If you ever sit down and talk with our youngest son about the subject of Christmas gifts, I am sure it wouldn’t take long for you to hear all about his little adventure one Christmas a few years ago. He would also probably tell you how mean his parents were. He may not have liked it, I know he didn’t, but my wife and I sure thought it was fun.
Ever since our boys were very small, we have had a tradition in our house that they could open one present early. Usually, we would let them open something Christmas Eve night. That particular year, our plan was to go to Pasadena after Candle Light service and spend Christmas with Cindy’s parents. Because Christmas Eve fell on Sunday that year we planned to open all of our Christmas on Sunday after church, but before the evening service. But, we let him open one gift that morning.
For several months he knew that his “big” Christmas present was going to be his senior class ring. It would have been almost impossible to keep that one from him. A couple of weeks before Christmas the ring came in. I picked it up and my wife wrapped it and put it under the tree. It wasn’t, however, wrapped in the ring box that it came in. It was wrapped by itself and put in the pocket of a pair of blue jeans, which were also wrapped and put under the tree. She even went so far as to tell him that the ring was wrapped and under the tree. He didn’t buy it. He knew that the ring box wasn’t there. In fact there was no box small enough to be his ring. I guess he forgot that small things will fit into much bigger packages.
A week or so before Christmas, after listening to our son go on endlessly about how his ring wasn’t under the tree, we took five nuts, as in nuts and bolts, all tied together by a pipe cleaner and wrapped them up in the ring box and put them under the tree. Also inside the box was a note that said, “If you think your ring is here, you are nuts. When he saw that box, he knew beyond any doubt that his ring was in that box. And, that was the box he wanted to open before going to church that morning. He wanted to show it off on Sunday morning.
Needless to say, he was quite disappointed when he didn’t find his ring in that box. And, I will admit, his parents do have a bit of a mean streak in them.
That day my wife and I forced our son to go on a bit of a treasure hunt. He was in search of a special Christmas treasure, a treasure that is probably worth very little to anyone besides him. I actually had to tell him to go try on the blue jeans, also the first present he opened later, before he actually found his ring.
So it is with many people over these next few days. They open their Christmas presents in hope of finding a great Christmas treasure. Some will find that treasure, others will not. Some may even go away sad and disappointed, never seeing anything that looks like treasure.
But, Christmas is more than just a time of the year when we all get together and exchange gifts. It is more than a time of colorful wrapping paper, bright lights, gifts, and way too much food to eat. Christmas is more than a pageant of angels, shepherds, wise men, and the Holy Family. It is more than just a story that we drag out once a year, blow the dust off of it, and begin to read, “Unto you is born this day…” though for many that is a treasure in and of itself. It is a treasure because of what it tells us and it is always a joy to hear. Still, the real treasure has to be much more than all of that.
Christmas calls for something from us. Christmas calls for verification of what the angels were telling the shepherds. Christmas calls for us to investigate for ourselves what the angels reported. We need to see and experience the child’s birth. For us to find and to know the Christmas treasure it must become a personal experience and must result in obedience. True Christmas must result in a change of life. After the announcement of the angel, the shepherds started out on a hunt for the treasure of the Savior. They were told he was born in a manger in Bethlehem, but whose barn would they find him in. They had to inquire, they had to search in order to find the real treasure of Christmas. The same is true for us today. Where will we find Christmas’ greatest treasure?
Where do we, 2000+ years later find the Christ? As we read the lesson this evening we find that Jesus was born in the most humble place, not a place of greatness. If we were to choose a place for the birth of a king, if we were to pick the birthplace of the Savior of the world, must of us would pick a palace, a great hospital, or at least a nice warm and cozy home. Yet God’s ways are not our ways. We should all be thankful for that. God selected a humble place, a stable filled with animals.
I have always had an interest in watching people. When I was associate pastor in Canton, I was often fascinated watching people at First Monday. There was a place on the First Monday grounds called the unreserved section. Most of us would call the vendors at this particular part of the grounds “junk dealers.” There were people who went to First Monday and headed straight for the unreserved section. They were looking for a bargain among the junk. For some folks that is just what they found, junk. But, many others found a special treasure there.
The same is true for the shepherds in our lesson this evening. They would travel from the fields to Bethlehem, find the stable, and there they found a tiny baby. This was not, however, just any baby. This baby was a treasure, the greatest of treasures. It was a king, not born in a palace and then placed in an ornate crib, instead this king, this treasure for all the earth was born in a barn and had a manger, a feed trough for a bed. A humble start for the greatest life the world has ever known.
All too often we look up to have great respect for the powerful, wealthy and affluent of society. If we were to choose the parents for the Messiah, most of us would select a couple with the monetary means to bring him up properly. We would want someone with the influence to get him into the best schools. We would pick a family with a nice home in the hands of a priestly family so he would be insured he would grow up knowing the Bible and the ways of the faith.
Again, God’s ways are not our ways. Jesus’ parents were none of those things. They were not wealthy, powerful, or influential. They were not from the priestly families. Mary was a simple, young teenage girl. She was engaged to a poor carpenter from the town of Nazareth. They were not the rich and powerful of Israelite society. They were not among the most knowledgeable about the law, the Scriptures and the faith. But, we have to understand, God didn’t come into the world to be served. If Jesus had been in a home we had picked, he would have been much like all the other kings the world has known, one who was served. God came to be one of us. God came to be one who serves. God through Jesus Christ came to be a savior for all humankind. That could never be learned from wealthy or powerful parents.
Many would also question why Jesus needed to come to earth at all. Why would God need to become human to save humans? It is important that we remember, Jesus was not an angel. He was a tiny, helpless baby. God who has the power to create all that was in the world, gave up His power to become a tiny child in a manger. The one with all the power, gave up that power, so that we might have life, so that we might find forgiveness and reconciliation.
There are so many treasures that we can find at Christmas time. Some folks might even send us on a Christmas treasure hunt to find that special gift we are expecting. We may even look right past it because it is stuck in the pocket of a pair of jeans. But the most precious treasure of Christmas probably won’t be found under our Christmas trees or be wrapped in bright and colorful paper. But we can find that special treasure in the world around us, among those who are in need, who are sick, who are in prison, who are alone. Where there is need, the Christ is there. Where there is pain, the Messiah is there.
As people of faith we are called as the angels called the shepherds that first Christmas night. We are called to go in search of the Christ. But hand in hand with that, we are called to serve in the name of Christ. We are called to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to care for the sick, to visit the lonely. When we do that we serve the Christ, but even more importantly, we find the greatest Christmas treasure of all. We find the Christ.
