Respond to God’s Gift
Matthew 2:1-16
My wife and I love to decorate our house with nativities and even put one in our yard. They are all wrong because they depict the Magi at the stable when Jesus was born. Matthew 2 begins, “Now after Jesus was born -?.” Verse 11 states the Magi entered the house where Jesus was, not a stable.
Herod dispatched his men to kill boys 2 and younger (v. 16). Jesus was 1-2 years old when the Magi showed up at his door. Yet the story of the Magi teaches us how to respond to God’s gift.
We must seek God’s gift. The Magi saw the sign of Jesus’ birth and sought God’s gift to offer homage. Herod recognized the sign, feared for his own position, and sought to abolish the gift.
People today still seek God’s gift. However, like Charlie Brown, they ask, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” (“A Charlie Brown Christmas,” 1965).
We can choose to reject God’s gift. The coming of Christ threatened Herod’s royal standing and he wanted to terminate the “reason for the season” (vv. 13-16). I fear our culture identifies with Herod more easily than with the Magi.
Ralphie’s opening statement from “A Christmas Story” (1983) reflects the American materialistic approach to Christmas:
First-nighters, packed earmuff-to-earmuff, jostled in wonderment before a golden, tinkling display of mechanized, electronic joy!
Originally, the Christ Mass was a day Jesus followers celebrated the meaning of God’s gift: God in human flesh, whose life showed us how to live and whose death provided us with the gift of eternal life even though we do not deserve it.
Today, worldly culture clings to a Christmas tradition about an overweight elf who gives us everything we want if we are good.
We can worship God’s gift. The Magi were overwhelmed with joy (v. 10). They bowed down, opened their treasure, and gave their gifts to God’s gift. Worship comes from a joyful heart filled with God’s love. It is manifested through our lives as we give our (1) talent by serving others within our congregation, community, and world; (2) time, as we get off our personal agendas and on to God’s (take time to demonstrate and tell the true meaning of Christmas); (3) treasure, as we give to our church’s ministries, the International Mission Board, and to families/individuals in need.
Scudder– Lessons in the BSL series for the winter quarter are being written by Steve Scudder, former director of missions for Savannah River Association.