Receive the Gift

A Christmas Eve reflection:

This night beckons us to enter into joy, that is, to simply rejoice and celebrate. There are times that we come to church for no other reason than to celebrate with others. Today is one of those days.
And what are we rejoicing about? Of course, we are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. The Son of God, the one through whom everything was created, the one who holds creation together, the one begotten of the Father before time itself, took on human nature by being born. Divinity and humanity becomes united in one person.
And why is that worth celebrating? Because, in a profound mystery, the curse of Adam is broken. Never before had there been a human that was sinless. God has always wanted to be in a union with humanity. Yet, because of sin, that union could not be maintained, because God is holy and cannot be united to anything or anyone that is not holy. Only in the Garden of Eden before the Fall did God have what He desired in His relationship with Adam and Eve. But when the Fall took place, the break between God and humanity occurred and it has never been breached…except one time. We believe that Jesus is the only sinless human. In the person of Jesus Christ, the gulf between God and humanity is closed. And although we continue to struggle under the reality of sin in our own lives, we can look to Jesus, who lived a perfect life for us. And as the scriptures tell us, if we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, we will be saved. Jesus lived a sinless life for us, accomplishing for us what we cannot accomplish for ourselves. Thus, because of Jesus, we have hope and a confident faith that we too will be saved, if we can keep our faith in who Jesus is and what Jesus has done on our behalf. So, why are we celebrating? We celebrate tonight because the birth of Jesus was the beginning of our salvation.
But we also rejoice today because, in a way, it is our birth as well. Rather, we celebrate our rebirth. As Christians, we are the Body of Christ. And Jesus is the Head of that Body. So, as Jesus the Head is born today, so is His Body, the church. On this day, we can celebrate our re-birth as members of the Body of Christ. We can celebrate the new life made possible for us as Christians. So, the birth of Christ is, indirectly, our own re-birth. The old order of things is passing away, and for us all things are being made new. And this is our salvation.
And this salvation we have is a gift from God that has been offered to us. We exchange gifts to each other this time of year, and it is appropriate to do so. Gift-giving reinforces for us the reality that we have been offered a gift from God. And that gift is salvation, eternal life in God’s presence. Gifts, by nature, are not earned. Wages are earned. And the wages of sin is death. We earn death for ourselves because of our sins. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. We don’t earn our eternal life, it is a gift given to us.
And what will we do with this gift? Do we not receive the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ? Do we not open the gift, by coming to church, singing the songs of faith, hearing the gospel, coming and seeing what God has done? Do we not express our appreciation for the gift by offering prayers of thanksgiving to God and worshipping Him? Do we not make use of this gift by striving to live a life of righteousness, following the example of Christ and of the great cloud of witnesses that surround us?
On this point, Martin Luther said, “Therefore see to it that you do not find pleasure in the Gospel only as a history, for that is only transient; neither regard it only as an example, for it is of no value without faith; but see to it that you make this birth your own and that Christ be born in you. This will be the case if you believe, then you will repose in the lap of the virgin Mary and be her dear child. But you must exercise this faith and pray while you live, you cannot establish it too firmly. This is our foundation and inheritance, upon which good works must be built.”
So, yes, to give our celebration of Christmas integrity, we must receive and utilize the gift of salvation that has been offered us. We must deny ourselves and allow Christ to be born in us. We can, in these beautiful words of Martin Luther, humbly repose in the lap of the virgin Mary and be her dear child, as we die to self and be renewed as brothers and sisters of Christ our God. And if we are God’s children, yes, we must strive to live like God’s children and avoid hypocrisy, even as we pray for forgiveness and continually repent for our shortcomings. All of this is involved in making Christmas more than just an annual remembrance or excuse for holiday traditions.
But, tonight, let us set aside the reasons why, or how the mystery of our salvation works. Let us set aside talk about what we ought to be doing. Let us set aside our questions and doubts. Tonight, let us give ourselves permission simply to rejoice. Let us allow ourselves to be filled with joy. Tonight, let us simply enter into the joy that has been prepared for us by our Master. Let us only do this tonight…rejoice!