The angel said to her (Mary) “Do not be afraid, Mary you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His Father David, and He will reign over the House of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end.”

It was Christmas Eve. The stores were filled with brightly lit trees and enticing gifts. In one store, a Christmas store, there were thousands of bright and shiny ornaments, each one hoping to be taken home. On one tree hung a one armed Christmas soldier. He stood straight and tall looking his best, but everyone looked right passed him. No matter ho hard he tried, he wasn’t quite right, seemingly just not good enough.

As closing time drew near, he knew his chances of being taken home were growing slim. Imperfect as he was, he’d be cast aside - left out forever. At one minute to closing just when things looked the darkest, a man entered the shop. He looked over all the ornaments with care and from all there were to choose from he chose the one armed soldier, the imperfect one.

As He carefully handed the ornament to the clerk he said, “He’s just like us. We are imperfect, but the love, the love of Christmas makes us whole…. You see Christ came to us at our darkest hour. He loved us so much that by His death and resurrection we are made whole, made perfect. You may only see a one armed soldier, but I see a soldier made whole by the love of Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” the man said as he took his precious bundle from the clerk. “May God bless you and make you whole.”

The soldier was standing there trying his best to make himself presentable and acceptable so that He might be taken home. In our sinfulness we try to do that. We try to make ourselves acceptable to God by doing all manner of good works. We fill our minds with good intentions; we do acts of charity. Some well meaning and others in repayment for all God has blessed us with, as if to curry His favor so that He’ll continue to bless us in the months ahead.

Just this week I saw this “giving because I got” thinking in the comic strip “Heart of the City”. In it ten-year-old Dean has given Heart, his fifth grade friend, a locket for Christmas.

She responds angrily, “Dean! Why’d you get me something for Christmas?”

“Well, I just wanted to give you a small token of our friendship.”

“Yeah, but now I have to give you something…. and I have no money so I’ll have to do extra chores to make some quick cash…and I don’t have time for that…you know sometimes Dean you can be so inconsiderate.” In our imperfectness we often miss the grace filled giving of Christmas – we only give because we’ve been given to or we want something in return.

Others of us are very good at the works of charity and helpfulness. In eyes of the world some of us are philanthropists, others are a hometown version of Mother Teresa. But The Truth is all of us and all of our works fall short of the glory of God. (Rms 3.23) All of our ((self-) righteous acts ((done apart from God) are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64.6) We are all flawed by sin, “sinful from birth” the scriptures declare. We add to this by sinning in thought, word, and deed. “Oh, the good I would do, this I do not do and the sin I would not do this I do all the time.” But some self-righteous will rise up and say, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name and do all manner of things under the banner of your name? (Matt 7.22a) The Lord declares all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No matter how good our works look to the world; no matter how well intended they are - apart from God they mean nothing, merit us nothing. Because of our sins we are all weak and tottering and our works are fleeting like dried leaves, which we try to hold in our hands, and along comes the strong wind of God’s righteousness and it sweeps us away. (Isaiah 64.6)

But at just the right time and in the fullness of time “the man entered the shop”- Jesus came into the world. He set aside all the glory due Him in heaven. Where nine months before angels attended Him and sang His praises He now lay wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger sung to by ox and donkey. St. Paul writes to the Romans You see at just the right time when we were still powerless, when we were dead in our sins, just when we were trying to stand so tall in our tattered, filthy, and sin-stained uniforms, Christ came to die- for He died for the ungodly-( for you and me and all of us imperfect soldiers. Oh! Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man though for good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this” While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5.6-8)…He came choosing sinners like you, and you, and you, and me, and all mankind. No matter the depth or depravity of our sins Jesus chose us. …He didn’t choose us after we’d made ourselves acceptable to God. He didn’t choose us because of our good deeds or good intentions. He chose us when we were most imperfect in our sin.

He took from us that which makes us imperfect- our sins. He took from us our tattered, filthy, and sin-stained lives and gave to us dress uniforms of His perfection, righteousness and completeness. Where we were crippled by sin He gave us His completeness.

He willingly and in our stead donned our sin-stained rags and hobbled to the cross. There He suffered and died for our imperfections. He died and rose again making us wholly acceptable to God. He died and rose forgiving our sins.

The man carefully handed the ornament to the clerk and said, “He’s just like us. We are imperfect, but the love, the love of Christmas makes us whole.” But the clerk, with seemingly yellow eyes and a hint of sulfur on his breath, hissed at him and said, “Why this one? Oh, they love you now; it is Christmas Eve, but wait until tomorrow or the next day. They will ignore you and reject you; they will curse you and nail you to a cross.”

“You are right,” said Jesus, “ and in their sinfulness they’ll do that and more. Apart from Me they will be left out and overlooked; Apart from Me they will be cast aside forever and perish eternally.” I came to save sinners by My life- God with them; My death- a God pleasing sacrifice made for them; and my resurrection- God victorious for them. I came to make them whole.

All around us people in real danger of being left out eternally. They, like us, need to hear of the One whose Love makes us whole and perfect. They need to hear of the One who has chosen each of us and wants no one left out. They need to hear about the Babe of Bethlehem, the God/man who taught in Galilee, our Jesus who died on the cross outside Jerusalem, and the Christ who rose again on Easter. They need to hear of the One who freely makes us perfect.

All around us are people who may feel or have been told in so many words that they deserve to be left out- “My sins are too great, too dastardly.” Others have been pushed out, overlooked, or left behind. And still others have been deceived by false gods. They, like us, need to hear about the one who makes us whole not just at Christmas but all the days of our lives. They need to hear about Jesus. The One who came at one minute to closing and chose us who were imperfect to be made perfect and whole by His life, death and resurrection so we’d have a home now and forever. Amen.