The young mother, frazzled and spent from hanging on to her two children and all their Christmas shopping bags, stepped into the crowded elevator. The holiday mania had taken its toll. As the doors closed, she blurted out, “Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up and shot.” From the back of the car, a voice responded, “Don’t worry, we’ve already crucified him.” They said the rest of the way down you could have heard a pin drop.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJV).

We know the story—“found, strung up and shot”—from the manger to the cross. But with four frenetic days left until Christmas God help us to remember why.