“To you is born
this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
Ask about has anyone
brought presents to show ?
Jesus is often called the
‘Best Christmas Present’ and I’ve been trying to think about what that might
mean. The best known verse in the Bible says:
‘For God so loved the
world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not
perish but may have eternal life. ‘
The whole of the
Christian Year is thanksgiving for the way God gives Himself to us in Jesus
Christ but, of course, Christmas Day is a particular commemoration of this.
Let’s think about what it
means for Jesus to be a gift.
1.
Well
first of all, of course, a gift is chosen with a particular recipient in mind.
If you don’t know the recipient very well
you can often choose the wrong thing. I bet there are, on this Christmas
morning, lots of people who have opened Jumpers that don’t fit or toys that far too young for them. I remember quite a few years ago receiving
aftershave as a Christmas present, but at that time I had a beard and had done
for several years. Of course, that one may just have been a hint.
But the greater the knowledge you
have for a person and the greater the love you feel for them the more you want
to try and get the present right for them.
When God chose his Christmas gift for
us gave us what we wanted but exactly what we needed. He gave us himself in a
way that would meet our need to be set free from sin and death, and to be given
eternal life.
2.
The
second thing we can think about is that a gift is freely given. Can you imagine
being charged for your Christmas gifts. “Here’s your present – that will be Two
pounds fifty please.” It’s unthinkable, isn’t it. The more love that there is
behind a present the less it can be seen as something that is earned. Father
Christmas may only give gifts to good children but mums and dads who love their
children give them gifts even if they’ve done something wrong. The one thing
you can’t do with a gift is earn it, because if you earn it it is not a gift,
it’s wages or a bribe.
And
the same is true of God’s gift to us of Jesus. “When the goodness and loving-kindness of God
our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness
that we had done, but according to his mercy”, Jesus is ultimate sign of God’s love for us,
and there is nothing we can do earn it. Indeed if we try to earn love or buy it
we fail miserably as it says in the Song of Solomon – “If one offered for love all the wealth of one's house, it would be
utterly scorned.” Love gives freely or it is not love at all. And God, who
is love, gives freely too.
3.
But
the third thing we can think about is that gift need to be accepted. I’ve heard
about gifts that have been sent back by people. I’ve heard of other people whose
first reaction is to give the gift to someone else (and to do that in front of
the giver). I’m sure there are packages that will sit around unopened in the
days and months ahead.
God has given us his gift in Jesus but we need to
accept that gift. At the beginning of John’s Gospel we read:
He was in the world,
and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He
came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who
received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of
God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of
man, but of God.
God has a wonderful gift for us, be we need to accept
that gift. And like any gift given in love that accepting builds up a
relationship: the relationship by which the life of God flows into us. And
relationships don’t just happen, they need to be worked at.
But this relationship
starts with a gift – God’s gift of himself to us. On this day when we celebrate
the giving of that gift say to now, perhaps for the first time, perhaps
renewing a commitment made long ago; “Lord, I accept your gift of yourself to
me and I freely give myself to you in return.” Amen.
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