Finding the Perfect Gift

Question: What Christmas present do you buy for the person who has everything?

Answer: A Garbage Can.

Have you ever received or purchased the “perfect” gift? Each Christmas season, Americans spend countless hours, burn several gallons of gas, and pay millions of dollars to buy the perfect gifts for friends and relatives. Then, after these perfect gifts are opened, countless hours and several gallons of gas are used to return what turn out to be imperfect presents. The shirt doesn’t fit. The color isn’t right. The item doesn’t work. So, the perfect gift is returned.

What would be the perfect gift for Jesus? Even though several days had passed, the Bible records that the wise men gave Jesus the first Christmas gifts. Gold is a valuable gift fitting for a king. Frankincense is a glittering, pleasant smelling incense, which is a gift appropriate for deity. Myrrh is an embalming agent, a proper gift for a person who was going to die. Jesus is King, God, and the Perfect Sacrifice for the sins of the world.

While the gifts were symbolic of the identity of Jesus, they were practical.

The editors of the Archaeological Bible state the gifts were the “most valuable, transportable, and marketable items of the day, ideal for sustaining Mary and Joseph in another country.” Shortly, after the Wise Men visited Jesus, Joseph and Mary fled their homeland and went to Egypt, due to the order of King Herod to kill all the boys in Bethlehem under the age of 2. So, the gifts from the Magi were perfect in their symbolism and in their usefulness.

Ultimately, God knew the perfect gift for humanity. He knew our greatest need was for forgiveness. So, in Luke 2:11, we read the words the angels gave to the shepherds. For to you is born this day in the town of David a Savior, Who is Christ (the Messiah) the Lord! God knew our greatest need. So, he sent us a savior. As Paul wrote, Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift (2 Corinthians 9:15).