Christmas Advent Bible Reading Plan: Jesus Is BornSample

To Exalt the Humble

I love writing a good list. Every year for my family, I write down a present list, so they know what I want (and sometimes what I don’t want). I don’t know what was on Mary’s present list, but I highly doubt it was an “immaculate conception of the Son of God.” This turned out to be a really good surprise: Mary sang her gratitude, and we haven’t stopped echoing that song since. Still, when the angel encouraged her not to be afraid because she had “found favour with God” (Luke 1:30), she could’ve responded in many different ways.

She could have said to the angel, “Thanks so much for the offer, but this is a really inconvenient time for me”, or “Ummm...what is Joseph going to say? No thanks.” But that wasn’t Mary’s response, though she was, of course, pretty surprised. Instead, she said, “See, I am the Lord’s servant…May it happen to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38).

Like Mary, we can be caught off guard when we first encounter this message of favour. The Almighty God comes to us and offers us blessing, honour, and salvation. We wonder, How can this be? Immediately, we want to sort out how we came to deserve this, or worse, we assume that we actually DO deserve such favour. We rush to pull together our own contribution to the deal, some way to even things out a bit so we don’t feel indebted.

The proud cannot receive a gift. Only the humble receive with empty, open hands. The proud cannot simply say, “Thank you,” but must pay you back or prove their merit. Only the humble can say, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, because he has looked with favour on the humble condition of his servant” (Luke 1:46–48). Attempting to add ANYTHING to grace is a failure to understand the nature of grace. God simply gives. And we are simply to receive, recognising that we don’t bring anything to the table.

This is the great joy of Christmas. It is not a season of gift exchanges but a season of gift giving. It isn’t about us or how we can impress. Christmas is the season of unfettered, no-strings-attached giving. But even more shocking, it is the season of unfettered, no-strings-attached receiving. God gives, and we receive. That’s it. This is the reason for every Christmas carol. Christmas is the celebration of grace itself, given extravagantly to people who can’t pay it back.

Prayer

God, we thank You for giving us Your grace and your unearned, unmerited favour. Teach me how to receive it with a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving every day. In Jesus' Name, Amen.