An Original Christmas Series
The Original Christmas Wrapping
Luke 2:7 & John 19:24
Gift-giving at this time of year has gotten way out of hand, hasn’t it? Generations ago, Christmas gifts in many American homes consisted of simple, practical items given from the heart – perhaps hand made. Today we spend frustrated hours wandering through stores, spending money we don’t have on gifts that won’t hold the receiver’s attention nearly as long as the credit card bills will get ours. Half the time we don’t even want to give the gifts we’ve bought, and often we are dissatisfied with the gifts we receive!
We build up this day with a hype that sets us up for disappointment – more and more the “Christmas” we have created in our culture fails to deliver. Family squabbles and gossip replace family reunions and laughter. We eat too much and exercise too little, and find ourselves feeling the effects of excess weight and a shortage of sleep. Expectation becomes disappointment and in the aftermath our lives feel like our livings rooms look: filled with empty boxes and strewn with litter – Christmas becomes more of a hollow day than a holy day...
Have you ever “re-gifted”?
Re-gifting is the term that is applied to a package that is received, but then is re-wrapped, and given by the receiver to another person because they think they might like it more. I’ve never done it, that I can recall, but apparently it’s a pretty common occurrence. One survey I saw this week said that over half of the people surveyed had regifted, and ¾ said that they thought “regifting” was an acceptable practice.
There are actually rules regarding it –
Ø don’t regift within your circle of friends, give gifts from work to social friends or family, and vice-versa,
Ø be sure to remove the gift card,
Ø never regift a lemon – if it doesn’t work, don’t give it away,
Ø regifting should only be done thoughtfully, not out of laziness or desperation –
Ø you should only regift when you think the person will really like the gift you are re-giving,
Ø and finally, always re-wrap the gift you are re-giving. Don’t give it in the original wrapping paper – put a new wrap on it, a new ribbon and a new tag.
This morning, I want us to focus on a twice-wrapped gift. But this is a unique gift. It’s twice wrapped, but not regifted. It’s a gift that was twice wrapped, but only once given. It’s a gift that is perfect for each person – because it is given from a heart of perfect love, by a giver who intimately knows and loves the person He’s giving it to – and He knows it’s just the right size, and it’s just what they need. But even though it’s the perfect gift, given by a perfect giver, it’s a gift that has been refused by many. The twice wrapped gift that I want us to focus on is the gift of God. Romans 6:23 says, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
As I was reading the Christmas story this fall, I was reading the accounts from various translations. I came to Luke chapter 2, verse 7, and read these words, “She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”
It’s interesting to read the various ways “swaddling clothes” is translated. The Contemporary English Versions reads, “she dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay…” The Message says, “she wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger…” The most accurate translation from the Greek that Luke wrote would be “she swathed him…” which means that she wrapped him in cloth. Mothers in the first century wrapped their little babies in long bands of cloth to give the limbs strength and protection, and to give the baby security and warmth.
We do the same today, don’t we? I remember bringing our children home from the hospital, and taking care of them during those first months. I remember watching Carol wrap up Nicole – she was our first born, and I remember thinking that it must be some kind of chromosomal instinct thing – she was able to wrap, fold, and tuck like she was from the Pharaoh’s school of mummifying. That chromosomal instinct thing is confirmed when I watch little girls play with dolls, and they wrap their little baby dolls the same way, and then there’s that whole bath towel thing! They can wrap themselves in a towel, and do a little tuck thing, and it stays – and the wrap up their hair in a towel and it actually looks stylish…How do they DO that?
Anyway, I digress…
One of the reasons I love the Christmas story from Luke’s biography of Jesus is because it is so obviously first hand. If you look it over, there are little details that make it very clear that Luke went right to Mary herself when he got this story for his biography. He includes two statements that read, “Mary treasured up these things and pondered them in her heart.” Once is after the shepherds came, and the other is when he sums up the story of Jesus childhood, and their visit to the temple. There’s no way he could have known what Mary pondered in her heart unless he talked to her! The details about wrapping the baby in strips of cloth and lying him in a manger also speak to me of first hand interviews with Mary. That is a detail that only a woman would remember and only a mother would include it the story. And I can prove it! Men, without looking, what color shoes is your wife wearing?
We don’t think about that stuff! When was the last time, wives, that your husband noticed the beautiful wrapping you put on his gift? Uh huh, just what I thought. But Luke, in his telling of Jesus’ birth, includes all sorts of little details and side stories that only his mom would have known, remembered and then shared years later when asked. The next time you read Luke chapters 1 & 2, do it with this in mind – this is the story as give to Luke by Mary herself – I think it will give you a new appreciation for what you are reading.
So…I was reading the Christmas story, and reflecting on the details, and my mind stuck on the whole “strips of cloth” thing. I had read that elsewhere. I turned in my Bible to John, chapter 19, verse 40. It’s the other end of the life of Jesus – His crucifixion. In that passage, John tells us that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, both secret followers of Jesus, had gotten permission from Pilate to take care of Jesus’ body. Verse 40 reads, “taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it with the spices, in strips of linen…”
Once again, our information here is from the most reliable of sources. John was the only one of the disciples to witness the death of Jesus first hand. He was in the courtyard as Jesus was on trial. He had He was standing at the foot of the cross as Jesus suffered. He was with Jesus’…mother…
Jesus had instructed John, with one of his lasts breaths, to take care of his mother. And so, a few hours later when John witnessed Jesus’ body being removed from the cross, and wrapped in strips of cloth it is a safe assumption that Mary was there, too. She, with John, would have seen Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus hurriedly doing their best to get the body buried before the Sabbath began at sundown. They were not able to give the body the full ministry of washing and anointing that was called for by their standards, but they did the best they could, determined to come back after the Sabbath and finish the job correctly.
I have first hand knowledge of a mother’s grief. I’ve seen broken-hearted mothers ache with a pain unknown in any other human condition as they watched their child laid to rest. That child is a part of them in a way that a father simply can’t grasp. The bond is deeper than any other. The love is purer than any other human love, and as a result, the wounds are unparalleled.
As Joseph of Arimathea washed the blood from Jesus lifeless body, I wonder if the mother’s heart in Mary flashed back in that moment to the washing of the little baby Jesus’ body by another Joseph, her now departed husband? I wonder if, as they wrapped the body in strips of cloth, her mind recalled the care she took in wrapping his little, squirming arms and legs on that night? I wonder if, as he was laid in a borrowed stone cave, she remembered that he was laid that night in a stone feeding trough in a cave that was loaned to them for the night?
I’d guess that she remembered all those things, because mom’s remember such details, and they ponder them in their hearts. I would imagine that as Dr. Luke came to her, years later, doing research for his biography of Jesus, that she could not remember the birth details without remembering the details of his death. Moms are like that – they treasure things in their hearts and they ponder them. The memories and the ponderings cause an intermingling of the memories until they are one – they are the complete memory of the one they love so dearly.
Unfortunately, we seemingly have lost such a memory of Christ. We are so selective in our memories of Him. Some are quick to remember Him only as a good teacher, a fine example of integrity, love, peace, the golden rule. They are quick to dismiss the supernatural record of His life because, well, it doesn’t fit with their view of the world. They will embrace Him as a great teacher, but pick and choose the teachings they accept as legitimate.
Others are quick to celebrate His birth – it’s a great time of fine memories and warm fuzzy emotions like peace, hope and love – all the words that look so nice on greeting cards. But they are far less inclined to remember his death. Hundreds of millions of people who will celebrate the birth of the Son of God will deny the purpose for His coming! He came because we need to be saved – we are sin-filled, lost and helpless people, and we need a Savior! Jesus was born, lived and died for one purpose – to do the will of the Father – to be the sacrificial lamb that takes away the sin of the world!
I was talking at the TAG Center this week with one of the Lutheran pastors from the area, and he said, “you know, I am struck by the fact that I will have more people at my church on Christmas eve than on Easter Sunday.” Have you noticed how much hype there is that surrounds Christmas – even in the secular world, but there is little acknowledgement of Easter?
Do you know why that is? Because Christmas is about a little baby and quaint stories about shepherds and wooly little lambs and kings with rich presents and starlit nights with angels singing – while the cross is about whips, and blood and torn flesh and death.
But here’s the truth, folks – we can’t have this gift once-wrapped. We must take it twice wrapped or not at all. We can’t love, sing about and worship the baby Jesus wrapped in cloth and lying in a manger and ignore the Savior Jesus wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a tomb!
The victorious Jesus, unwrapped from those strips of cloth, emerging from the tomb in victory over sin, death and the grave as the only way to the Father, is offensive to most of the world – but without that death, the birth means nothing! Without his exit from the tomb, his entrance from the womb is meaningless! We remember Christmas not because of the birth of one baby in Bethlehem – but because of the new birth of anyone who believes in His atoning sacrifice for them!
During this Christmas season we have been observing communion each Sunday as we gathered, and we do so again this morning – because it is important that as we remember his birth, we remember his death and resurrection. His birth at Christmas was the amazing miracle of God becoming flesh and dwelling among us. His death brings the amazing miracle of our flesh putting on immortality and you and I becoming children of God – co-heirs with Christ.
We rob ourselves when we embrace only half the story. Allow the miracle of His birth to be matched in your heart by being born into the family of God. IF you have not trusted Christ as your Savior – if you have not asked Him to forgive you, to cleanse you, to give you a new beginning as a child of God, then I invite you to unwrap the gift of God today.
The twice-wrapped gift. Given to you. The baby Jesus wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger – the Savior Jesus wrapped in strips of cloth, laid in a tomb. For you He was born, for you He died, for you He lives again.
Prayer