same cannot be said about Buddha for example. If Buddhism were a true religion, the existence of Gautama Buddha has little or no effect on the religion. People would get saved even if Buddha never existed.
