There was a story doing the rounds on Twitter yesterday in which people were saying that Mario Balotelli, the slightly eccentric Manchester City striker, has been driving around Manchester, dressed as Father Christmas, handing out twenty pound notes. I spent some time trying to find some ‘evidence’ to confirm the story, and given that I have found none I’m guessing that it isn’t true. But nevertheless I am challenged by it.
Because true or not (and let me reiterate the fact, before I’m accused of extreme naivety, that it almost certainly isn’t), what is Christmas if not a time for displaying extravagant generosity towards others? And, true or not, a story like this challenges me as to whether or not I will be doing anything that even remotely reflects the extravagant generosity of the incarnation.
Because let’s not forget just how extravagant it was: the Father sending the Son & the Son responding in obedience. After all, whilst “Mild He lays His glory by…” are easily sung words, too often dulled by their familiarity, the incarnation was not an easy or cost free thing for God. It involved the laying aside of His majesty on the part of Jesus as (and don’t worry, I’m not going into this one again) He became fully human. It involved temptation on a scale that none of us will ever face as the devil sought to sway Him from His mission. It involved the pain that only a parent witnessing their child making one bad choice after another could even begin to understand as He wept over Jerusalem. It involved the betrayal of friends; the scorn of family; the mocking of the authorities – both civil and religious. And ultimately, of course, it involved death in the most gruesome manner as He bore our sin and shame making it possible for us to come into relationship with God.
And this, all of it and much more, really is extravagantly generous. And as I think about it I’m reminded
of Romans, where we read about the fact that whilst for a good man someone might be prepared to die that Jesus demonstrated His love for us by dying “while we were still sinners”: In other words, He was extravagantly generous to us way before we knew, accepted, or worshipped Him. And I’m also reminded of Jesus’ teaching on the need to love our enemies and not just those who we find it easy to love: In other words, be extravagantly generous even to those you find it hard to be, don’t want to be, or don’t even know.
And so for me the “So what?” becomes this: that if I’m really serious about following Jesus; and if I’m really serious about modelling my life on His; and if I’m really serious about sharing my faith in how I speak and how I live, then I need to find ways of being extravagantly generous: and not just to those who I like, or know, or know will be generous towards me (because how often do we do that? They’re getting me something, so I’ll get them something!).
Because the incarnation was extravagantly generous: it was the Father looking out for the prodigal even while the wayward child was so far away that he didn’t know he needed saving; and it was the Father running out to meet him before he even made it back.
And if we’re serious about living incarnationally as we seek to follow Jesus, then we need to allow His light to shine through us as we seek to follow in His example of extravagant generosity.
And what better time to do that than Christmas?
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