No greater gift has ever been given, no example of generosity so selfless. No time in human history was ever so important as when the Light of the World entered his own creation. The prophesied and long-hoped-for Messiah came for us, our glorious Prince of Peace, full of grace and truth and bearing the gift of eternal life.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14
A gift from our Father
The earth is the Lord’s, and he is its King. Way back in Genesis, he proved himself generous, creating a world full of infinite displays of beauty – not only to show his brilliance and creativity, but to bring us joy – so many there is no way to count them all. Psalm 16 says he is always carrying pleasures in his right hand, forever.
He created man and woman to live in this place he created so full of wonders and to receive his love. But they brought sin into it. God does not cohabitate with sin, so the result was separation from him, a separation that we inherit.
Mankind has continued the pattern Israel set through centuries: We reject the eternal, invisible, immortal, only wise King and desire to rule ourselves. But he loves us, despite all this. And he knows our needs better than we do.
And, so, the world was (and we are) in need of redemption, a redemption God knew about before the world began. It’s hard to imagine, but awe-inspiring to think that he chose us to be in Christ, reconciled to himself, before the tragic events in the garden ever took place (Ephesians 1:3-8).
He thought of us before time, and the solution he thought of was a gift, something that would cost the most precious thing he had, but without which we would be separated from him forever.
Let it sink in. God knew who we would be and wanted us. And though the creation was full of thousands of versions of flowers and plants and trees and animals and waters and stars and stones, he chose the only thing he had only one of. He chose to send us his Son.
And he sent him as a baby
So, instead of abandoning us or retaliating against us, he offered us a gift, the best gift that has ever been given: his Son. Though we did not honor God as we should, in his unbounded generosity, he gave his very best and most valuable, the only thing he had only one of – his Son.
Jesus was in the beginning, at creation (John 1:1-3). Everything that was created was created through him and for him (Colossians 1:16). His is the perfect radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of God, the one who sustains all creation by his word.
Yet.
Yet, he gave up heaven and his glorious form, poured himself out and came as a baby. When he arrived, the world was waiting for a military leader, a conquering king (and he will one day come as King), but God’s gift came as a tiny body of flesh wrapped in swaddling clothes.
A baby gives us a moment to pause, a moment to celebrate and contemplate God’s tenderness. The baby shows us God’s gentle and loving heart and gives us time to consider why God would stoop so low as to come for us.
But the baby grew up (in wisdom and stature) to show us what it looks like to live a righteous life, and he died to conquer the sin that separates us from the Father to destroy the works of our enemy and restore us to the Father who loves us.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16 (NIV)
We have heard this verse enough times to be almost inoculated against the power of it.
It is so familiar we forget the double, unimaginable sacrifice behind it. God gave his only Son to suffer and be killed so we would not die in our sin. Jesus let go of the perfection of heavenly community. He emptied himself and traded his perfect life for our mess, when we didn’t even know him, while we were still sinning (Romans 5:8)! (We forget that “should not perish” is there in John 3:16 because perishing is exactly the consequence our sin deserves.)
The Father’s gift is incomprehensible but always worth taking time to consider.
The other gift
The baby in the manger came to give and would grow up to give in full. Jesus left his kingdom in heaven and the glory he had there to take on human flesh. This sacrifice alone would have been enough to make him the most generous person to ever walk on earth.
The first chapter of the book of John tells us that Jesus came to be God with us. Life and light belong to him. But he descended to bring that light to us (John 1:9).
But the people he himself had created did not recognize him. Most didn’t receive him (John 1:11-12). Yet, to those of us who do receive him, he gives us the right to enter his family forever, to become children of God (John 1:12; Galatians 3:26; 1 John 5:13), even to reign with him (2 Timothy 2:12). This is generosity unimaginable.
He was generous with his time (John 4:6-40 – read carefully these first and last verses), with his gifts (John 2:6-10, 14:14), with his forgiveness (John 21:15-17), and with his constant provision of more than was asked of him (Matthew 14:13-21, especially verse 20).
And after living a life that demonstrated pure generosity, he gave us his glory so we could be one with each other and with him (John 17:22). Then he gave his own life for us and to us (John 17:22, 19:30; 1 John 3:16).
He’s coming back with more gifts
We could contemplate daily the generosity involved in the act of giving that happened on the cross and only begin to scratch the surface of understanding it. God in flesh came and died for our sin. It is too good. Too overwhelming. This gift is beyond measure. It is, unarguably, the greatest expression of generosity ever.
The birth and death and life of Christ is “God’s giving and giving again … a matter of God’s ceaseless generosity, of God’s graceful prodigality, a matter of divine donation for our sake,” says Daniel M. Bell, Jr., author and professor of theology and ethics at Lenoir Rhyne University.
The Father has made us an offer so great it seems too good to be true. To us, who have wronged him by our sin, who – worse than that – have shattered our relationship with him, God offers us Jesus. And if we accept, he promises that everything else we worry about will be taken care of (Luke 12:22-34). He asks us to seek a kingdom he has already chosen to give us and to let the fact that it’s already ours bring us comfort and cast out our fear (Luke 12:31-32).
Jesus, who came as an infant, will return as our King with another gift (Revelation 22:12), a reward. In the meantime, he asks that we join for his kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10).
While we await his return, let us join in his sufferings by offering the generous gift of our time and our lives for his sake and for the sake of others. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
