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Do Christ and Christmas have the same meaning? A glance at both words, it is easy to see that “Christmas” is derived from “Christ,” but, are they the same and have similar meaning? Many would respond affirmatively. This writer says . . . “No!” It is agreed that Christ is the root word for Christmas, but they have very different meanings. This article will explore those meanings and arrive at the decision to announce them as having different meanings.

IS’T NOT WHAT YOU THINK

Jesus was known as “Jesus Christ” because he expressed the Christ better than anyone before or after him. What was it that he expressed? It was the Christ–that divine manifestation of God that came to his consciousness and took away all sin, sickness and death. Christ was and is not a physical structure. It is mental . . . not human, but divine.

CHRISTMAS IS MORE THAN . . .

The joys of Christmas is more than material gifts and the singing of Christmas carols. It is the representation of divine qualities: peace, health, harmony, mercy, grace and love. The gifts we share are qualities that come from God . . . qualities devoid of anything material. Christmas songs express those values. Jesus was the greatest example in such demonstration.

SIMON PETER’S MESSAGE

Reflecting on the meaning of the word Christ, my thoughts revert to Simon Peter’s response to Jesus’ question to his disciples. He said, “But whom say ye that I am?” Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God,” (Matthew 16:16). Peter had begun to understand that Jesus’ understanding and demonstration of the Word of God surpassed ordinary thinking. It is closely aligned with a connection to God–a godliness he had not seen before. From it, he concluded this spiritual wisdom derived from an inheritance that only a son could express. Thus Peter said in essence, “You have to be a son. . . that is the connection!” Of course, Jesus concurred with Peter’s analysis. The questions then arise, “What does the Christ look like? How does it express itself?”

CHRIST OR CHRISTMAS – IT’S BOTH

There is no great picture to illustrate the meaning of the word “Christ.” Why? Because Christ is a divine manifestation of God that enters one’s consciousness and erases sin, ignorance and fear, not a corporeal being visible to the human eye. That revelation is an unfoldment of goodness, mercy, purity, wisdom and all the et ceteras that express divinity and spirituality. It is not something perceived by physicality, but revealed by spirituality . . . a mental connection . . . a revelation! It generates a mental stir that says “human will has no existence. There is only divine will, and I humbly yield to it.”.

A BIRTH OF LIGHT

On the other hand, for centuries, mankind has associated the birth of Jesus with Christmas . . . December 25th. However, many biblical historians argue this is not the day Jesus was born–that the day came about centuries after his death. This writer emphasizes, it is insignificant when the man Jesus was born . . . only that he was born. He was the greatest reflection of the “man made in the image and likeness of God” the world has ever known. He was not God, but as Peter stated, “a son, a child of God.” What made him such? His ability to express the laws of God.

LAWS OF GOD

These laws had nothing to do with his physical form, they articulated his divine nature . . . his spiritual knowledge and ability to demonstrate it. His finest hour was to prove that true life has never been in the human body, but the divine activity of thought. He allowed men to kill his physical body so that he could return it, wounds and all, and show the world life is not material, it is spiritual. Upon proving that, his work on earth was complete. As humans, we get what many refer to as “the Holy Ghost,” but fall short when we have to prove we have it. Today in many instances, Christmas is far removed from the celebration of the birth of Jesus. It has become so commercialized and self-absolved that it means “What is someone going to do for me, give me or make me happy?”

MAKE CHRIST OR CHRISTMAS HOLY

Christmas is standing on the mountaintop of truth, and ruling out hate, selfishness, pride and partiality. Christ is embracing the true concept of man, and loving even when it seems impossible.  Knowing that evil, no matter how powerful it appears to be, will fall at the foot of Truth and suffer destruction.  It’s not holding sin, sickness and death as evils perpetrated or allowed by God, but gaining an understanding that God knows only good and created only good. It’s holding onto these concepts and ideas in the direst of circumstances. 

There is only one son, one child of God . . .and that is the “man made in God’s image” . . . an image we all have within us.  And it’s that kingdom within us that allows Christ and Christmas to enlighten the earth, and glow as bright as the star of Bethlehem. Only then, will Christ and Christmas embrace each other . . .as one.