Christmas 2018 - Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?

There’s a story about a New York City Police Detective who traveled to Los Angeles one Christmas in the hope of reconciling with his estranged wife. While he was attending her office Christmas party, the office was taken over by terrorists looking to steal $640 million in bonds from the company vault. The terrorists did not anticipate the competence or commitment of Police Detective Lieutenant John McClane, who foils there plans. On Christmas Eve, on a night just like this, John McClane defeated the terrorists, and saved the hostages including his wife, Holly.

Does the plot of this story sound familiar? It’s from the 1988 action film Die Hard starring Bruce Willis. And there has been a debate on the internet these past few years, of whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie, a Christmas story or not.

Well what makes a Christmas story? Compare Die Hard, perhaps, to Christmas Classics like “it’s a Wonderful Life” or Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol.” In A Christmas Carol, the cold, miserly heart of Ebeneezer Scrooge is softened as God intervenes in his life in a surprising way. Through the 3 ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, Scrooge comes to discover the true meaning of Christmas: humility, generosity, empathy for Bob Cratchet and his crippled son Tiny Tim, and a deepened empathy for all mankind.

And In “It’s a Wonderful Life”, George Bailey, depressed and suicidal over his failure to save his community from the machinations of the corrupt local millionaire, comes to rediscover the light of love which makes life worth living, when God intervenes in his life through the Angel Clarence. Through God’s intervention, George Bailey rekindles his commitment to those enduring Christmas values: family, friends, caring for others, seeking the welfare of one’s community.

A Christmas Carol and “It’s a Wonderful Life” are perennial Christmas classics because they echo the original Christmas story so well: God breaking-in to human history 2000 years ago in an unprecedented way, urging us to welcome the Christ-Child to break in to our lives, that we may live a fully human life, reconciled to God and one another. Christmas is the story of God breaking in to the hearts of the Scrooges of our world, to teach them how to love, that will bring about actual human flourishing. And Christmas is the story of God breaking in to the lives of the George Baileys of the world, those who are weighed down by sorrow and injustice and darkness, to teach them that they are loved, to be filled with light once again.

So, is Die Hard a Christmas movie or is it an action movie that takes place on Christmas? Whatever you decide, the question raises a very pertinent truth. There’s a big difference between a true Christmas story, and a story that happens to take place on Christmas. A true Christmas story involves transformation, a handing of one’s life over to something bigger than yourself, allowing God to be your savior.

Now, what about your story? What about the story of your life, which has brought you here tonight, to this beautiful place. Is your life part of the Christmas story of God breaking in to human history in the person of Jesus Christ or does your story just happen to take place on Christmas? For it is entirely possible to have Christmas music, Christmas decorations, Christmas food, Christmas gatherings, without allowing Christ to be in one’s heart.

I can promise you that God doesn’t want to stay on peripheries of your life, he doesn’t just want you to nod in his direction every once in a while. Jesus doesn’t want to be a Christmas decoration, or a relic mentioned in some old Christmas hymn. He wants to live in your heart. He wants the transformation for you, that we see in Ebeneezer Scrooge, in George Bailey, in the dark of night of a Bethlehem stable.

The Christmas gift that God wants for each one of you is the gift of deeper Christian faith: faith that what happened 2000 years ago in Bethlehem can happen in your heart if you allow it. He will fill your mind with knowledge of His Truth, he will fill your eyes and ears with the glory of his Humble Beauty, and he will fill your hearts with the experience of His Goodness, if you allow it. He will break into your life, if you allow it.

On Christmas Eve a few years ago, Pope Benedict wrote, “God is so great that he can become small. God is so powerful that he can make himself vulnerable and come to us as a defenseless child, so that we can love him. God is so good that he can give up his divine splendor and come down to a stable, so that we might find him, so that his goodness might touch us, give itself to us and continue to work through us.” So love Him. Allow yourself to Love Christ more deeply, that you may follow Him more faithfully.

[5:00pm Christmas Eve] In the powerful Gospel reading for Christmas Eve Mass, we hear that the one to be born of Mary is called, Emmanuel which means “God is With Us”. I pray that this Christmas each of you comes to a deeper understanding of what that means. What it means that God wants to be with you, and urges you to take the journey of humility, the journey of self-emptying, that you may be filled with His Life. I hope that tonight is the beginning for all of you of a new story, of allowing Jesus Christ, Savior, to transform your lives, to be more like His, humble and obedient.

 [Midnight Mass] In the powerful Gospel reading for Midnight Mass we hear of the angel challenging the shepherds not to be afraid of God’s intervention in their lives. “Do not Be Afraid” to make the one who is wrapped in swaddling clothes as the Lord of Your Life, that his favor may rest upon you always. “Do not be Afraid” to take the journey of humility, the journey of self-emptying, that you may be filled with His Life. “Do not be afraid” to begin a new chapter tonight, a new story of allowing Jesus Christ, Savior, to transform your lives, to be more like His, humble and obedient.

[Mass in the morning] In the powerful Gospel reading for Christmas morning, we read from the beginning, the Prologue of John’s Gospel in which we hear of the Eternal Word taking on flesh, God breaking in to human history to become man. No doubt, Christmas can be a new beginning for each of you, if you allow that Eternal Word to make his dwelling in your heart more deeply, to manifest the power of the Eternal taking on flesh to save us from our sins.

We gather to celebrate the greatest story ever told: the story of the Eternal and All-powerful God’s humble self-emptying to become a child, in order to save us from our sins and our darkness, when we were completely incapable of saving ourselves.

St. Paul of the Cross said, “Celebrate the feast of Christmas every day, even every moment in the interior temple of your spirit”. Being a Christian is rooted in loving this Child not just once a year, but every minute of every day: worshiping him, surrendering our life to him. 

May we allow God to transform our lives, to deepen our faith, to illuminate our darkness, that our lives may give evidence of His incarnation, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.