Is Christmas about buying gifts? Is Christmas about shopping? Columnist Dave Barry writes:
“Your normal man,
at this point in the Christmas season, has purchased zero gifts. He didn’t even manage to get an acceptable
gift for his wife last year. He did
give her something, but he could tell by her reaction that she had not been
dreaming of a car emergency kit, even though it was the deluxe model with
booster cables and an air compressor. Clearly
this gift violated an important rule, but the man had no idea what this rule
was, and his wife was too upset to tell him.”
“A survey on men's
attitudes about Christmas shopping may provide useful information for women. Many men dread holiday shopping so much, that
instead of going Christmas shopping, 89 percent would rather see their favorite
sports team lose.”
And yet according to the Bible
and our Christian faith, Christmas was originally not about our giving gifts to
others. We get so focused on giving to
others at Christmas, on what to give our children or grandchildren, or friends
or worthy organizations, that we forget the original intent of Christmas
The first Christmas was about
getting ready, about preparing to receive, to receive the gift of the coming
Messiah. The focus on the first
Christmas was this - God is a giver. God
gave to the world His Son. God gave the
gift of salvation through sending Jesus, born in Bethlehem , as the Savior of the world. Christmas is about preparing our lives
spiritually to receive, to celebrate, to honor God’s amazing and loving gift.
Christmas asks the question – what
does it mean to receive the gift of Jesus as your personal savior and the
savior of the world? The heart of
Christmas is about being beneficiaries, about fully embracing God’s astonishing
gift, God’s promised Messiah, named Jesus, the greatest gift humankind has ever
received.
Which leads us to our story about
Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist. They were getting on in years. They came from good families. Zechariah held a respected position as a
priest in Jerusalem . They were righteous before God, they had a
good reputation in the community, they had a good marriage. They knew God had greatly blessed them. But buried beneath it all was an unyielding
desire – the desire for a child. No, they
were not unique in this desire, many people before and since, can identify with
it.
One day Zechariah was chosen to
enter the holy temple of the Lord and burn incense while a gathering of people
prayed outside. This was an esteemed
honor. As he was going about his
priestly duties, suddenly the angel Gabriel appears to him. Zechariah was afraid, which you would only
expect if you were confronted by an angel.
Gabriel announces to Zechariah: “Your prayers have been heard.” His wife Elizabeth would bear a son and they
were to name him John.
Gabriel exclaims: “You will
have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth.” Zechariah
responds, “How can this be? My wife and I are old. How can it be that my
prayers are answered?” Rather than shouting: “Praise God, thank you Lord,
my prayers have been answered, hallelujah,” Zechariah replies, “Really, I
just can’t believe, I rather doubt it, my wife and I are too old.”
Zechariah makes two big mistakes:
never doubt the word of an angel, and never comment on your wife’s age. He is totally skeptical as we might be too. Zechariah had reluctantly accepted the fact
that their time to be parents had passed them by. He and his wife had come to
accepted their fate. Gabriel
announcement sent a shock wave into their world.
Gabriel tells Zechariah that
since he did not believe this good news, he would lose his voice and not be
able to speak until their son John was born.
Now that was serious. I mean how
can a priest do priestly things without a voice; I can relate to that. And anyway, shouldn’t a priest, a man of God,
believe that God has the power to answer prayer? I mean who wants to listen to a priest who
has more doubt than faith, who questions whether God can truly answer prayer?
It was the custom for the priest
after being in the holy of holies in the temple to go out and declare to the people
the great blessing of Aaron. “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the
Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you peace.” But not that
day, there would be no Aaronic blessing, because Zechariah could not speak.
I don’t know about you but there
is something about Christmas which takes one’s breath away, words escape you. The God of the universe became one of us and
one with us as a human being in Jesus of Nazareth full of grace and truth. Yes, this certainly qualifies as an ineffable
moment.
So Zechariah does not utter a
single word for nine months. But perhaps
God’s removing Zechariah’s ability to speak wasn’t a curse, but ultimately a
blessing. For sometimes we can only
truly appreciate a spiritual moment, when we are quiet, when we are listening
and not so busy talking. Sometimes only
in a time of silence is it possible to reflect upon, to appreciate and behold a
miracle of God.
Maybe God wanted Zechariah to
ponder his encounter with Gabriel in depth?
Perhaps God wanted to teach Zechariah something: never give up on God, never
question what is possible with God, never lose faith and hope in the power of
prayer. Maybe God was testing this religious man. What do you think?
Have you ever stayed up late at
night and stared at Christmas lights? Have
you ever walked around your neighborhood in the quiet of night to look at the
stars and lights and decorations around you?
Have you ever sat at a table for Christmas dinner, surrounded by people
who are laughing and telling stories, and in a private moment, you realize that
these people too are Christmas gifts? Sometimes
it takes silence to truly appreciate God’s miraculous gift at Christmas. Yes, perhaps God’s removing Zechariah’s
ability to speak wasn’t a curse after all.
I suspect Zechariah as a husband
and priest, underneath it all, had lost his ability to hope, to hope in God. A life without hope is a dreary life indeed. And God wants us, God wants you and me, to be
a people of hope, a people who share hope, who perceive God’s blessings, and
who bless others, and encourage others to believe in God and to believe in
prayer. Thus, the question for this
season is: What does your life speak to those around you? Does it speak of disappointed expectations or
does it speak of blessing and hope?
Don’t allow these coming weeks to
be filled with just busyness and noisy activity and talking. Find some quiet moments, spend some time in
silence, receive the gift of Christ once again into your heart and see the
miracle of what Christ is doing in your own life. And may your life and the words you speak be
of hope, faith, love, peace, encouragement and wonder. The world needs believers, not only at
Christmas, but throughout the entire year.
During your Advent and Christmas
journey, may God bless you with moments of silence as well as with shouts of
joy. For this is a season to prepare for
the promise of the Messiah. Amen!
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