When we think of Christmas, we think of gifts. There are many kinds of gifts.
Most common is the exchange gift. Someone gives you a present and you make sure you return a gift of equal value. Much gift-giving at Christmas is of this kind. Theologically, this is like the person who has an unspoken deal with God that she will give her time and money to the church but God must reciprocate by bringing blessings to her and her family. This was the gift-giving that the Pharisees and Sadducees seemed to practice through their sacrifices at the temple at the time Jesus was born. It wasn’t the kind, however, that Jesus commended as gaining favour or building a real relationship with God.
There is also the generous gift. That is when someone gives in such a way that it can’t be reciprocated in kind since the one who receives the gift doesn’t have the means to do so. This is like the gift a parent gives to a child, knowing that what is given back will not be of the same material value. This is also like the gift God gave us that first Christmas with Christ sent into the world to save us. We simply don’t have the capacity to repay God and so all we can offer is much less, but still given in a spirit of love and appreciation – just as a child gives a gift to a generous parent.
There is also the gift of giving yourself. This can be a gift of time or a commitment of being present for someone. This is the greatest gift of all because it is the gift that carries within it unconditional love. This is the gift Jesus gave us in coming to be one of us and to commit his life for us. This is also the gift that Paul says we are to give in thanksgiving back to God. He writes to the Romans and speaks to us saying that we are to present our bodies as living sacrifices to God, which is our reasonable worship. This gift is not principally about giving things – sometimes the giving of things is simply a way of substituting material pleasure in place of the joy of fellowship and belonging.
I love all the material things and blessings God gives me (God really is generous!) but the gift I most want is to sense God is with me in all that life brings. Paul, I know, felt the same way when he wrote: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will He not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? … For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither the height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:32,38-39)
What an amazing gift! St. John in his first letter focuses on this gift of fellowship as well. In fact he says, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.”(1 John 1:3-4.)
In this Advent-Christmas season, let us reflect on our gift-giving and on God’s gift-giving. Let us imitate Jesus and become a gift to others by pointing them through our words and deeds and presence to the gift that is eternal – Jesus.
Joy to the World!
