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One of the Christmas traditions my parents started relatively recently for our family has quickly become one of our favorites. It is a white-elephant gift exchange where each adult in the family spends considerable time and energy but never more than $15-20 finding a terrible gift to give. Some of these treasures have been so wretched and aesthetically-offensive that they have stolen the hearts and minds of the entire family. We’ve even instituted a rule that these hall of fame gifts may never be thrown away or given to anyone outside the family. For example, one year, my dad received an incredible full-length denim robe that is simply indescribable. If Old Testament Joseph had been born in the American West, this would have been his enviable dreamcoat that drove his brothers insane. After all of us got over our jealousy and the desire to steal my Dad’s new robe, we all agreed to his one wish, that he be buried in it, whenever that day comes.
The custom of a white elephant gift exchange is nothing new or novel. We just had one at our teacher party this week and our teens will enjoy theirs later tonight. But one thing I’ve learned from our family’s tradition is that you should never judge a gift by its appearance. More often than not, the most beautifully wrapped, perfectly presented boxes were the holiday version of fools gold; they looked great but there was nothing but disappointment inside. On the other hand, some of the gifts wrapped in a trash bag or simple brown paper that looks like it had been cut by someone’s teeth, those often were the most amazing.
I couldn’t help but think of this experience as the season of Advent begins to wind down and we look forward to celebrating Christmas in a few short days. My hunch is that most of the gifts that will be exchanged and found under trees will be wrapped in beautiful wrapping paper, full of shiny gold and silver patterns and holiday images. Some will have bows and ribbons and all will be beautiful to look at and impossible to resist opening. Very few will resemble the landmines which will soon find their way under the tree at my parents’ house. And if we had a choice of which gift we would choose, based on appearances alone, most of us would prefer the one wrapped with beautiful paper and flowing ribbons. But is that a good thing?
In today’s readings, there is a certain preference for the people and things the world passes over. Take the first reading for example. In it, the prophet Micah encourages the little town of Bethlehem. Bethlehem was nothing in the eyes of the world. More than that, it was even insignificant in the eyes of the twelve tribes of Judah. It was a one-horse, or perhaps more accurately, a one-camel town. It was the hoosier-ville of biblical times, insignificant, unimportant, irrelevant. Not a place that you would brag about being from. But not for long! Micah shares some shocking news! God will make this little unimportant town, a place passed over by the world, the home of the messiah; here he will begin the salvation of the whole world. It will no longer be insignificant; now it will be known forever and always as a place honored and blessed by God.
This underdog theme continues in the Gospel. Here we have two women who are experiencing unusual pregnancies. The first is that of Elizabeth. She has been barren her whole life and her marriage to Zechariah has produced no offspring. In biblical times, this was seen as a curse and even a punishment by God for some evil committed. She is no supermodel or leading lady! In the eyes of the world, her best days are behind her and her purpose is fading. She is not shiny, new, or flashy. But what does God do? He chooses Elizabeth to be mother of the last and greatest prophet to walk this earth. He entrusts to her the life of John the Baptist, who will prepare the way of the messiah. Yet another case of God choosing what the world has passed by and written off.
But this is not all, nor is Elizabeth’s pregnancy the most unique. She is visited by her cousin, Mary. Most bible scholars believe the mother of God was a young teenage girl around 15 or 16 when she had Jesus. This was common in a time when people’s life expectancy was a mere 30-40 years. To the people her time, Mary was a nobody. She was not a glamorous celebrity whose every moment of pregnancy was covered by reporters and followed by the masses. She was not a member of the royal family or the daughter of rich and powerful parents. This no-name maiden received the shocking news that she would become the Mother of God. And she would do this while still maintaining her virginity. She could have been put to death for being pregnant during her time of engagement. Not exactly the way the world expected the savior to enter the world. And certainly not the person most would have chosen for this honor.
As we enter this fourth and final Sunday of Advent, we recognize that many of the gifts God presents to our world are easy to dismiss and ignore. They are not covered in bright flashy wrapping; they are not the first thing that catches our eye. So many times, the things endorsed by our culture as great or strong or important are little more than fancy coverings, a thin veil that is ripped away when God appears in his Glory! When it comes to sharing his goodness with us, God is not interested in trying to compete with the flashy things of this world. He does not try to win our love with gimmicks or empty promises.
What we learn from the readings today is that God often uses those things and people that the world dismisses as unimportant, irrelevant, and no longer useful. In Bethlehem, Elizabeth, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, we see three of God’s gifts in easy-to-miss, easy-to-dismiss, wrappings. Even today, those divine gifts are all around us but we often look past them, getting distracted by worldly presents that catch our eye and divert our attention. The lesson for us this Sunday is straightforward: do not discount what the world disregards. Do not write someone off because of their appearance or their seeming irrelevance. Do not discount the weak, the old, the unpopular, the unborn, the unknown, or the simple. God may be working through them to bring his love and salvation into your life. Follow this advice and prepare to experience the wonders of God at work in the world this Christmas season.
