Jesus Is Here

How many Christian sermons around Christmas time have you been in that open with the question: What was your favourite Christmas present? Then the preacher, in an utterly futile attempt to be funny, harkens back to the year of the Scalextric, or their first toy car, or their first set of lego or the Nintendo 64, or their first football or that Arsenal shirt or… you get the picture.

This cheesy, often cringe set up in preaches can be heard throughout churches in England in December. However, and it is somewhat of a big however, the point that is always made after muddling through what is so often sometimes an awkward question and answer session with a typically hesitant British congregation, the point that Jesus Christ, his coming, his dying and his resurrection are the greatest gifts that have ever, could ever and will ever be given to us.

Isaiah 9: 6-7:

6 For to us a child is born, to us, a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.

You see, Jesus is here. He did not come in some mythical story, in someone’s dream, he was not the figment of some mad man’s imagination, he was not merely a whisper on the wind with a slight semblance of reality casted onto some dramatic figure.

Jesus really came, really died, really rose and is now really here.

The greatest present is His presence.

Cheesy yes, vomit-in-the-mouth corny, shove-down-the-toilet-and-flush-repeatedly clichéd but nonetheless true.