Dec. 23, 2018                        Love                                                    

One of my favorite love stories is “The Gift of the Magi” written by O. Henry in 1905. It is the story of Jim and Della a young couple, with very little money, on Christmas Eve. Jim’s prize possession is a pocket watch he got from his grandfather, and Della’s prize possession is her long thick shining hair. The story goes that Della goes out in the morning on Christmas Eve to find a watch chain for Jim’s watch, and finds that it will cost $21. She looks in her hand and counts out $1.87 in change, realizing it is far to little. Then she gets an idea, she goes to the local hairdresser, and sells her hair for $20, and buys the watch chain.

As she sits waiting at home for Jim to come back from work, Della worries that Jim will not find her attractive with short hair. And indeed, when Jim does get home, he stops short at the sight of her, but does not mentioning anything. To ease the tension, Della suggests they exchange their Christmas presents, and she gives Jim a package, which he unwraps to find the watch chain. Della explains to Jim that she sold her hair to get the chain, and assures him that her hair will grow back.

At this Jim, pulls a package out of his coat and Della unwraps it to find a set of tortoise shell combs to put in her hair, and Jim explains that he pawned his watch in order to get the combs he saw Della admiring in the local hairdressers shop. Ironically, while Jim and Della are now left with gifts that neither can use, they realize how far they are willing to go to show their love for one another, and that is more wonderful than any gift could ever be.

 Another movie I watched recently said it this way, “Love, real love only occurs in our lives, when we love someone more than we love ourselves” That is the beauty of the story, the Gift of the Magi. In our world today, we are often told that loving someone else more than we love ourselves is foolishness, and that we must make others respect us, and that means meeting our needs first before we should give of ourselves in return, counting the good or bad things they do and trying to match it, lest we be treated like a doormat. But this is not love. 

In the book that I use for pre-marital counseling, love is found in the little things, knowing one’s partner, knowing what they like or don’t, doing the things that will make them happy. In short, loving your partner more than you love yourself. This is what love is, and how you can show it in your life.

So what does this have to do with Mary’s Song of Love this morning that we find in our gospel lesson? Mary’s song is celebration of the fufillment of God’s promises to humankind. The powerful will be brought down, and the weak will be lifted up, the hungry will be fed, the thirsty shall drink, there will be justice and righteousness and mercy for all. This is Luke’s version of what John wrote in his gospel. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Believes in him, means believes in God’s divine love, and that means in the little things. Caring for the poor, the stranger, the foreigner, the lost, and the sinner. Doing the little things, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, find work for the unemployed, care for the sick, the dying, and the grieving, demanding justice for all and showing mercy to all. That is righteousness! Not a righteousness of tit for tat, or of the law, but a righteousness of love, God’s divine love in human life.

And that is what we celebrate each Christmas, the birth of that divine love into our lives, so that a world that is filled with darkness, may come to see the light of God’s salvation for our lives. Love. And that’s the Good News of Jesus Christ!