I was standing in line in Walmart yesterday and the cashier asked each person ahead of me if they “survived Christmas.”  This expression caught me off guard.  I have heard many people use it to describe the Christmas frenzy.  Did you survive Christmas gift buying?  Did you survive Christmas meals?  Did you survive Christmas with all your family getting together?

But for some reason (maybe the Holy Spirit’s prompting) I felt like this expression was so anti-Christmas.

We survive Christmas because Jesus came to earth to die for sinners, of which I am sinner No. 1.  We survive Christmas because Jesus was willing to lay down his life, in obedience to the Father, come to earth in human flesh, and be the atoning sacrifice for my sins upon the cross.

We survive Christmas because Jesus did not survive the crucifixion.