"The Gift Nobody Wants"
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
David C. Wright
Micah 5:2-4; Isa. 9:6
December 24, 2009 - Christmas Eve

         One time a busy executive resorted to using pre-printed Christmas cards. His signature was machine-duplicated inside every card, so all he had to do was seal the envelope and stick on the mailing labels & stamps which he did. Finally on Christmas Eve, he had moment to sit down. He decided to open one of the cards to see how they had turned out. Inside he saw the following message- “Just a merry note to say, a little gift is on the way!”  Here’s hoping you did better with your cards!
          I have to admit that as a kid, my favorite part of Christmas was receiving gifts. Giving them was OK, too, but the anticipation and excitement of opening gifts on Christmas morning was hard to beat. Sometimes you got exactly what you had hoped for. Sometimes you didn’t.  I’d like to tell you about one of those times when I didn’t get what I had hoped for.
          I really liked my grandfather Kershner, who lived in Hagerstown.  He had a woodshop & let me help build things in it when I would visit for a week each summer. He was also a self-taught musician, playing a little piano, violin, and several brass instruments. One summer when I was about 7, he worked with me all week and taught me to play some baritone horn. He then told me that he was going to try and get me a trumpet. That seemed cooler than a baritone & I was very excited. I figured Xmas would be the likely time I would get the trumpet.
          Well, Xmas came & I didn’t get the trumpet. Instead I got something from my grandmother. I don’t remember what it was, but I’m virtually certain it was a knitted scarf or hat or mittens. What is it with grandmothers and gifts that keep you warm?
          But it turned out that my grandfather hadn’t forgotten about the trumpet after all.  He had just added a condition. He told me that I had to take a year’s worth of piano lessons first- “to give me a proper musical foundation”- and then he would give me the trumpet. I was not happy! I thought piano was for girls. Trumpet was for guys! And I had friends who were always moaning about having to practice piano and were unavailable to play ball with me sometimes because of it.
          When I didn’t get the gift I expected, I felt angry and frustrated and even a little guilty for feeling that way! I was tempted to give up hope of ever getting that trumpet.  Maybe you’ve had a similar experience involving gifts you hoped for from family or friends.  If not, there’s always tomorrow morning!
          Some of us feel the same way about gifts we’ve received or haven’t received from God. Some of us haven’t gotten what we expected out of life. A boyfriend or girlfriend jilted us.  Our parents divorced, or our own marriage fell apart, or we were never able to marry. We had a hard-to-manage child or no kids at all. We work in a job we hate.  We haven’t gotten what we expected from God and some of us are disappointed, angry, and frustrated. And others of us have simply given up hope of ever receiving good gifts from God.
          The Christmas story has something to say about this.  God’s people in first century Israel expected God to give them a certain kind of Messiah. But that’s not what they got!  You may recall that the Israelites were God’s chosen people. God entered into a covenant with them and promised to prosper and protect them. They in turn promised to love and serve God. Unfortunately they didn’t keep their part of the bargain. They turned away from God time & again and defied his commands, worshiped other gods, and hurt those whom God loved. 
          God sent them prophets, who warned them to turn back to Him, saying he would turn away from them and withdraw his protection if they didn’t change.  It was as if God said, “You don’t want a relationship with me. Fine. Try being on your own for a while.”  A kind of tough love approach. But they still refused to turn back to God, and so God let them go.  In time they were defeated by other nations and many of the people were carried off into captivity -first to Assyria and then to Babylon. 
          But God did not forget his people and his covenant with them. God promised to send them a leader/messiah to save them. That promise is found many times in the Old Testament. For example, in Micah 5, written about 800 years before Jesus came, God promised that a ruler would be raised up from Bethlehem who would keep Israel secure forever. 
          And the prophet Isaiah said, “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom... for evermore.”
          Hundreds of years later, living under the Roman rule of Caesar Augustus, the Israelites were still desperately waiting for their promised Messiah to come, constantly praying for his advent. They were tired of centuries of foreign occupation and the abuse and exploitation which accompanied it. False Messiahs came and hopes were raised, and then dashed as these “messiahs” failed to deliver.
          In short, Israel expected a political, military messiah to come & overthrow Roman rule, restore Israel to her former glory, and usher in an era of peace.
          So, what kind of Messiah did God give them?  Well, his birth held some hope.  As promised, this child was a descendant of King David and was born in Bethlehem. There were signs in the heavens. His birth prompted fear in the existing regional king (Herod) and foreign dignitaries brought him gifts fit for a king. And there were all those angelic interventions and pronouncements- to Mary, to Joseph, to the shepherds, then to Joseph again. Things looked promising.
          But even then, there were signs that things were not going to work out exactly as expected. He was born to poor peasants and in the lowest of conditions- not in a palace of royalty. And his family quickly took him to Egypt of all places as they fled the wrath of Herod.
          Later, the real disappointments came. He never became a military or governmental leader. He didn’t have even a small army. When the people tried to actually make him a king, he refused. Instead, he focused on changing people’s hearts. He taught about spiritual issues and talked more about personal sin than governmental injustice. He put his energy into developing just a few followers- mostly riff-raff. His primary occupation was that of a teacher- a poor, itinerant rabbi who often spoke in difficult-to-understand parables. Rather than restoring Judaism to its rightful prominence, he usually feuded with the established religious leaders. Finally, he died a horrible and shameful death after being tortured.
          Those Israelites who believed that Jesus was the Messiah must have wondered, “Did God make a big mistake here?”  It must have been a real spiritual crisis for them, for the world hardly blinked at Jesus’ coming and leaving. And nothing seemed to change for Israel. In fact, 35 years after his death on the cross, Jerusalem came under a long siege and was sacked.  It did not come under Jewish rule again for 1900 years! It must have been a bitter disappointment to those who expected a different kind of Messiah.
          However, in retrospect, we can see that God did not make a mistake. Long after the Roman empire had crumbled and many kings & rulers & Caesars were forgotten, the followers of Jesus Christ continued to change the world. And they do so to this very day.
          As Frederick Buechner put it, “... when the child was born, the whole course of human history was changed. That is a truth as unassailable as any truth. Art, music, literature, Western culture itself with all its institutions and Western man’s understanding of himself and his world- it is impossible to conceive how differently things would have turned out if that birth had not happened... And there is a truth beyond that: for millions of people who have lived since, the birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life, but a new way of living.” 
          Our very presence in this place on this night 2000 years after that birth is clear evidence that God did not make a mistake, that the world was permanently transformed through the long-promised Messiah, Jesus.  It was the followers of Jesus Christ that enacted the first child labor laws in the world. They abolished slavery in the British empire. They built thousands of schools and hospitals. They have fed and continue to feel millions of starving people. Wherever followers of Jesus have gained power, the role and rights of women have greatly improved.  And they have worked for peace. In spite of persecution, they have persevered in ministries of compassion, and still do to this very day.   Not that all followers of Jesus have been perfect! Far from it. They are often deeply flawed. But they have changed the course of human history- for the better. 
          Yes, God knew what He was doing, even though the people’s expectations were not met. They didn’t get the gift they were hoping for;
They got something better.
          Now this all sounds nice, but how does it help those of us who haven’t gotten what we expected or hoped for from God? Some of you are grieving the loss of a loved one acutely this holiday season. Others struggle with depression, relationship difficulties, addictions, family tensions, health problems, or fear of the future.  It’s not what you hoped for. It’s much worse.  It’s enough to trigger a spiritual crisis in the best of us. 
          So, how will you respond? You could choose to hold onto those feelings of anger toward God.  Simply write him off and go your own way without him. Or you could choose to give up hope that God can ever provide for your needs. That’s what much of contemporary art and literature has done. Simply set aside hope that there is anything better.
          But there is another alternative. Let me finish the story about the gift from my grandfather. I did take those dreaded piano lessons- but only so I could get that trumpet! I hated them at times, but not always. I eventually got my trumpet and played it all through high school and college, but the piano became my first love. I almost majored in piano! I have played in many church services and youth group meetings and I still enjoy just sitting down to play Chopin, or Rachmaninoff, or some blues at home. It turned out that my grandfather knew best even though I couldn’t understand it at the time.
          I think it’s like that with God, too. God knows best, even though we can’t understand it at the time. So, instead of remaining stuck in our anger or disappointment with God, or simply giving up hope, we have a third option- to continue to trust in God in the midst of our pain and disappointment.         We would all prefer that God would intervene miraculously and give us what we want or take away our suffering. And sometimes God does just that. But Christmas reminds us that God’s help often comes in ways that are different from what we expect.  It comes down to a matter of our faith and trust in God.
          Christmas demonstrates God’s love and care for us.  It reminds us that God understands our suffering and loneliness. God took on human flesh and dwelt among us so he could fully understand us.  He deeply cares for us. And he has not forgotten you! You are not alone in your pain. God understands and empathizes with you.
          And Christmas reminds us that God is at work in the world and has called us to be his partners in transforming it so that suffering is lessened. That’s part of our responsibility as Christians- to lessen suffering for others wherever we can.

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