Don’t Forget About Christmas

How Could They Forget?

“Have you ever forgotten something that should have been unforgettable?” A birthday, an anniversary, a child waiting in the car, a name you absolutely knew. We don’t forget because something wasn’t important—we forget because life crowded it out.

On Sunday as Cindy and I read the Christmas Story I mentioned that the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John make no mention of the birth of Christ. There are no angels announcing His birth, no Mary and Joseph, no manger, no wisemen, and no songs. Instead, they get right to the business of identifying Jesus as the Messiah through the healings and miracles that He did.

I recently came across a verse that made me think. It was in the 7th chapter of John. The chapter is filled with discussion and division over who Jesus was. The verses that popped out at me were:

John 7:41–42 NIV

Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?”

Clearly, the people knew the prophecies about the Messiah and that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. They knew that the Messiah would be born from an ancestor of David – the tribe of Judah. But when they looked at Jesus, they didn’t connect the dots.

30-31 years earlier Jesus was born. His parents, of course, knew. His uncle and aunt, the priest Zechariah and Elizabeth, knew. Shepherds knew. The innkeeper knew. Wisemen knew. Even King Herod knew. How did they forget? Why wasn’t it common knowledge? Why didn’t Jesus have nicknames because of the star, the Magi, the shepherds? How did they forget Christmas—only 30 years later?“And maybe the better question is… how do we forget Christmas too?”

We Forget About Christmas When…

#1 – The Busyness of Life

Thirty years earlier:

· Shepherds left their fields

· Wise men crossed nations

· Angels interrupted the night

· A star stopped people in their tracks

But now? Life is busy. Kids are grown. Joseph has passed. Mary is quiet. Jesus looks… ordinary.

Busyness doesn’t deny Christ—it distracts from Him. Nothing in John 7 suggests people rejected Jesus because they hated God. They rejected Him because they were busy categorizing, debating, and moving on.

Let’s be honest. We do the same thing. December calendars packed. Christmas reduced to logistics. Even church can become one more obligation.

Busyness numbs wonder.

Psalm 46:10 NIV

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Christmas requires stillness—or we miss it.

“But sometimes it’s not busyness—it’s familiarity.”

#2 - Traditions Become Mechanical, Not Meaningful

The people in John 7 knew Scripture. They knew Messiah facts—but facts replaced faith.

“They weren’t ignorant. They were over-familiar.” Cindy and I were talking over some Nachos Rancheros the other day about the need to have a personal relationship with Jesus. There are people that you and I know who know Jesus. They believe but there is no fire…no passion.

Think about how Christmas (or religious) traditions are powerful—until they become autopilot: same songs, same readings, same service, or same story. Tradition without reflection becomes religious muscle memory.

You can sing ‘Silent Night’ and never experience peace. We can hold candles, read Luke 2, and still miss the miracle if we stop asking, ‘What does this mean for me now?’

Isaiah 29:13 NIV

The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

Christmas isn’t meant to be remembered—it’s meant to be received.

And sometimes, the reason we forget Christmas is even deeper.

#3 - The Messiah Is Treated as Mythical, Not Actual

In John 7, the crowd treats Messiah like a concept, not a person standing in front of them. They argued about where the Messiah should come from, while the Messiah stood right there. Many people today will accept Jesus as a moral teacher, an inspirational figure, or a seasonal symbol but refuse to accept Him as Savior, Lord, and Present King.

Christmas isn’t the celebration of an idea—it’s the invasion of God into human history. C.S. Lewis is well known for writing:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

John opened his Gospel with “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” Actual flesh. Actual birth. Actual salvation.

When Christmas becomes symbolic instead of personal, we forget it.

Remembering Christmas Again

“How could they forget?”

They didn’t forget in one moment. They forgot slowly. Quietly. Naturally.

The good news is this—if Christmas can be forgotten, it can also be remembered.

In a moment, we’ll light candles. And that light reminds us that Christmas is not something we look back on—it’s something we live in.

Final invitation (no pressure, no altar call—perfect for candlelight):