Unwrap your Christmas gift. Luke 2:1-20
Are you a good gift giver? I want to be, I try to be. This year I thought I had a good gift idea. We bought our parents the I Want To Hear Your Story books. I don’t know if you have seen these books but basically it is a book that asks your mom or dad over 250 thought provoking questions such as “How would you describe yourself as a kid?” “Did you have a nickname and if so, what was it?” “Who were your childhood friends and are you still in contact with them?” “What were your chores, did you get an allowance, and what did you spend it on?” “What is one thing you miss about being a kid?” The idea is that your parents will get to take a delightful trip down memory lane, and, in the process, you will get to know them better. I got the idea from the Rogers. They got something similar for one of their parents and he loved it. Sounds like a great gift right!?! That’s what I thought, but judging by their reactions, we have received from this gift I’m not so sure. Oh, don’t get me wrong everyone was very polite, and I believe properly thankful that we thought of them, which is what leads me to believe it was not a good gift.
You see, when giving a gift, the last reaction you want is polite and proper. If someone is opening one of your gifts tomorrow and they politely say something like “isn’t this an interesting gift.”, or “it’s the thought that counts.”, or perhaps most telling of all, “did you keep the receipt?”. If someone says something polite and proper to you like that then it’s a tell-tale sing you are not a good gift giver. You don’t want polite and proper, what you want is stunned silence followed by obnoxious excitement. When they open a gift you either want them to be slack jawed or misty eyed as the realization of what they have just received sets in. Then you want to hear them say something like, “Ahhhhhhh!!!”, or “Lets goooo! Bruh this gift is bussin. For real for real.”, or a heartfelt “honey, you shouldn’t have.” You get a reaction like that out of someone and it’s a pretty good indication that you just gave a good gift.
We have an example of a good gift reaction in our gospel lesson from Luke 2:1-20. When the shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks at night unwrapped the Christmas gift God had given them, they were anything but polite and proper. Luke tells us, “9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.” When the Shepherds were presented with God’s Christmas gift, they were at first stunned into silence. However, after the initial shock passed and by that I mean the angelic choir concluded and had gone into heaven, the realization of what they had been given set in and obnoxious excitement followed stunned silence. Luke tells us “15… the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.” The shepherds are anything but polite and proper. It’s nighttime. They don’t know Mary and Joseph. Mary has just given birth. But the shepherds in their excitement don’t have any problem with showing up unannounced in the middle of the night to a stranger’s “stable” and asking a woman who has just giving birth if they can see her baby. We have no way of knowing how long they stayed but judging by their apparent disregard for the polite and proper I kind of get the feeling the shepherds were the kind of guests that don’t pick up on social ques. I imagine Mary saying something like, “well it is time to let the baby get some rest.” and the shepherds replying, “uh huh!” I imagine Joseph stretching out his arms and saying through a yawn, “Well it’s getting kind of late, maybe you should be getting back to your sheep.” And the Shepherds saying “Naaahhhh, they’ll be O.K.” I wouldn’t be surprised if Joseph had to eventually kick the shepherds out. But even if he did kick them out it didn’t diminish their excitement over the Christmas gift God had given them. Luke tells us, “17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.”
The shepherds have the kind of good gift reaction you want. Which isn’t really surprising considering God is the one Who gave them the gift. However, it is perhaps a little surprising that our reactions are so different from that of the shepherds. The angels announced to the shepherds that God’s Christmas gift was “for all the people”; it is for all who live “on earth”. Which means if you are a person living on planet earth then the Christmas gift that God gave to the shepherds is the same Christmas gift that He has given to you. So, it is a little weird that compared to the shepherds, our reaction to the Christmas gift God gives can sometimes be interpreted as polite and proper.
I think part of the reason is because we don’t take the time to fully unwrap the Christmas gift that God gives. Perhaps we read about a young couple’s difficult journey from Nazareth to the little town of Bethlehem and imagine the challenges they must have overcome to be able to place their newborn baby in a manger and we imagine God’s gift to us on this night is a beautiful story of resilience and determination. Or perhaps we read about a baby, who was the promised descendant of David destined to rule over an everlasting kingdom yet was born in a barn because there was no room for Him in the inn and we imagine God’s gift to us on this night is a lesson in humility. Or perhaps we read about an angelic chorus singing, “glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.”, and we imagine God’s gift to us on this night is a hopeful message of earthly peace.
If you imagine God’s gift to you on this night is a beautiful story, or a lesson in humility, or a proclamation of peace than polite and proper is a reasonable reaction to the Christmas gift that God gives. But the beautiful story is wrapping paper, the lesson in humility is a ribbon, and the proclamation of peace is but a bow on the Christmas gift God gives. To have a reaction like that of the shepherds we need to unwrap the Christmas gift God gives. Thankfully, in verse 11 that’s what the angel of the Lord does for us. There we read, “11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah the Lord.”
The angel begins to unwrap your Christmas gift when he tells you “Today in the town of David” your gift was given. Good gift giving requires meticulous planning. The Christmas gift God gives you was meticulously planned. This is not the kind of last-minute gift that gets delivered by the Amazon man. God’s gift is the result of thousands of years of planning. The concept of this gift was announced to Adam and Eve in the garden, details of this gift were given in increasing amount to the prophets, Kings such as David were told how and where this gift would be given. For thousands of years God meticulously planned your gift, then when the time had fully come, God gave the gift. He determined which empire would be in power, He made use of specific people at specific times in specific places, He literally aligned the stars in heaven. The Christmas gift that God gives you has been meticulously planned.
The angel unwraps your Christmas gift still further when he describes your gift as “a Savior [Who] has been born to you.” Good gift giving meets a need. With the gift of a Savior God demonstrates that He knows our greatest need. He knows that we have inherited a sinful nature from our parents, He knows that we daily fall short of the righteous requirements of the law, He knows that even when we want to do good evil is right there with us. God knows that we are adrift in a sea of sin and if left to ourselves we would drown. God knows our greatest need is a Savior; someone who will rescue us from our sin. And that is exactly what Jesus has done for us. True God became also true man so that through Him all mankind could be saved. Jesus became our perfect substitute and innocent sacrifice so that the sin you inherited from your parents, your failure to keep the commandments, and the evil that stains the good you want to do, would, through Jesus, be forgiven. The Christmas gift that God gives meets your need for forgiveness.
The angels pulls the last of the wrapping away when he describes your Christmas gift as “the Messiah the Lord”. Good gift giving satisfies a physical want… great gift giving satisfies a soul’s deepest desire. As both the King of kings and the LORD of lords, Jesus your Messiah has the ability to satisfy your soul’s deepest desire. Deep in your soul you have a desire for protection. As your Messiah, Jesus governs and guides the body of believers promising that no matter how bad things might appear “the gates of Hades will not overcome”[1] you. Deep in your soul you have a desire for purpose. As your Messiah, Jesus provides the body of believers with men who will prepare you for works of service[2] so that you can be equipped to do what you were designed to do. Deep in your soul you have a desire for peace. As your Messiah, Jesus is at this very moment preparing a place for you in heaven. Jesus your Messiah gives you protection, purpose, and peace. The Christmas gift that God gives satisfies your soul’s deepest desires.
The angel of the Lord has unwrapped our Christmas present and revealed a gift that has been meticulously planned to meet our great need for forgiveness and satisfy our soul’s deepest desires. Now we understand the shepherd’s reaction to the Christmas gift God gave them. Suddenly polite and proper no longer seem to be a reasonable response to the Christmas gift we have been given. Rather stunned silence followed by obnoxious excitement seem more appropriate. Screaming “ahhhhhh!!!” at the Almighty seems inappropriate and I don’t think I can bring myself to call the King of kings and LORD of lords bruh or honey. So maybe we just do what the shepherds did. Maybe we express our excitement by sitting here in stunned silence as the realization of what we have just been given sets in. Then when the last candle is extinguished and it’s time for us to leave, we excitedly spread the word concerning what we have been told about this child to anyone and everyone we meet.
As I think more about the I Want To Hear Your Story book I bought my parents it sounds more like a homework assignment than a Christmas gift. So, I suppose polite and proper is a reasonable reaction. I hope, for your families’ sake, you are a better gift giver than I am. I hope tomorrow morning your home is anything but polite and proper. I hope it’s full of moments of stunned silence followed by obnoxious excitement. But even if it’s not, even everyone asks about a gift receipt, you can take comfort in knowing your God is a good gift giver. “11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah the Lord.” Merry Christmas my friends, Amen.
[1] Hebrews 16:17
[2] Ephesians 4:12