St. Paul's United Methodist Church
“What Does Jesus Want for Christmas?”
Rev. Richard W. Gray
December 25, 2005
Luke 2:8-15
There was a Director of Christian Education at a church that organized a Children's Christmas pageant. She let the children decide what gifts they would give the baby Jesus in the pageant. Some wanted to give Him stuffed animals. Others wanted to give Him toys. One little girl named Sally had several conversations with the Director before she admitted what she wanted to give the baby Jesus. Finally the Director asked, “Sally, what do you want to give Jesus?”
“Oh, I'm too embarrassed,” said Sally. “I shouldn't tell you.”
“That's okay. What is it?”
“A kiss,” she said. And the night of the pageant that is what she gave Him. All the other angels brought their gifts of stuffed animals and toys. But Sally bent over the manger and gave the little baby a kiss.
A loving sigh went up from the congregation as they watched. Sally knew the secret of giving. And she gave the baby Jesus exactly what God was giving us when God gave us Jesus, something from the heart. That is what God gave, something from the heart. God gave us Himself when He gave us His Son.
We are all very familiar with the Christmas story, of how there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn. Last week we saw how God got Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem in order for Jesus to be born there. It was by way of a census. Pick up last Sunday's message in the literature rack outside the sanctuary doors. His birth was foretold hundreds of years earlier in the Old Testament book of Micah. If Jesus had not
not been born in Bethlehem, fulfilling prophecy, then we could rightfully doubt the veracity of the Bible. But Jesus was born in Bethlehem just as the Bible said He would be.
We know that there was no room in the inn for the weary travelers who had come from Nazareth. Mary was so near giving birth the journey must have been hard on her. Now if only they could find a place to stay.
Why was there no room in the inn? The obvious answer is the inns were filled with the many people on the road traveling home to be a part of the Roman mandated census.
But there is another possibility. It is possible that the Roman census takers and Roman soldiers were staying in the inn. The Romans knew that the Jews had a strong dislike for anyone not a Jew. Jews avoided coming in contact with non-Jews whenever possible. This meant that the Roman census takers and Roman soldiers would not have stayed in private homes because they would not have been welcome. They would have stayed in inns. This may be another reason why there was no room in the inn.
The inns of Bible times were not what we consider an inn today. They were very primitive. The eastern inn was like a series of rooms or stalls that were located off a common courtyard. The animals would stay in the courtyard, and the feeding troughs were located there.
It may have been that Jesus was born in a courtyard among the animals and placed not in a pretty cradle, but in a used feeding trough. Some entrance into the world! Hardly an appropriate way for the King of kings to enter the world.
When Jesus uttered His first cry at birth, only Mary and Joseph knew who He was. They were to name Him Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” Nobody else knew that the eternal holy
holy creator God of the universe had just entered the world in human flesh. Many people today do not know who Jesus is, even some of those people who will “celebrate” Christmas today do not know who Jesus really is.
Your birth and my birth were certainly important, at least to us. The birth of Jesus was the greatest birth of all time, past, present, or future.
One would have expected Jesus to have been born into a royal household, or at least into the home of the highest religious leader. But He was born to an obscure couple. Had it not been for the birth of Jesus, we would never have heard of Mary and Joseph.
The birth announcement was made to obscure people, common people, shepherds. The shepherds were despised by the people of their day. Because they were tending sheep in the fields, they could not follow all of the religious ceremonial laws, especially the ones requiring washing. They were at the lowest rung of the social ladder.
The angel said to the shepherds, “To you is born a Savior.” The shepherds were not special in the eyes of people. But they were special because God loved them. “To you is born a Savior.” We may not feel we are special, but we are to God. God thinks we are special. He proved it by sending His Son.
These shepherds knew something that many people at the top of today's social ladder do not know, they knew the Bible, the Old Testament. The angel's announcement was, “There has been born for you a Savior.”
The shepherds would know what that meant because all of Israel knew God as Savior. This concept of Savior did not start in New Testament times. There are numerous passages in the Old Testament describing God as Savior, as deliverer. Numerous times God's people got themselves
themselves into trouble and God came to their rescue. The Jewish people of Jesus' day knew it was God's nature to deliver people from the consequence of their sinful disobedience to Him. They knew God to be a God of mercy.
The people who say their God is the loving God of the New Testament, not the harsh God of the Old Testament, really do not know their Bible. God is seen so often in the Old Testament as a loving, merciful God.
He delivered His people from slavery in Egypt, He delivered them from hostile nations, He delivered them from sickness, and He delivered them from various troubles.
So, the shepherds knew about God as Savior. So did Mary. We find a very interesting verse in Luke 1:46. Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.” I do not wish to upset anyone, but Mary says right here that she is a sinner in need of a Savior.
Even the pagan world knew this idea of a savior. The Romans called Caesar Augustus the savior of the world. They also gave the title of savior to philosophers who delivered them from ignorance. They gave this title to doctors who delivered people from sickness and death.
This was not just any Savior born in Bethlehem. This was God come in human flesh. In the past, God spoke through the prophets. God is always seen as making the first move, the first contact. God wants us to know Him. He is not a silent God.
At the birth of Christ, God made direct contact with humanity. He came Himself. He did not come with lightning bolts and earthquakes. He came hardly noticed as a baby.
There are some people whose birthday falls on Christmas. They are in good company. Jesus' birthday falls on Christmas, too.
What do you think Jesus would like for a present
present? We have probably thought a lot about what to give family and friends this Christmas. Have we given much thought to what Jesus would like us to give Him for Christmas? We could name many things. He would want everyone to accept Him as their Savior and Lord. He would want an end to violence and injustice. He would want worldwide peace. He would want an end to hunger, sickness and poverty.
Do you know there is a portion of Scripture in which Jesus asks God the Father for something? We find it in John 17. In John 17 Jesus asks God the Father for a number of things, but there is something very special He wants for Himself. We read it in John 17:24. Jesus asked God the Father, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am.” Jesus said He wants Christians to be with Him. He really does.
Why does He want us to be with Him? Is it because He is lonely? Not at all. Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit have a wonderful relationship in the Trinity. They lack nothing. They are not lonely.
Why does Jesus want us to be with Him? He tells us in the rest of John 17:24, “to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
Just before Jesus went to the cross He asked God the Father that we be able to see His glory.
But Jesus is not finished with His request to God the Father. In verse 26, Jesus said, “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them”
What is it that Jesus wants for Christmas? He wants the same love that God the Father has for Him to be in us. Jesus wants us to love Him with the same love God the Father has for Him. Not
Not an imitation love, but the genuine deep love that the Father has for the Son.
Do you remember Sally at the beginning of this message? She wanted to give Jesus a kiss. She wanted to give Jesus her love. That is what Jesus wants this Christmas. He wants us to give Him genuine love.
Jesus wants us to see beyond our decorations, parties, and gifts to see His glory, and to love Him this Christmas with a genuine deep love, with the same love God the Father has for Him.
335 Smyth Road
Manchester, NH 03104
Sunday School: 9:00 a.m.
Sunday Worship: 8:00 a.m. and 10:15 a.m.
603-647-7322