Mary prepares dinner while her son, Jesus, plays at her feet. Joseph is putting away his tools as he wraps up his day. Suddenly there’s a knock on the door. When Joseph opens the door, he and Mary and Jesus are confronted with a strange and interesting sight … a group of oddly dressed men who explain that they are Magi … astrologers, scientists, philosophers … from Persia who have followed a star all the way to Jerusalem to meet the future King of Israel.
As Joseph and Mary struggle to take all this in, these strange men begin laying gifts at Jesus’ feet … expensive gifts. Gold … frankincense … and myrrh. Gifts fit for a king. Having been warned in a dream, the Magi head in the opposite direction from Persia in the hopes of throwing King Herod’s spies and scouts off the scent.
That night, an angel comes to Joseph in a dream and tells him to gather up his family, what few belongings they have, and use the gifts that God has provided for them through the Magi to flee to Egypt to protect Jesus from King Herod’s murderous rage and paranoia. Biblical scholar Luke Wayne believes that the Magi’s “valuable gifts do not appear to have been so numerous and cumbersome as to prevent Mary and Joseph from fleeing abruptly to Egypt … nor to have been of such great value as to propel Jesus’ family to wealth and prosperity.” According to Wayne, it was “probably no more than enough to provide for their temporary flight to Egypt.”
That’s God for you, amen? The perfect gift. Just right. Just enough … like when He provided just enough of whatever the Israelites needed as they wandered in the desert on their way to the Promised Land.
The perfect gift. God provided His Son with another expensive and valuable gift. I’ll let the Apostle John tell you about it. “Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for Him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with Him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples (the one who was about to betray Him) said, “Why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii and the money given to the poor?’” (v. 3b-5). “Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me” (v. 7-8).
Did Mary know that? When she bought that perfume in the market, did she know that she was buying it for the day of Jesus’ burial? The Magi brought gifts to honor the future King of Israel … God used those gifts to provide for Jesus and His family while they were living in exile in Egypt. Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with a very expensive jar of perfume as a way to honor Jesus for bringing her brother, Lazarus, back to life … God used it to prepare His Son for the gruesome death that awaited Him once they reached Jerusalem. Since Mary poured it out during the dinner at Lazarus’ house, she no longer had it for the day of Jesus’ burial … but that was okay because God had already provided what Jesus would need on the day of His burial … the perfect gift for a deceased king!
If the Romans had their way, they would have left all three of the crucified bodies on their crosses to rot ... a gruesome reminder to the whole community of what can happen if you mess around with the Roman legal system. After the body rotted, their remains would have been thrown into an open, mass grave. Out of respect for Jewish law and custom, the Romans allow them to take down the bodies and bury them, which is how we get to meet Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
Who is Joseph of Arimathea? In the Bible, he only appears in connection with the burial of Jesus. His appearance is so significant, however, that all four gospels writers mention him. Matthew tells us that Joseph of Arimathea was a devout man and a faithful servant of God who had become a disciple of Jesus. Matthew also tells us that Joseph owned the tomb in which Jesus was laid to rest. A generous gift.
The Apostle Mark tells us that Joseph of Arimathea was a prominent member of the Sanhedrin. You know … the “ruling religious council” that condemned Jesus to death. Luke says that Joseph of Arimathea did not consent to the Sanhedrin’s decision and tried to defend Jesus and prevent an injustice. The Apostle John tells us that Joseph of Arimathea had been keeping the fact that he as a disciple of Jesus a secret because he feared … rightly so … for what might have happened to him if anyone in his family or one of his neighbors or the Jewish authorities ever found out.
You could call Joseph of Arimathea a coward … a good number of commentators and authors I looked at do. But can you? When Jesus dies, what did His disciples do? They went into hiding for fear of the authorities. Joseph of Arimathea, who was a secret disciple because he was afraid of the Jews, goes to Pilates headquarters and asks if he can have Jesus’ body …knowing full well that this information will get back to his colleagues at the Sanhedrin and they’re not going to take the news graciously. They expected Jesus lifeless body to be unceremoniously tossed into “Gehenna” … the Valley of Death … on the outskirt of Jerusalem … along with the rest of the decaying murderers, thieves, and political prisoners. The last thing they wanted was for anyone … let alone one of their own … a member of the Sanhedrin … to mourn Jesus’ death. And yet, Joseph of Arimathea does that and publicly … and I’d say ‘bravely’ … and goes against their wishes … and he will suffer consequences because of it in the not-to-distant future. He will be asked to step down as a member of the Sanhedrin. He will be publicly humiliated and lose his standing and reputation as a teacher in Jerusalem and his hometown of Arimathea. He will lose most of his income. His old life … his old friends … all gone. All the things he feared will become a reality. He had noting to gain by helping to bury Jesus. In fact, he had everything to lose. Yet he stepped forward as a disciple of Jesus and did the right thing … the courageous thing.
What about Nicodemus? Let’s see if we see a trend here between these two men. Earlier in the Gospel of John, Nicodemus came to see Jesus under the cover of darkness. Now why would he do that, hummm? Could it be that he, like Joseph of Arimathea, was afraid of what might happen to him or his career if word got out that he was interested in Jesus’ teaching and sought out His advice as a rabbi … who, like Joseph of Arimathea, was a member of the Sanhedrin.
Two interesting choices that God uses to bestow gifts and honor on His deceased Son. Joseph of Arimathea provides a place for Jesus to lay His head until He is resurrected. Nicodemus provided over 70 pounds of burial spices … a small fortune. Yet both men, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, went against the wishes of the religious leaders and buried Jesus like the king that He was … the King that He is.
Like Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus stepped forward and did the right thing even though, like Joseph of Arimathea, he had so much to lose. Both men had a choice to make and, for both of them, the choice was obvious. At that moment, siding with Jesus, taking care of Jesus, even if He were dead, was more important than reputation, position, or income. When it came to choosing between the crowd and the cross, there as no choice. And I hope that goes for each and everyone of you here, amen?
Our gifts could never match the priceless, perfect gift that God has given us. “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” (John 3:16). The whole meaning of the Advent season prior to Christmas is this: A gift from God is on the way! The only perfect gift.
Author Gerald Horton Bath wrote about a missionary in Africa who was teaching his students about the custom of giving gifts at Christmas time. On Christmas morning, one of the students brought the missionary a magnificent, lustrous seashell. When asked where he had discovered such an extraordinary shell, the student told him that he had to walk many miles to a particular bay … the only spot where such shells could be found. The teacher thanked his student. “It was wonderful of you to travel so far to get this lovely gift for me.” The young man’s eyes brightened and he responded: “Long walk part of the gift.”
In an effort to give us the perfect gift, God did not send a general or a politician or a preacher. He took on flesh and gave us Himself. In the words of the late great preacher Wallace Hamilton: “God came walking down the stairway of Heaven with a baby in His arms.”
And when they took His dead body down from the cross and sealed it in a tomb, it seemed as though God had taken His perfect gift back home to be with Him. But we would soon discover that Jesus is the perfect gift that keeps on giving and giving and giving, amen?
Jesus gave us grace and truth. “For the law as given by Moses,” says the Apostle John, “But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it this way: “Thou art the way, the truth, and the life. Without the way, there is no going … without the truth, there is no knowing … without life, there is no living.”
Jesus gave us the gift of forgiveness. Sin separated us from our Creator. Jesus came with the good news of salvation. He not only came to give us the news of salvation, He became the means by which we could receive salvation … and He did it on the cross. “When you repent and confess your sin,” says the Apostle John, “Jesus is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness” (1st John 1:9). Did you hear that? ALL unrighteousness.
Jesus gave us the gift of eternal life. When we step out in faith and claim Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we don’t have to wonder where we will spend eternity, amen? Our heavenly reservations were made the very moment we truly repented of our sins and genuinely believed in Jesus as our Lord. When we die and reach Heaven’s gates, no one’s going to have to pull our records. They won’t have to because there’ll be no file to pull, amen? The mark of Christ will be visible upon us. His righteousness will cover us and the gates of Heaven will be wide open for us. “God gave us eternal life, and this life,” says the Apostle John is where? … this life … this eternal life … “is in His Son” (1st John 5:11). Quite a gift, eh?
How about a new heart and a new spirit, huh? How’s that for a priceless gift, eh? God promised to give His people “undivided hearts” and put a new spirit in us. He would remove our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh … hearts for Him alone (Ezekiel 11:19). “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,” says the Apostle Paul, guess what? They are a “new creation” with a new spirit and a new heart (2nd Corinthians 5:17). When we get a new heart and a new spirit we experience a radical change in our values, our attitudes, our desires, and our will. Jesus takes residence in our hearts and we are reborn … transformed from the inside out.
Inner peace … Jesus gives us the gift of inner peace. Who here would turn down such a gift, amen? For ourselves? For our loved ones. How about for the world? I’m not talking about the absence of war or conflict. I’m talking about inner peace.
People who do not have inner peace have inner war. Look around you. Listen. How many people do you know who truly have inner peace? How about you? Do you want the gift of inner peace? “My peace I give to you,” said Jesus. “I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” (John 14:27).
When a person becomes a Christian, the war ends because the “self” surrenders to Christ. In the wake of our surrender, Christ gives us an inner tranquility no tranquilizer on earth can touch. “I have told you these things so that in me you might have peace,” says Jesus. “In the world, we’re going to have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
“Wonder” is another gift that Jesus gives us. We seem to have lost our sense of wonder. Most of us have that “been there, done that, bought the T-shirt” mentality. Nothing surprises us … or it takes a whole lot more to get our attention and impress us today. Nothing amazes us. Nothing causes us to stop and wonder. Even the Christmas story has become “old news.” The Easter story … “no big deal.” We celebrate them. We sing about them. We give gifts. But when was the last time that Christmas or Easter caused you to pause and wonder, amen? I mean, the fact that God … the Creator of the Universe … so desired to make a personal connection with us that that He became one of us … took our sins upon Himself … should be a “cause celebrate” … a cause for great wonder, amen? The star and the manger … the cross and the empty tomb … that should never stop filing us with awe and wonder, reverence, joy, and hope … to name but a few of the many things we should be feeling when we consider God’s perfect gift … Jesus Christ. The Bethlehem Christ-child … born to die on Calvary’s cross … the only perfect gift the world has ever known … or will ever know. Have you accepted His gifts of grace and truth … the gift of His forgiveness … His gift of eternal life … His gift of a new heart and a new spirit … the gift of His inner peace … the gift of wonder.
I want to close with this suggestion. When you pray in the morning … and I assume you all pray in the morning, am I right? If you don’t, I strongly suggest you start tomorrow morning. Now, it’s a good idea if you end your morning prayer by reminding yourself that it is His will that will be done. But I would also ask that you take a minute or two at the end of your prayer to ask God: “God … what can I do for You today?”
