The Greatest Gift Is Jesus

12.24.20 Romans 8:32

32 Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him?

There was once a little girl in child care who had spent about an hour meticulously coloring a card to give to her mother. When her mother came to pick her up, she gave her mother the card, but the mother barely glanced at it and stuffed it into her purse saying to her daughter, “Let’s go!” The childcare worker had seen all of the time and effort that the little girl had put into that card. She wanted to grab the mother by the throat for how she treated the gift. It wasn’t that the card was worth a lot of money, but it was the time, effort and love that went into the card. This Christmas, we see the greatest gift that God took time and effort into giving us. We don’t want to take it for granted. We cherish this gift.

The Greatest Gift of Jesus

There are different ways of giving, right? It’s easy to look at the cost or the amount of the gift. But there’s also the gifts that are thought out - the ones that fit just right - that aren’t so much about money. My mother in law bought me a Catholic Catechism once. She was Lutheran, but she knew that it would be helpful for me in my ministry to know what the Catholics actually taught. She thought about the gift, and I appreciated it. The gift of Jesus has been thought out by God. It’s just what we need.

Sometimes gifts are given for selfish reasons, in order to get something back from the one you’re giving it to. Perhaps a man would buy a woman a big ring in hopes that she would feel obligated to say “yes” to his proposal. Homer Simpson once bought his wife a bowling ball with his name on it, in hopes that she wouldn’t want it so that he could keep it and use it. The gift of Jesus is not for selfish reasons. There’s nothing and no one more selfless.

Since we live in a finite world with finite time and finite resources, it is often the case that if you choose to give to one person, it means that another person can’t have that gift. If two people are vying for one person’s time or attention, jealousy occurs. It becomes a competition. We don’t have to worry about that with God. He’s not bound by time or space. He can give all of us the personal attention we need.

Sometimes we also try to give too much, to the point where we have to pay the price down the road for gifts we couldn’t afford to give. We can become slaves to debt because of our generous donations. Giving can be a tricky thing. People can just want too much of us. Think of the Santa Baby song. She asks for a Sable, a light blue convertible, a yacht, a platinum mine, a duplex and checks, and one other thing, a ring. If I were Santa I would have skipped that house that night. But God has EVERYTHING, right? He can’t outgive Himself because He has EVERYTHING!

All of the problems that come with gift giving: God isn’t limited by any of them. But doesn’t that cheapen it too, like the rich uncle who can afford to give his son anything he wants? Might we tend to take His gifts for granted and just expect it of Him? The rich uncle has to think more about what he will give - to make sure that it’s not thought of as a quick and easy gift that has no thought or effort into it.

Think then about the gift of Christmas. Remember what Jesus asked in Mark 8? What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul? What good would it be if God gave us riches and health when it comes to our salvation? How many times did Jesus remind us that all of the goods of this world only rust and die? So God gave us a much greater gift than money or health. He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. What does that mean that He didn’t “spare” his own Son, but “gave him up.” We KNOW what that means. He not only gave Him to us in the crib. He gave Him for us on the CROSS. The gift is not ONLY in the fact that He took on flesh, but also what He DID with that flesh. Without the cross, the crib means NOTHING.