The Birthday PartyThere was a celebrity and he was world famous and he threw a birthday party. He sent out and invitation to every person that he knew. His birthday was significant because everyone knew the year he was born, and everyone knew it was his birthday.
When people came to the birthday celebration the celebrity gave the most fantastic gifts that the world had ever seen, gifts that he purchased at great expense. Strangely, very few of the guests brought gifts for the birthday boy. Instead they gave abundant amounts of gifts to each other, and expected the other guests to give them gifts in return. Many of the guests even denounced the significance of the celebrity’s birthday in the celebration. The guests partied and ate food and had a good time and then all went home. When the party was over the celebrity found that many of his gifts that he intended for his guests were left behind and unopened.
This is a strange story of a strange birthday party to be sure, a party where the person whose birthday it is gives the gifts. A party where the one that is to be celebrated appears to be forgotten by the guests as they all give gifts to each other. Well this is the story of Christmas.
Christmas is the birthday party of the most well known celebrity of all time. And everyone knows the year He was born. Time has been split in two by the event of His birth (BC and AD). Many of us today have a day where we have a big party to mark his birth and we give each other gifts but few of us give Jesus anything of much of value. Some of us even question the significance of His birth at all in relation to the Christmas celebration. A recent poll done in England showed that 49 percent of people polled said that Jesus has no significance at all when it comes to the Christmas celebration. At the same time Jesus has invited all of mankind to come to His party, and has offered a gift that He purchased at great expense, and it cannot be returned to the store for a refund. But many of us have left it at the party unopened in an insulting refusal of His kindness and generosity. The gift is eternal life, companionship with the creator of heaven and earth, and forgiveness of all the mistakes we have ever made. Jesus said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life”. It says whoever, and that means that everyone is invited to take this gift. The price that was paid for the gift was this. An eternal being of unimaginable stature, Jesus, came to earth and humbled Himself by becoming a human baby (completely dependent on his mother). Not born in a mansion or a castle or a five star resort or the finest hospital, but born in a place fit only for animals. Not born to a princess or a king but to an unassuming young girl with a carpenter for a husband. Born into the stigma of being conceived out of wedlock in a culture that frowned on it. And He lived a meek life as a carpenter’s son to then die a humiliating and painful death to buy this gift of everlasting life for all of us.
So what gifts should we bring to the party this year so that we don’t appear to be ungrateful guests at His birthday celebration? Nothing that we bring can come close to the gift he has already bought and paid for in our behalf. But on his wish list are two very simple things. The first one is that he wants us to just receive His gracious gift and wear it. Unlike the ugly tie, or the sweater that you sometimes get a Christmas that you never wear, Jesus has given you a gift that fits and should be worn with pride. The second thing that Jesus desires is to be available. Jesus just wants us to make ourselves available to be used by Him to birth something of value, just as Mary was available to be used by God to birth something of great value. All you have to do is say here I am Lord use me.
