It's not rocket science to know that watching Eastenders is rarely a happy occasion... especially at Christmas! Affairs, death, fires, sickness, arguments, Lies, arrests, murder... the list could go on. For some reason, there is always some sort of disaster for the characters of Eastenders on Christmas day. In many ways Eastenders shows us the reality of society... that it is very messed up! We might not face a disaster as they do each Christmas day, but we do see broken relationships, sickness etc. Eastenders shows us that a stint in Prison doesn't solve the problems, that money doesn't make us truly happy, that no matter how hard people try to be good... they stuff up in one way or another. Eastenders shows us that actually many are crying out for a solution to the worlds problems... only, Eastenders doesn't show the solution... Christmas does!
It might sound odd, but often when I watch Eastenders, it makes me thankful for Jesus. Not in a, "I'm glad I'm not Stacy" kind of way, but because the issues raised in each episode often remind me of why we need Jesus. Eastenders will often remind me of how broken our world is and how desperate we are for some sort of fix to these problems.
In Eastenders, a number of the characters have had stints in prison, none of them have returned the perfect person. In Eastenders, there are characters who try to be very good... but they still mess up. In Eastenders we see desperately unhappy people who want a solution to the worlds problems. So what has Christmas got to do with this? How is it that Eastenders highlights why we need Christmas?
In Luke 2:1-20, when the angel appears to the shepherds, the angel says, "today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you"
The obvious question to ask when we've read this is... 'Saviour or rescuer from what?' Some maybe thinking, 'Saviour from Eastenders?'... not quite! But Jesus is, according to the Bible, the rescuer from the issues that Eastenders raises. Jesus came to rescue us from the issues in Eastenders that we face in every day life, that we can't solve ourselves. Jesus came because, actually however hard we try we can't even live up to our own standards, that however hard we try, we mess up in one way or another, the issue that we cannot stop people from hurting us, or sickness, death... etc. The great thing about Christmas is that Jesus came to rescue us from the biggest problem that we all face, that it is impossible for us to live up to God's standards and this causes huge problems! The Bible calls this sin.
In Matthew (1:21), the angel sums this up for up when he angel appears to the Joseph, the angel explains that Mary is about to have a very special baby... "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." You see, the problem with sin (or the way we ignore God, the way we act as if we are God) is that the world is broken, it isn't as it should be, the whole world, including people and the ground we step on lives with the consequence of sin. Worst of all, we desperately need saving from sin, not because of the temporary issues we face day in day out, but because sin, our rejection of God, has to be punished by a just and good God - the Bible tells us this punishment is hell. If the problems we face now, such as those in Eastenders are bad, we can be certain from the Bible that hell is far worse. So how does a baby do this?
To understand how baby Jesus did this, we need to understand that historically Jesus wasn't just a baby... we need to understand that this baby, grew into a man, who did amazing things... but most importantly, that this man Jesus died on the cross, so that we don't have to face the punishment we deserve for the way we treat God, he died so that we could be brought back into relationship with God (which in and of its self brings great joy!), totally forgiven... and when we die, if we have trusted in Jesus... spend eternity with God in a place where there will be none of the problems raised in Eastenders, a place where there is total perfection.
So, as no doubt Eastenders will remind us this Christmas, the world is very messed up, that people are not totally happy in this messed up world, that people cannot solve these problems completely by themselves, that people want a solution to these problems...
Christmas however, reminds us that, we need someone else to solve these problems for us. And Christmas tells us, it is Jesus who does that for us! There is great joy in knowing Jesus, and an amazing new creation to look forward to, a world free of all evil and suffering, a world free of sin and its consequences.
