12/24/2009 THE SECOND GIFT
THE SECOND GIFT
“And she gave birth
to her firstborn son & wrapped him in bands of cloth, & laid him in a
manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” ---- Luke 2:7
In early
The Mennonites, Amish, Quakers, Scots-Irish
Presbyterians, Baptists, & once-stricter
Methodists were almost anti-Christmas, compared to their afore-mentioned
Christian cousins. Christmas day went
largely unnoticed & uncelebrated among them. These faith groups, known for their plainness
& simplicity, rejected such over-the-top worldly celebrations. As a matter of fact, the Pa. Dutch introduced
the mischievous & earth-tone clad Belsnickel
to counter St. Nicholas, that long-ago Eastern European bishop festooned in
bright red & white & gold. Der Belsnickel carried a hickory switch
to discipline naughty children, unlike the kinder, more benevolent saint. Quakers even referred to December 25th
as “the day called Christmas,” not
even able to bring themselves to identify it as the day selected to celebrate
the Incarnation, the Nativity of Our Lord.[2]
Let me be clear.
One cannot justly chide the more austere believers as “Scrooges.” Despite their disdain for pomp &
festivities, these Christians possessed a generosity of giving to the needs of
others. They embodied, arguably, the
Christmas spirit at its best. Far be it
from the Amish & Mennonites to shirk their responsibilities toward neighbor
& enemy, alike, any time of year!
Each of these Christian denominations
was present in force during
Ever since, we, Pennsylvanians, contemporary heirs to
the Penn legacy, have been of two minds when it comes to Christmas. Go to the
At
A telling sign of the hard economic times? Hardly.
In keeping with the charitable practices of the other half of
Pennsylvania’s Christmas customs, the people of Christ Church devoted
exceptional funds, time, & energy to persons in need this season. The Alternative Gift Fair raised over $5,000
for 16 charities. Adopting five needy
families was not enough this year. We added a sixth, yet still ran out of gift
tags for these parents & children, as you diligently cared for each item on
their lists. The tender love & care
so many of you put into researching the right size or color for an article of
clothing, or spending a bit extra on a fitting accessory that wasn’t on their
lists, bespeaks a compassionate munificence.
Feeding so many at the breakfast on December 12, while providing
appreciative parents with free pictures of their children on Santa’s lap – something for which businesses
charge exhorbitant fees – added a gracious touch to a hot, filling, free meal.
Sharing our goodwill with others, as God extends
goodwill to us, is the best of the Christmas spirit. You have given some marvelous Christmas
presents in a humble, quiet way & not only this time of year. Thank you.
The tradition of gift-giving on this holiday began
with three learned astronomers/astrologers whom we call Magi, the Wise Men, the
Three Kings. Although scripture does not
say how many of them visited Jesus, we presume that because there were three
gifts, there were three kingly visitors.
Gold, fran-kincense, & myrrh were the first recorded gifts …
according to Matthew’s account.
Luke’s narrative tells of the real first gifts,
although no one thinks of them as such.
The first present given to the Christ-child was the
bands of swaddling cloth. They are
Mother Mary’s maternal material gift of care & cuddling to keep her baby
comfortable, warm, & as some scholars suggest, to keep the newborn’s limbs
straight. The first gift was from Mary,
not the magi.
The second gift … was a manger, a place to lay the
infant. Unlike swad-dling clothes, &
certainly unlike gold, frankincense, & myrrh, a manger was not a dandy gift,
no matter how we try to romanticize it. A
stable, or a cave as some suggest, was a bad enough place to deliver a
baby. Who would ever consider allowing
for a baby’s crib, the foul & fetid feeding trough of domesticated animals? What were persons thinking?
A manger, though, did make for a unique sign, the
kind of marker that sticks out like a sore thumb for night-time travelers to
find. Indeed, the shepherds had no
problem locating Jesus in such an uncommon bed.
Low-life, filthy, & shiftless societal outcasts like shepherds couldn’t
imagine placing their own children in
such bed.[3] Yet, they were told, a newborn king would be
in this one. To label it “remarkable” is
an understatement.
Even the story’s narrator, Luke, is aghast. He had
to mention the manger when he told us where Jesus was born. He had to recount it a second time because it
was a distinct part of the angels’ directions to the shepherds. He didn’t have to note it the third time,
when he again reminds readers that when the sheep herders arrived, they didn’t
just see Jesus & his parents.
Oh, no! They discovered a baby
“lying in a manger” of all things! He
could have simply said they found the holy family, & left it at that, but
rubs our noses in this shameful provision.
He reports the news with an incredulous tone of, “Can you believe it
? A manger?!?”
I can see Luke recoiling, incredulously shaking his
head, as he pens these words on his manuscript some years later. I can imagine him silently wincing as he
wonders, “Why? & “How?” “Why did
this happen to Jesus? Did it have to
happen this way? How could anyone allow this travesty to occur
to any baby, let alone the long-awaited & predicted Messiah? Why didn’t one of the visitors supply
something better?”
This baby would grow up to give humanity the two
greatest command-ments: love God & love one another. We are mindful that the man who taught us how
to best care for our fellow humans, was not treated so well himself by humanity
during his first day on earth (a situation that didn’t improve during his last
day on earth 33 years later).
To redeem the wrong of that Nativity’s night, we can bring
his teaching to life, while also redressing this injustice.
The presents we gave our adopted families this year
are not like expen-sive treasures of gold, frankincense, & myrrh. They are like the bands of cloth which Mary
gave: necessary, from the heart, for the genuine welfare of someone.
And, lest we become puffed up with arrogance at our
giving, let us recall that second gift. Humankind’s
legacy to Jesus in his first hours here was a mangy manger where he would repose. If only we could correct that one!
We can. One
cannot change history, but can redeem injustice, such an injustice, such an injustice as this. To do so, you don’t need to shop, spend any
money, or do any wrapping. The gift of
where Jesus can reside, where his Spirit can rest this night & forever, is
your heart.
The first gift his mother gave. The second gift, then & now, comes from
us.
Make it a Merry Christmas.
Copyright 2009 by G.D.Knerr at
[1]
See “O Christmas Cookies!” in The
[2]
Perhaps with secular culture being so disdainful
of the holiday’s true meaning, Christians should refer to it as the Nativity,
not Christmas. Our society treats
Christmas as something other than the incarnation of Christ; it’s a winter
holiday, a break from school & work, a time to boost the economy. Calling our celebrations “the Nativity,”
captures this day’s meaning still & reveals what it really is about.
[3] “The Gospel of Luke” commentary by R. Alan Culpepper in The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 9, pg. 65.