A Gift for the King ~ Children's Christmas Eve Service
Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
In the popular
song, the little drummer boy tags along with the Magi to see Baby Jesus. Arriving
at His house in Bethlehem, the Magi fall down in worship, offering Him fine gifts,
gold and frankincense and myrrh. But the little drummer boy is sad because he
has no gift to bring that’s fit to give the King.
So here we are
this evening—in His house, bringing gifts for the King. So, what sorts of gifts
have you brought Him? Did you, perhaps, dress up in your nicest clothes to
honor Him? Dressing up for God’s house is a good and worthy practice, to be
sure—a way of remembering whose presence you are entering. But I’m sure
the shepherds were just as welcome when they arrived to meet Baby Jesus in
their everyday work clothes.
How about
offerings? Offerings are gifts, too. Offerings of money—that’s what we usually
think of, but of course, there are other things. Time is a good gift. Money and
time, elements of our very lives, gifts for our dear Lord. Our speaking and
singing in the service, too—these are gifts we give to our Lord Jesus.
Most certainly,
all these things are good things to do, good gifts for the King. But stop and
think about these gifts. The truth is, what we can give the Lord is nothing
that isn’t already His. “The cattle on a thousand are Mine,” He says. “If I
were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness.”
No matter what we give, all we’re doing is “re-gifting” back to the original
Giver.
Gifts for the
King. What can you bring?
Well, Jesus
says, “as you did it to one of the least of these you did it to Me.” That’s
something we can do, right? We can give money to charities to help the poor.
And we can offer these gifts of mercy as our gifts to Jesus. Surely, He’ll be
more pleased with these sorts of everyday “righteousness” sorts of gifts,
right?
But if you are
doing these things for Jesus, save your energy. Does He need any of this? No! And
for that matter, are your righteous acts really all that shiny and special? That’s
not to say you shouldn’t do these things. To love your neighbor as yourself and
to show mercy for the one who has need—all these things are good and worthwhile,
commanded and commended by God. Just remember, Jesus doesn’t need these things;
it’s your neighbor who needs them.
Gifts for the
King. What can you bring?
By now, it’s obvious
that you and I, like the little drummer boy, “have no gift to bring that’s fit
to give the King.” Nothing we can offer is anything but stained and corrupted
by our own sin, through and through. And the one who tries to offer this King
even the smallest act of “righteousness” as though it were righteous in itself,
well, that would be like coming before the emperor and flinging garbage and filth
on his feet and expecting him to be impressed by such a fine gift.
Gifts for the
King. What can you bring?
How about your heart? To be sure, that is the
gift you most ought to give to Him. But even here, “I have no gift to bring that’s
fit to give the King.” You and I have a bad heart condition. “The heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately sick,” says Jeremiah (17:9). Jesus goes into
greater detail, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual
immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19). Merry Christmas,
Jesus! Here’s my heart! Some gift, huh?
Nevertheless,
that is the gift you must give to Him. Not because it is good, but quite the
opposite, because your heart, is bad, filthy with sin to the core.
Still, the very
best gift to give to Jesus is your sin. For one thing, it’s the only thing you
can give to Him that is truly yours, which was never His gift to you in the
first place. And beyond that, this is most definitely “the gift that keeps
on giving”—all your sin and sinfulness; all your thoughts, words, and deeds; all
your not doing the good that you would do, doing the evil that you’d like not
to do.
And along with
all that sin and selfishness, and hurt and harm and hate against your neighbor
(and his against you, too, for that matter), comes all those effects of sin—like
sorrow and decay and pain and misery and failure and then… death. And then,
Death again, forever. To be sure, in giving Jesus your sin, you’re not giving
Him some prize, but you’re not giving Him some small trifle, either!
But this is
precisely the gift that He came to receive from us—or better put, to take from
us. Most certainly, Christmas is all about exchanging gifts—the Great Exchange.
The gift you must give to Jesus is your sin, selfishness, and all that goes
with it—even your death and hell which would separate you from God forever. And
in joyful exchange for such a gift, Jesus gives you His righteousness, His
perfect love, His eternal life, and His own status of beloved Son of the
Father.
But how? How can
you bring such a gift for the King? Can you find a box that you can put your
sin and death into and gift wrap it? And where do you mail it to? How and where
and when do you give Jesus your Christmas gift of sin?
One of the “Christmas
specials” I like is a production of Lutheran Hour Ministries called “Red Boots
for Christmas.” In the story, an angel comes to Hans the shoemaker, to tell him
that he will receive a gift from God that Christmas. Hans, a grumpy guy, is
shocked, and then considers what he ought to give God in return. As he wonders,
he asks Gretchen, a poor, old lady who lives off the kindling and sticks she
can gather, what she would give God for a Christmas gift. She replies, “I would
give Him what I give Him every day: My sins for His pardon, my weakness for His
strength, and my sorrow for His joy.”
In Baptism, you
already gave your gift of sin to Jesus, and received the gift of His
righteousness. Daily, through contrition and repentance, you give Jesus your
own proper gift—sin, and, in return, receive His gift to you—forgiveness for
all your sins. In this Great Exchange, you give Christ all that belongs to
you, and come away with everything that belongs to the King.
So. Go ahead and
give all those other gifts, according to the wisdom and love that God has given
you—sing and dress up and give offerings and pray at church, and work hard to
love those neighbors God has given you. But never stop giving Jesus the gift He
came to receive from you—your sin, and never stop knowing that He has given you
the greatest gift in exchange—His forgiveness, salvation, and life.
In the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Unless
otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English
Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
This
homily is adapted from a sermon by Rev. David R. Mueller.
Comments