Grace Presbyterian Church, Montclair, New Jersey

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Pastor's Pulse

by Paul Leggett, Pastor

The Real Meaning of Giving at Christmas

December 2010

“… the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” – Mark 1:3

We associate Christmas with the theme of giving. Our culture inundates us with the idea of spending more and buying more so that we can give more gifts. The ancient Romans celebrated the birth of the hero god Mithras on December 25.  He was the image of the “invincible Sun,” when December 25 was the date of the winter solstice.  By January 1 it could become obvious to the naked eye that the days were becoming ever so slightly longer.  The Romans proclaimed that Mithras was reborn (again) and therefore they believed that a new year could begin.  This was celebrated with parties, gift giving and sports events (sound familiar?).

As we have discussed on occasion, Christians started their own counter culture celebration focusing not on the “invincible Sun,” but rather on the “sun of righteousness” who will arise with healing in his wings (Malachi 4:2).

This, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ whom the early church knew was not actually born on December 25 but whose birth was celebrated that day as both a rejection of, and a witness to, the Roman beliefs.  To this day we witness this overlap every December.

However the point in common is the idea of giving.  The ultimate giver of course is God himself who gave his only Son to free us from sin and give us the gift of eternal life (John 3:16).  This Advent and Christmas season we will begin looking into the Gospel of Mark.  Two themes that are emphasized there are first, that Jesus came to give himself for our sake, as “a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45) and second, that Jesus has a special task for his disciples.  This task has three dimensions to it.  The disciples are “to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons” (Mark 3:14-15). 

What does this mean as we are now in the second decade of the twenty-first century?  This message is a challenging one but it is also a very hopeful one.  As Jesus gave himself, we in turn are called to give ourselves to him and, through him, to each other and to the world itself.  This is the real meaning of giving at Christmas.