The three wise men. "They opened their treasures and
presented him with gifts of gold and of incense (or frankincense,
from the King James Version) and of myrrh." Simple words, but if
we analyze them carefully (as an e-mail that my wife forwarded to
me attests), we discover an important, yet often-overlooked,
theological fact: there is no mention of wrapping paper.
If there had been wrapping paper, Matthew would have said
so: "And lo, the gifts WERE inside 600 square cubits of paper.
And the paper WAS festooned with pictures of Frosty the Snowman.
And Joseph WAS going to throweth it away, but Mary saideth unto
him, she saideth, 'Holdeth it! That is nice paper! Saveth it
for next year!' And Joseph DID rolleth his eyeballs. And the
baby Jesus WAS more interested in the paper than, for example,
the frankincense."
But these words do not appear in the Bible, which means that
the very first Christmas gifts were NOT wrapped. This is because
the people giving those gifts had two important characteristics:
1) They were wise, and 2) They were men.
As you may know, men are not big gift wrappers. Men do not
understand the point of putting paper on a gift just so somebody
else can tear it off. This is not just my opinion: This is a
scientific fact based on a statistical survey of two guys I
asked. One said that he does wrap gifts, but as a matter of
principle never takes more than 15 seconds per gift. "No one
ever had to wonder which presents daddy wrapped at Christmas," he
said. "They were the ones that looked like enormous spitballs."
The e-mail note says, "I also wrap gifts, but because of
some defect in my motor skills, I can never COMPLETELY wrap them.
I can take a gift the size of a deck of cards and put it the
exact center of a piece of wrapping paper the size of a
regulation volleyball court, but when I am done folding and
taping, you can still see a section of the gift peeking out.
(Sometimes I camouflage this section with a marking pen.) If I
had been an ancient Egyptian in the field of mummies, the lower
half of the Pharaoh's body would be covered only by Scotch tape.
"On the other hand, if you give my wife a 12-inch square of
wrapping paper, she can wrap a C-130 cargo plane. My wife, like
many women, actually LIKES wrapping things. If she gives you a
gift that requires batteries, she wraps the batteries separately,
which to me is very close to being a symptom of mental illness.
If it were possible, my wife would wrap each individual volt.
"My point is that gift-wrapping is one of those skills -
like having babies - that come more naturally to women than to
men."
Since this is Christmas morning, I can safely presume your
wrapping is done...and undone. Didst thou saveth the paper? Is
everything paid for? Someone has said, "If you don't believe
Christmas lasts all year through, you don't have a Mastercard."
I am always fascinated by the news reports regarding retail sales
during the Christmas shopping season. This is the time of year
when merchants make fully 1/3 of their annual transactions and
1/2 of their profits. Economists look on this period as a
barometer of the economic health of the nation. Two months ago,
the National Retail Federation's 2005 Holiday Consumer Intentions
and Actions Survey found that the average consumer was planning
to spend $738.11 this holiday season, up 5.1 percent from last
year. Furthermore, consumers will spend an additional $86.62 on
themselves. The NRF's holiday sales forecast expects total
holiday retail sales to increase 5.0 percent over last year to
$435.3 billion.(1) Wow!
Of course, it is not hard to figure just how all this giftgiving began. It goes all the way back to the story of the Wise
Men and the gifts they brought...unwrapped...to the infant king.
To be sure, some people do not recall that as they shop. Some
years ago, someone reported overhearing two women talking as they
peered into a department store window which contained a manger
scene. One said to the other, "Isn't it awful. Now the church
is even trying to horn in on Christmas." Hmmm. Just the
opposite of what we had this year from all those folks who called
themselves defenders of Christmas and insisted on religious
greetings from retailers.
Still, I wonder just how much thought most people give (even
good church people) to this whole idea of giving gifts at
Christmas. What about giving gifts to him instead of just to one
another? As the alternative giving question has it, "Whose
birthday is it, anyway?"
Of course, even if folks DID think about it, some would have
no idea what to give. After all, Christ is the King of the entire universe - talk about someone who has everything! What do
we have that he could possibly want? Well, let us think about
it.
We could give him our SERVICE. There is LOTS to be done out
there...if we would only bother to look.
Several years ago a Sunday School class in the church I
served in Florida was studying world hunger. As they dug into
the problem, they realized that, not only was hunger a "world"
problem, but a local one as well. They investigated the
possibilities of what could be done right there in Fort Myers,
and the result was the establishment of a what became a VERY busy
Soup Kitchen. It started out as a project of one Sunday School
class, then the congregation, and soon it garnered broad support
throughout the entire community. Opportunities for service,
opportunities to make a difference in the lives of desperate
people, are out there if we only bother to look.
A nineteenth century painting shows a long row of beggars
waiting in a soup line. They are all ragged and sleazy looking.
But around the head of one, barely perceptible, is a halo. One
of them is Christ! You may see no halo around the heads of your
brothers and sisters in need, yet to serve them is to serve
Christ...he said so himself...for the King is hidden in them.(2)
Gifts to the Christ child? SERVICE is one. Most of us know
how to do FAR better than we do. After all, according to the
scripture, God holds us accountable for what we KNOW to do yet
FAIL to do. As James wrote, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he
ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."(3)
I prayed, "O Lord, bless all the world,
And help me do my part;"
And straightway he commanded me,
To bind a broken heart.
I prayed, "O bless each hungry child,
May they be amply fed;"
He said, "Go find a starving soul,
And share with him your bread."
"O, stir the hearts of men," I prayed,
"And make them good and true;"
He answered, "There is but one way -
They must be stirred through you."(4)
Of course, there are other gifts we can bring...SUBSTANCE,
for example. This would seem to be almost automatic, but for
many it is not. As we said, the experts were anticipating that,
on average, we would each be spending $738.11 this Christmas
season. Sad to say, that is a LOT more than some folks give to
the Lord over the course of an entire year. That would amount to
a little over $14.00 per week in the collection plate, but an
amazing number will not even do that.
The problem with too many is that they give, not what is
right, but what is left. Did you hear that? Not what is right,
but what is left...whatever is left OVER, what they figure they
will not need. It is an afterthought. That is too bad, because
they miss out on the real blessing that comes with INTENTIONAL
giving.
Think of the joy you feel when you give a gift to a loved
one, a gift on which you really went ALL OUT...wrapped, even. As
you watch that package being opened and you see the anticipation
in the eyes, there is a marvelous rush of excitement that YOU
feel, and it is at least as great as the excitement of the one
receiving the gift. When scripture says, "It is more blessed to
give than to receive," in purely human terms, we know it is TRUE.
But, as we say, most people do NOT bring their gifts to the
Christ child that way. Instead, it works out much in the way
that this little scene illustrates: One rainy Sunday afternoon,
two children had difficulty entertaining themselves until they
stumbled on the idea of acting out their Sunday School lessons of
the morning. The little boy agreed that he would be Noah and his
sister would be Mrs. Noah. They found an old cardboard box which
they decided would be an ideal "ark" so they started to fill it
with their animals. The bathtub seemed the logical place for
their "flood." They turned off the electric light - the "sun"
disappeared. Then they turned on the shower and the rains
descended.
After some time they turned off the shower, and the rains
ceased and the ark floated upon the waters. They pushed the wall
switch and the sun reappeared. They pulled the plug in the bathtub and the floods descended until once again the ark rested on dry ground.
There was another part to the story, however. After the
flood Noah and his wife offered a sacrifice to God. The children
decided that the kitchen stove would be an ideal place for them
to burn their sacrifice. Reaching into the ark, the little boy
found one of his sister's animals and said, "Let's burn this - it
would make a good gift for God." "Oh no," said his sister in
alarm, "I couldn't part with that." Then reaching in the ark she
found one of her brother's animals and said, "Here, let's give
this to God instead." But her brother was unwilling to agree to
that. It was a problem.
They pondered their dilemma for some time and then the little girl had a happy thought. Scampering off to the attic, she returned in a few minutes with a little toy lamb. It had only
three legs, its head was smashed, it had no tail, and it was so
dirty no one could have guessed its original color. "Here," she
cried, "Let's give this to God. We will never want it again."
Her brother agreed, so they made their sacrifice. The little
broken lamb they did not want was given to God.
Kids, huh? And yet, how often do we give to God only the
things we do not want for ourselves? Hmm.
Gifts of service, gifts of substance...appropriate at this
special time. But, of course, there is one thing more we should
consider as our gift at the manger. And that is the gift of
SELF.
Generations of Christians have heard revival preachers urge,
"Give your heart to Jesus." For some, that meant walking down
the aisle in a profession faith. For others, it was a brief
prayer saying, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." For all too
few, it meant really what it was supposed to mean...the
commitment of all that we are and all that we have to the one who
gave his life that we might live. That is what giving your HEART
really means.
That would be quite a gift to give someone, at Christmas
time or ANY time. It is our response to the gift that has
already been offered to us...the gift of eternal life that is
ours through faith in what that little babe of Bethlehem grew up
and did for us on Calvary. We are willing to give OURself as a
gift because he gave HIMself for us.
You are familiar with the name of William Booth, perhaps?
If not Booth, then the Red Kettles that have been so ubiquitous
over these past weeks. General William Booth was the founder of
the Salvation Army. He was once asked the secret of his
remarkable life. He answered, "I told the Lord that he could
have all that there is of William Booth."(5)
All to Jesus, I surrender;
All to him I freely give;(6)
Yes, Christmas is here...gift-giving time (wrapping time,
perhaps)...a time which we set aside to joyously remember all
those who mean so much to us. And if JESUS means what he should
to us, we will remember him too - with our service, our
substance, and our very selves. Merry Christmas.
Amen!
1. http://www.nrf.com
2. Bible Illustrator for Windows, (Hiawatha, IO : Parsons Tech., 1994)
3. James 4:17
4. Leola Archer
5. James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc,
1988), p. 98
6. Judson Van DeVenter, 1896
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