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Preparing the Way for Christ: An Advent Series (Part V)
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December 16, 2025
Dec 16, 2025 byWhen I was a senior in high school, I took a semester-long elective course titled Film & Literature.
One of the most eye-opening parts of the class was a section on advertising and the psychology behind it. Many decades ago, commercials used to advertise the good qualities of their products. For instance, Ajax the foaming cleanser (as the jingle sang) “floats the dirt right down the drain.” In more recent decades, however, the sales pitch has shifted from selling products on their own merits to selling them on an associated image of happiness. After taking that course, I have never looked at commercials on television the same.If you pay close attention to all the advertisements this Advent, you will find in them a sort of “salvation story.” In each case, there is a kind of fall, promise, and redemption. The “fall” is the fact that you don’t own a certain product. This product is, supposedly, the one thing missing in your life. Without it, you are inadequate, incomplete, and unfulfilled. The “promise,” however, is that, with this product, your dreams will come true. This car, or toy, or article of clothing will bring you true and lasting contentment not only this Christmas but beyond. Once you purchase this product, you have “redemption;” you are saved from the sadness, shame, and embarrassment of being potentially the only person on the planet without the one thing necessary for true joy and lasting peace in your life … that is, until next holiday season.
The advertisements do indeed touch on something true. There is something missing in your life. But it’s not a product; it’s a Person. His name is Jesus. Regardless of how much credit card debt you rack up, how many presents you place under the tree, or how full you find your stocking, without Jesus you will not be happy either this Christmas or ever. This Advent, let’s allow the Sacred Scriptures, rather than salesmen and psychologists, to tell us what is truly needed in our lives.