What was your favorite Christmas present?   

Put this question to kids after the tumult of a Christmas morning and it's likely to identify whatever thing most closely matched what they wanted.  Maybe they got a Nintendo Wii, a Hannah Montana toy, or MP4 player.

What if the question is answered, "My favorite present is the one I gave away."

Here is an entirely opposite view, isn't it?  The gift given surpasses the gift received.  This matches what St. Paul taught. The last time he was with his beloved friends in Ephesus, just before they prayed together and waved him goodbye by ship, Paul reminded them of the words of the Lord Jesus, "how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35)

Be careful here.  To apply Christ's words legalistically would be a shame and an error.  In other words, to coerce anyone into giving or to discredit another from accepting a gift as if the very act of receiving is inferior would be to twist the beauty of giving into something Law-driven.

Besides, Christian faith itself is nothing but receiving!  Christian faith obtains the supreme Gift which is Christ.  To belittle the benefit of receiving because "giving is better" would disparage faith.  Faith receives.  That's it.  Faith doesn't earn or merit what is received.  And faith certainly doesn't give or "dedicate" anything. 

The Bible never says "receiving" is substandard.  It simply says giving is more blessed.  Receiving is indeed a blessing when the gift obtained is good.  But more blessed is the giving.

Jesus' words echoed by Paul are trained not on the Law but upon the Gospel.  The preeminent and superlative blessedness is the Gift of God given away.  Gifts given are what animate and please Christians as we see in the meeting of Elizabeth and the Virgin Mary.

Here are two dear woman and first-time mothers.  Two unborn sons.  Two blessed wombs.  Two greetings; Mary's salutation at which the child in Elizabeth's womb leaped for joy, and Elizabeth's subsequent exclamation of overwhelming gladness for the Gift given to Mary.

These two women were eye-witnesses to the beauty of gifts given away.  They both understand the source of their blessedness is God's astonishing goodness.  The Holy Spirit surpassed anything they could ever have dreamed or asked.  Neither Elizabeth nor Mary had placed pregnancy on their Christmas list and certainly not pre-born sons who would recognize the presence of each other.  Elizabeth didn't have a standing date scheduled on her calendar with Mary for which she penciled in "Have visit with the mother of my Lord."

No, these gifts were the working of the Holy Spirit, more blessed because they were never asked for or earned.  "More blessed" was the fruit of Mary's womb.  "More blessed" was Mary herself because through her God chose to take upon Himself our human nature.  "More blessed" is the coming of the incarnate Christ which Elizabeth acknowledged was "granted to me."  Here in the pre-born Jesus was The Gift given.  Here was the One whose very presence quickened the child in Elizabeth's own womb and Whose Spirit filled Elizabeth to overflowing.

The Holy Spirit filled her with the marvelous knowledge of the Lord.  He wondrously made known the miracle that Mary, a virgin, carries the holy child who is God and man. 

I don't know exactly how Elizabeth knew.  Zechariah would have been incapable of explaining it even if he knew.   The Gospel is not "common" knowledge.  It is divine revelation, and on this occasion, in a flash of Spirit-given insight, Elizabeth received the blessed surprise of a Gift God Himself had given.

And it wasn't only Elizabeth who received.  John quivered with elation in her womb.  He leaped for joy.  And Mary too is recipient of reassuring words, "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."

Even if Mary and Elizabeth had written down what they wanted, they could not have come anywhere close to what they actually received.  Their greatest godsend, as it is ours, was the Gift God gave away to them and us. 

God gave His Son.  God gave His beloved Son.  God fulfilled what He promised through the prophet Isaiah, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (7:14)

This is not Law.  It is glorious Gospel and glad tidings for all the world.   

This Gospel impacted Elizabeth and shaped her as nothing else could.  She didn't brag on the baby in her own womb.  She didn't say, as many will this Christmas, "Look what I got."  Rather, her every word, inspired by the Spirit, focused on the "more blessedness" of what was given: the fruit of Mary's womb, the coming of Christ, and the blessedness of faith, a crowning gift which receives all that God in Christ has given.

Dear Elizabeth said to her highly favored cousin Mary, "Blessed is she who believed there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."   

Elizabeth understood.  That spoken from the Lord was the greatest present ever given because the Gift was Christ.  Consequently, blessed are all those who believe this unparalleled Gospel.

This Advent and Christmas, may you rejoice in The Gift God gave away --  the Greatest Gift right into your hands.