What are you giving this Christmas? I didn’t say getting, I said giving. What are you giving this Christmas? For the past few weeks I have been asking that question to almost everyone that I run into and have gotten some interesting answers and some great ideas.
One Scrooge gave me a one-word answer: “Nothing.” Nothing? “Nothing” Bah, humbug! Well, if you are giving this year, you’d better get with it. Time has almost run out. Before you know it, Christmas day will have come and gone and then we can start counting how many shopping days till Christmas, Christmas of 2001!
So what are you giving? Have you got something for everyone on your list? You haven’t left anyone off have you? What a catastrophe it would be if you forgot Uncle Waldo’s third wife, or maybe your bosses pet iguana. How embarrassing!
Gift giving has become such a big deal to some people that they spend half of their summer vacation searching for Christmas presents. Some buy their gifts for next year at the after Christmas sales this year. Then they put them away and hope that they can remember where they stashed them when Christmas rolls around again.
You know what I think, I believe that the ideal Christmas present is money. The only trouble is you can’t charge it! Of course you know that there are only two kinds of Christmas presents: those that you don’t want and those that you don’t get!
So where did all of this gift giving begin? How did it get started? Some say it started somewhere in Europe and the immigrants brought it to America. Others say it was the early American merchants who were just trying to make a buck. And others go all the back to the Magi, who visited Jesus and presented Him with gold, frankincense and myrrh after He was born.
But I believe that it was even before that. The first instance of gift giving at Christmas happened in the Bible. But it wasn’t between the Wise Men. It happened between Mary and God. Find Luke 1:26-38 and I’ll show you
This was the first Christmas gift exchange. Only two individuals attended. One came ready to give and was loaded down with present. The other was caught off guard and had to make do with what she had. As we read the passage, look for gifts that God and Mary gave that first Christmas. This is how they started the whole shebang.
Read Scripture
So what did God give? Well first of all He gave
An Angel, This was not a cute, cuddly, chubby little guy. This was not a Clarence kind of character like in “It’s A Wonderful Life.” This was Gabriel – a messenger sent straight from the throne of God!
What is an angel? They’re great mysteries to us, and the bible gives us only a glimpse of them every now and then. This much we do know and can say for certain, though; “angel” means “messenger” and specifically God’s messenger – a being who arrives in our midst directly from the presence of God Himself!
You know had Mary been a young girl today, she might have not even noticed Gabriel standing there. Life is so busy – and so noisy, I’m not sure if any of us would notice. And, if we did, would we recognize Gabriel as an angle? I don’t know. But I do know this. Sometimes God sends His gifts to us in some pretty unusual packages – and if we’re not attentive, if we’re not looking, if we’re not listening – we can miss them!
He also gave Mary A Scare! How else could you describe her reaction in verses 28-29-30? The Bible says that ,”Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kin of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid…”
There seems to be this notion that when God steps into our lives, everything will be “merry and bright.” But, sometimes God’s intervention in our lives can be unsettling, disturbing, even frightening. That’s why angels tend to begin their conversations with us humans by saying, “Fear not! Don’t be afraid!”
It’s sort of basic training for angels I think. “Now look,” God tells them, “Don’t just appear and start the ‘Thus saith the Lord stuff. Start out with, ’Fear not!’ You don’t want their teeth chattering and their knees knocking so loud they can’t hear you.”
God gave Mary and angel. God gave Mary a scare. And then, God gave Mary
A Mystery! Look with me at verses 30-34. “Don’t be afraid, Mary you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
God was going to squeeze his awesome greatness into human flesh – and He wanted her to help. IS it any wonder that she asked, “How is this going to happen?”? Mary asked God a question that has people have been asking ever since, “How?” She wanted to know whose idea this was, and exactly how it was going to happen. She was trying to make sense out of something that no sense to her at all. And that is where we, in today’s society get into so much trouble ourselves. We constantly attempt to fit God into our nice little boxes of explainable stuff so that we can have some measure of control over our lives.
We all have questions for God don’t we. Have you ever wondered what other questions went through Mary’s mind that she never voiced out loud? Things like, “Will Joseph stick around after the birth? Will my parents still love me? Will my friends’ stand by me or will I be dragged into the middle of town and stoned for sleeping around? Will the labor be hard? Will there be someone to help me when my time comes? You say the child will be the King of Israel, but what about me, will I survive the birth? What about me?”
Trouble! God also gave Mary trouble in verse 34. The very next words out of Mary’s mouth give us a glimpse at the size of the trouble. “How can this be … since I do not know a man?” This wasn’t a simple insignificant thing. Do you know what they did to unwed maidens who got themselves pregnant? They stoned them! The shame on the family was so heavy – the embarrassment to the fiancée so intense – the sin was considered so great – that they typical course of action was to drag the woman to the edge of town and stone her to death! Sometimes when God steps into your life things don’t get better – they get worse! His will isn’t always easy. His plan isn’t always prosperous. Sometimes the gift He brings means trouble!
A tiny package! The last gift that we find God giving to Mary in our passages this morning is a tiny package strangely wrapped in verses 35-37. “How will this be, since I am a virgin.” She asked. And Gabriel told her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God… For nothing is impossible with God.”
This entire passage can boiled down into one simple thought and that is, ‘God became flesh. Awesome mighty God became a little baby.’ The gigantic power that created the planets and flung the stars into space emptied itself into the thumbs and fingers of tiny little hands.
How did it happen? I have no idea. Mary didn’t know. Gabriel didn’t know. You can’t know things like that. You just have to leave them up to God. And, as Gabriel says, “nothing is impossible with God.”
For that first Christmas: God gave Mary an angel. God gave Mary a scare. God gave Mary a mystery. God gave Mary trouble. God gave Mary a tiny package, strangely wrapped. But what did Mary give God?
Well, Mary didn’t have a vast array of gifts to give back to God for all that God was giving her. So, she simply gave God the only thing that she had to give. Mary Gave God Her Self ! In verse 38 she says, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” No arguments. No complaining, No whining, ‘Why me’. No excuses. No postponements and No refusals. Just surrender. “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” What better gift could a person give at Christmas? It’s really what God wants!
Every year we knock ourselves out trying to find the perfect gifts to give – and we call that Christmas. But it’s not! It’s not really Christmas at all. Christmas is when you – like Mary – give yourself into the hands of God, trusting Him, surrendering your life to Him, and doing so with no excuses, no postponements and no arguments, you just give and surrender.
Imagine just for a moment, if you will, that President-elect Bush is coming to town for a visit. A reception is planned in a great banquet hall. Of course a giant crowd of people is gathered for the festivities – and there is a mood of great celebration. It is so jubilant and happy in fact, that all of the crowd has brought gifts to exchange with each other. But when Bush arrives, we are so caught up in the gift giving that we don’t even notice his arrival. In fact, the celebration continues as if he is not even there.
That’s the way Christmas is - if it’s not first and foremost a time when we consciously surrender our lives to the Lord. Christmas is a time for giving – giving ourselves to God. As today draws to a close and Christmas morning dawns once again our attention will be focused on many things. Friends and family will gather. Emotions will soar. Meals will be eaten. Old memories will be shared and new ones created. Gifts will be given and received. And you know that’s the way it should be, God is blessed when we celebrate Him and his son the Christ child.
But let me ask one thing of you. Will you sometime today, tonight or tomorrow, draw aside from the celebration for a while, away from the hustle, away from the bustle – just to be alone with God – and there, share the gift of yourself with Him?!
Will you say along with Mary, “Lord, I surrender to you. I give you myself. I am your servant. May it be to me as you have said.!”
