Texts: Isaiah 9:2-6; Luke 2:1-20 (1)

I have a low tolerance for crowds, so I usually manage to avoid the shops in the week before Christmas. However, yesterday at 8 AM I found myself at Superstore. The parking lot was full—but the shelves where one would expect to find gift items were not. Clearly, a lot of people had been there before me, snapping up things to give to family and friends.

This is truly the season of gift giving. People love to give, seeing the delight in the recipient’s eyes as the parcel is opened, helping to make someone else’s life just that bit brighter. And indeed, we are told that Jesus said "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (2) That may be true. But it is more difficult to receive. It is especially difficult when the gift is unexpected, and perceived as unearned. We find ourselves asking questions like:

What did I do to merit this? How do I respond? How can I repay this?

Questions like these arise because we often tend to see gifts as putting us in the giver’s debt—and we don’t like to be in debt!

Although many of us see Christmas as the season for giving, the scriptures tonight remind us of what we are truly called to do—and that is to receive.

As Isaiah wrote:

And as we heard in Luke:

Today is the day for receiving this gift, this child of Mary, this son of David, this Messiah, this Saviour. This is the greatest gift ever given—unexpected, unearned, unrepayable—given to us and to all humankind. This gift is not given because we are good people, fully deserving of God’s love. This gift is not given so that we can repay God in fair measure. This gift is not given for any other reason than the grace and love of God, who desires only the best for his people.

This gift is pure love and pure grace.

We didn’t do anything to earn this gift. We can’t do anything to repay it. All we can do is open our hearts, and say "Thank you."

This gift can teach us that we are not self-sufficient, powerful people, directing and managing our own lives, but are ultimately dependent on God’s mercy. As God came to us as a baby, dependent for everything on his mother’s love, so we come to God as infants, dependent on the love of our Father in heaven.

Tonight, we give thanks for the great gift of God’s love, the salvation that dawned in a baby’s eyes, and continues to shine in the lives of all who gratefully receive this gift.

May God bless us all in our giving, and in our receiving, and may the light of Christ shine through all who go forth from this place tonight.