I had the pleasure of attending a children’s nativity pageant on Christmas Eve and, in the innocence and simplicity of the adorable production, I was struck by the preposterous nature of the whole affair. That the God of all creation, the Almighty who keeps the universe in motion, would abandon His place to save those who would eventually kill Him will never not astound me. But I was taken aback by a new facet of the glorious story. It was a line that one of the little shepherds had. It’s not that I didn’t already know it, but rather that I had never really paid attention to the symbolism of the whole affair until this moment (or what’s more likely is that the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to be destroyed by the naked truth). “Why would the angel come to us? We’re nothing special,” the one said to another. “What gift could we bring to such a great King?” As I sat in that quaint little church I realized God didn’t tell the shepherds merely because He was extending His love to the outcasts, although He most certainly was also doing that. He called those who had nothing but themselves to bring to the manger throne. This is the heart of the Gospel. Chris Tomlin sings it best, “/if I were a wise man/I would travel far/and if I were a shepherd/I would do my part/but poor as I am/I will give to him my all/“ He paid the price that a thousand lifetimes could never repay, and the response He desires is a life lived in seemingly reckless abandon for Him. It is a response to a the gift, not an earning of that gift. I pray that, despite my lack of eloquence, you’ll see the heart of what I’m saying. We can’t ever give a gift that compares to the One we’ve been given, but we can live our lives in humble reflection of the gratitude we have for that most wondrous gift.
Merry Christmas, guy,
Simeon
