Has anyone, in the history of watching Christmas Vacation, thought to themselves, “That Clark Griswold. He’s a real winner!”
Of course not! The entire story tells us of a lovable loser whose day dreams and misadventures are fueled by the anticipation of a yet-to-be-received Christmas Bonus. The movie peaks on Christmas Eve when Clark, who still hasn’t received his bonus, hears a knock on the door. As he opens the door he finds a mail currier holding out an envelope with his Christmas bonus inside.
It’s awful timing, but at least it finally came!
Clark takes it into the house and makes a surprising announcement. The audience has known something all along that not even his family members have known. He has been counting on his bonus, something he feels is owed to him, and now that it has finally arrived he can tell his family about his plans to install an in-ground swimming pool!
As he opens the envelope he discovers not his xmas bonus but a membership into… wait for it… The Jelly Of the Month Club. You know, “The gift that keeps on giving.”
What follows is a foul-mouthed rant about his boss and the corrupt powers of the rich and his plight as the overlooked.
Now, he may be overplaying his hand a bit. Clark lives in the burbs. He has received a Christmas bonus over the past several years. And like many of us, he has foolishly misspent and chased after more of the American Dream than was due him.
Make no mistake though. Clark, in this moment, is acutely aware of how broken he is and it is in his brokenness that he begins to realize what really matters most.
In this moment, all the kids and cousins see something out of the window that they think is Santa. But Clark knows what it really is.
“It’s the Christmas star.” Clark says, “And that’s all that matters tonight. Not bonuses, or gifts or turkeys or trees. You see kids, it means something different to everybody and [with his family gathered all around him] now I know what it means to me.”
This thoroughly secular version of the Christmas story has something profoundly spiritual embedded in it and it’s this:
Christmas is, in fact, for losers like Clark.
I know how that sounds. We hate talking about losing. It seems unacceptable, but it is an undeniable common thread throughout the library of Scripture – that God favors those who are overlooked, underserved, and the least suspecting of all.
In other words, God has a special eye towards those we typically think of as the losers in life.
I think Mary, the mother of Jesus, would understand well the Clark Griswolds of the world. After learning of what will happen within and through her, Mary breaks out into song:
“He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant…”
“He has scattered the proud…”
“He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble.”
“He has filled the hungry with good things to eat, but has sent the rich away empty.”
Despite what our culture tells us about the Christmas season with our movies and music and commercials and catalogs – Christmas is for those who cannot, for the life of them, figure out why God would come to this earth.
Christmas really isn’t about trees or lights or presents, or stressful meals with family you only see at the holidays. It’s not even about all the traditions we so desperately try to hang on to each year.
Christmas is about finding ourselves at the end of all of this and knowing deep in our bones that no matter what we do or what we pursue will ever be enough if it is void of Jesus.
This is one of the reasons Advent, the season that leads us into Christmastime, is so important for the church. It provides the space for us to pause and realize how lost we truly are without Jesus in this world.
Christmas is for those who know they still need something not from this world, but from truly sent from God into this world, so that we can truly live in this world.
Christmas is for you. Jesus is for you!
The Gospel of Luke reminds us over and over again that God’s favor is for those who find his coming to be surprising and perhaps even unexpected. This is true of Mary, of the Shepherds, of the Prophet Anna and the old man Simeon. It’s true of the Demoniac, the Bleeding Woman, the Tax Collector, the “Sinful Woman”, and the entire cast of characters scattered throughout the Gospels.
God’s favor is for the humble who do not find themselves worthy of receiving Christ, but who nonetheless are up to the task of receiving him.
It is to you, Jesus comes. It is to you God announces hope and peace and goodwill to all.
So, this Advent and Christmas, may you find yourself in the good company of all the other losers throughout Scripture and history who have found Jesus to be enough.