C044 12/25/5
© Project Winsome International, 1999
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A LAYETTE FOR THE BABY KING
Dr. John Allan Lavender
Matt.2:1-2, 6, 9, 11
The birth of a baby is always a time of rare excitement. There is something
about the ushering of a new life into the world that is filled with wonder.
Dr. James Kennedy, a dear friend of mine who is the leading obstetrician in
Colorado. Having assisted in bringing literally thousands of infants into the
world, Dr. Kennedy said a very interesting thing one night. We were visiting
in his lovely home, and in the course of our conversation he said, "You know,
John, as long as I live I will never cease to marvel at the miracle of birth.
If I weren't a Christian already, witnessing the birth of a baby would make
me one. For only God could have been wise enough to devise so wonderful a plan
as this."
I think we can all agree. There is something awe inspiring about the coming
of a baby into the world. And certainly the birth of our Savior was no exception.
For added to the natural phenomenon of reproduction was the fact that His coming
was announced by a choir of angels. And the visitors who came to see Him as
he lay sleeping in the straw were directed to His birth place by a star.
We are told that when they saw Him they fell down and worshiped Him. Then, opening
up their treasures, they gave Him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Have
you ever wondered about the strangeness of those gifts? Did it ever occur to
you that they were rather odd things to give a baby?
Usually when we think about a baby gift, we think in terms of a trundle bundle.
A comforter. A crib. A stroller. Perhaps a pair of little, woolly jammies. Anything
to keep a baby warm and help make its first hours on earth comfortable.
But the wise men give Jesus gold. Frankincense. Myrrh. We can understand a gift
of a lovely Persian blanket to protect Him from the cold desert night air. Or,
perhaps a soft camel hair quilt to cover the rough boards of the stable where
He lay. Yes, and having paid the high cost of medical and hospital care to bring
our own particular candidate for President into the world, I think we can even
appreciate the gift of gold. But incense? And oil? Why, we wouldn't give gifts
like that to a baby under any conditions. Certainly we would never think of
making them A Layette For The Baby King.
Really now, don't they strike you as being strange gifts to bring to a tiny,
sleeping infant?
I got to thinking about this a couple of weeks ago when I had a few minutes
to play with our little Jeff. Lucille and I were watching him romp around on
the floor and she said, "You know, honey, Christmas is going to mean more to
me this year because now that we have Jeffie, the story of the baby Jesus seems
much more real. In the past, the babe of Bethlehem was a nice, little story
which I believed. It made me sentimental. But, it was sort of impersonal. Sometimes
I even found it hard to bridge the 2000 years between today and the day Jesus
was born. But now that I have my own little son, it has taken on a brand new
meaning. I can better appreciate what God did when He gave His son to the world."
I knew what she meant. And I think you do, too. It's true, isn't it, that so
very often spiritual things seem kind of unreal to us until there is some personal
association or experience which suddenly brings spiritual truths to life.
Certainly this is so of Christmas. We have done such a wonderful job of selling
Santa Claus to our children, he is often more real to them than baby Jesus.
Reverend Petrillo was telling me last Thursday how their little Cindy was absolutely
bowled over by the fact that, when Santa came down the aisle at our Sunday School
Christmas party last Wednesday night, he said, "Why, there's Cindy Petrillo!"
Mike said, "Her eyes were as big as saucers as she came running up to me screaming,
'He know my name! He know my name!'"
I don't know how real the story of Bethlehem is to her, but I can guarantee
she believes in Santa Claus.
Isn't it the same with many of us adults? The babe of Bethlehem is a nice little
story which makes us sentimental but, at the same time, it remains impersonal.
There are distractions of one kind or another which obscure the real meaning
of Christmas.
That afternoon, as I watched my little boy crawl around the room, I thought
about all the lovely things you and others have given to make life pleasant
for him. And then, knowing I was scheduled to preach on this subject in a couple
of weeks, I found myself thinking about the gifts which were given to Jesus
when He was born.
For the first time in my life, I saw their oddity. And it intrigued me. So,
I went to my study and began digging through my library to see if I could discover
the deeper meaning of this Layette For The Baby King. The longer I studied,
the more I became convinced the selection of these three gifts was not an accident.
For hidden within them is the real meaning of Christmas.
Gold
Take the gold, for instance. What does it symbolize to you? That's right. It's
the one thing most of us value most, isn't it? It's the one thing for which
many are willing to become slaves. It is that for which many, without a moment's
hesitation, are prepared to sell their souls.
"The shine of it has blinded many a man to the vision of larger things and the
clank of it has deafened their ears to the sound of more important cries." But,
as Chuck Templeton goes on to ask, "But what good is gold when you learn your
son is a delinquent? What good is gold when your marriage is on the rocks? What
good is gold when the doctor says you have cancer?"
You see, there is something radically wrong with our sense of values and it's
the purpose of Christmas to correct it.
I imagine that when Mary saw this first gift which was given to her son, she
must have marvelled at the insight of the wise men. For here, laying at the
feet of her baby as a humble offering, was the thing people valued most: gold.
And Mary knew, if no one else did, that her son had come into the world to give
people a new concept of worth. A new set of values which would help them know
that people, not things, are what really matter.
You see, one immortal soul is worth more than any tract of land or any amount
of money. In fact, one human soul is of such infinite worth that later in His
life, this Son of God would declare,
"What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"(Mark 8:36,37)
Yes, there is a message in the gold. A message for all people everywhere who
are prone to take the things of the Spirit lightly. Who are quick to judge folks
by the clothes they wear. The car they drive. Or the neighborhood in which they
live. For people, not things, are what really count. They are of such incredible
worth, God gave His Son for their salvation.
You see, the babe of Bethlehem did not come to redeem the world's gold. He did
not come to acquire a corner on the grain market. He did not come to monopolize
earth's mineral rights. He came to save people. Things are transitory. They
do not last. But the human soul is immortal and thus, it is of infinite worth.
This is the meaning of Christmas as symbolized in the first great gift which
the wise men laid at the crib side of Jesus. The gift of gold. For this Son
of Mary had come to give the world a new sense of worth. A concept which says:
people, not things, are of supreme importance.
Frankincense
The gift of Frankincense is also symbolic of the deeper meaning of Christmas.
Frankincense, you know, was the base ingredient of the household incense and
perfumes which were in common use during the days of the Caesars. It was a kind
of first-century "airwick" which helped bring a sense of beauty into the coarse,
cruel life typical of that time. And one can imagine Mary cuddling her child
close to her breast, filling her nostrils with the sweetness of her baby's breath,
feeling a sense of eternity in her arms as she wonders at the destiny of this
miracle child which God had entrusted to her care and keeping.
And then, into the earthly odors of the stable comes the sweet smell of incense
as the second gift of the wise men is placed beside her babe. By now, Mary has
learned to look beyond the surface appearance of things in search of their real
meaning. In the Frankincense, she sees a different purpose in the birth of her
son. For, surely, He has been born to bring a new sweetness to life. A new freshness
to the world so crowded with the dark odors of fear and oppression and bigotry.
Indeed, He has come to be the base ingredient out of which a new loveliness
of life can be built. For He will teach people how to conquer harshness with
love, bitterness with compassion, darkness with beauty and pride with a willingness
to serve.
And, as we look back in retrospect, we can see how wonderfully He succeeded.
In and through Him, we have
"A Love that can never be fathomed
A Peace that can never be understood
A Joy that can never be diminished
A Beauty that can never be marred
A Wisdom that can never be baffled
A Hope that can never be disappointed
A Glory that can never be clouded
A Light that can never be darkened
A Life that can never die."
Frankincense. The second gift of the wise men. Symbolic of the eternal loveliness
of Jesus and His power to change the coarseness of life and bring beauty where
once there was only ashes.
Myrrh
And then, there is the gift of myrrh. The first two gifts caused Mary to smile.
She had seen in them something symbolic of the glory of her Son's mission to
mankind. But as she sees the third, the gift of myrrh, dark clouds sweep across
her countenance. Myrrh is an oil used in burial. It is an embalming preparation
which helps to protect the dead from the ravages of the tomb.
With a sense of desperation, Mary clutches her babe more tightly now as her
mind goes racing back to the words of the angel: "Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins."
Something inside her asks, "What is a Savior?" And breathlessly she hears herself
reply, "A Savior is one who does something for people they cannot do for themselves.
People cannot die for themselves. Someone must take their place. The angel was
telling me that someone is my Son!" And in one awful moment, she knows her baby
has been born to die.
Was she 33 years too soon in her acceptance of that fact? No. As someone has
said,
"Christmas cannot be faithfully celebrated apart from Good Friday any more than
Good Friday can be fully appreciated apart from Easter."
The crib and the cross are inextricably and eternally bound up as one. And paradoxically,
the message of Christmas is that in Jesus, God was born in human flesh and He
was born to die. Deliberately to die. Primarily to die. For through His death,
people can be forgiven and receive help for today and hope for tomorrow.
Gold. Frankincense. Myrrh. A strange layette for the baby King. Yes. But gifts
which are loaded with meaning, for they are symbolic of His mission to earth.
Gold: Symbolic of God's concern for people and proof positive
that people, not things, are of supreme importance.
Frankincense: Symbolic of His eternal sweetness and never-changing
freshness and of His power to alter the coarseness of life and bring beauty
where once there had only been ashes.
Myrrh: Symbolic of the fact that He was born to die so that
we might be redeemed and live forever.
A strange, but lovely, Layette For A Baby King, don't you think? For unto you,
on this day nearly 2000 years ago, a Savior was born. Merry Christmas!
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