and our fear of generosity
Christmas 1B | John 1:1-18
In an episode of The Office, one of the characters reenacts the 12 Days of Christmas as a Secret Santa. Just think through the song for a second. It’s going to get weird.
Andy is a romantic and thinks Erin will appreciate the gesture. And, of course, all of those birds cause great havoc. By the time we get to the 7th day, there is no room for all of those swans!
This is our day today—the 7th day. Swans are to be a-swimming.
And what makes the jokes work is taking the romantic thought out of a song and making it real. Throughout the episode, Erin shows up scratched up and increasingly upset. Rather than see romance, she thinks her Secret Santa hates her. Why would they do this? She asks.
That play we all have—with what sounds good and how it actually plays out—offers an interesting window into our own sense of romance, beauty, and anticipation. Because another sense of reality dawns as the episode progresses.
Andy keeps giving gifts.
Who does that?
He Keeps Giving
The conceit of the joke isn’t just that the gifts in the song would make terrible gifts. It is also a matter of volume and daily accumulation resulting in a compounding pressure.
It starts with just one bird. The next day, she has three. Then six. And then ten birds. The next day, a ring for every finger of a hand! Then, back to the birds—she has sixteen now. And guess what? After six days in a row, here come seven more birds! And everyone else is getting a mug or some packs of hot cocoa once a week.
We don’t give this many gifts. And we don’t give them constantly. Everything about this hair-brained idea was weird.
And yet…watching it play out reveals something about expectations, gift-giving, and what we account as normal.
So what ought we do with grace?
There’s a vision we get from Jesus much later in the story about God’s generosity, priority, and expectation. That we aren’t to skimp on grace or hoard our resources. There’s an impish desire to be extravagant with celebrating and loathe to pinch pennies.
All of this comes to mind when we read
“From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”
Words of generosity, of course. But we must remember how uncommon and deep this commitment is. We don’t merely receive from God’s abundance. We receive grace upon grace. Seven swans worth.
The gift of grace.
He then says
The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
These are words of distinction, of course. And words that have caused all manner of naming the differences of the Christian tradition. But these arguments distort the character of the gift.
I like to tell the story of the fish fries we attended a decade ago. At one, the rules were laid out and named. One fish or two? Seconds are allowed after everyone has been served. The very thought of having seconds let alone that second piece in the first place made me feel greedy.
At the other place, I stood in line with happy people. They just loaded the food on, saying, oh, that’s not enough! And I walked out with two grocery bags of food for a few dollars more.
Jesus doesn’t render the law bad. Nor is it insufficient. But he’s saying that the generosity of God’s grace and truth is beyond measure. And the generosity of how much grace we’re given encourages a generous response.
What’s Normal?
Here we are, at the mid-point of the Christmas season. And if we’re following common custom, almost all of our gifts have already been given. People are planning on New Year’s celebrations. Maybe football games. The spirit of Christmas has already packed its bags and is halfway out the door.
Of course, the Law would say that’s wrong—we have nearly a week left!
And maybe the Grace is forgiving—we have stuff to do!
But I wonder what it means to offer grace upon grace to a world that spends all of its time and money on stuff. Stuff we unwrap and marvel at for one day and then move on from.
We heap it all on one day and then wait a year and do it again. And we treat the other 364 days like grace isn’t even needed.
We make Christmas the exception rather than the norm.
So, perhaps there is something to the ridiculous 12 days of gifting. Or something it represents.
A spirit of foolish generosity.
There are so many people who remind us of the cost of things. I don’t think we’re poor in that regard! Prophets of the Market will make sure you know the cost and effect of inflation. What they’re not going to do? Help us make sure the person next to us can eat, get medical care, or have a place to live.
We have countless voices telling us what we can’t do.
But who is showing us grace upon grace? Jesus.
His words aren’t about the limits of our generosity, ability, or commitment to the welfare of others. They are about hope, trust, and faith.
And his commitment to humanity isn’t for one day. It is for all time. It never ends. Compared to that, the 12 days of Christmas is nothing!
Our mistake is thinking Christmas ends!
But let’s not give each other dozens of birds and artists performing.
Instead, let’s be generous with grace and love. The same grace and love God has generously given us.
And let us heap it on each other! What’s stopping us? Expectations of judging each other? That’s not like Jesus.
Loving generously, though? That’s totally Jesusy.
May God’s grace be with us, Christ’s peace be with us, and the Spirit’s outpouring be with us, now and forever. Amen.