Reading this may offer a momentary distraction from the helter-skelter rush to “be ready” for
Christmas. Not exactly a spiritual experience—yet undeniably part of our culture and, if we are honest,
something we rather enjoy.
Meeting children’s expectations can be especially daunting. First, there is the challenge of
understanding their wish-lists; then comes the task of fulfilling them—whether by venturing online or
taking the boldest step of all: entering the store itself, with its floors and ceilings arrayed in bright
boxes of every shape and size, and with endless potential to get things wrong.
We often joke about the age-old truth that children sometimes prefer the box to the present—yet who
among us is seriously going to wrap only a box this Christmas?
Still, there is something about simplicity. We are held by that simple truth spoken to Joseph: “You shall
call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” It wonderfully sums up the mission of
Christmas. Here was God preparing to fulfil His ancient promise to do something about sin.
That promise in Genesis 3 is extraordinary. It was given in the face of the most tragic betrayal, when
the man and the woman should have been captivated by the astonishing love expressed in the beautiful
garden in which they were placed.
Even more striking, it was spoken before Satan—the most powerful and deceptive of beings—who had
brought this couple, made in the image and likeness of God, crashing down.
But the promise reaches its most mind-boggling height in that it ultimately involved One we now know
to be the very Son of God, the eternal Second Person of the Trinity—come in human flesh, for us. “You
shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
It is simply wonderful. Jesus is the gift we truly need—given despite our base ingratitude, powerful
enough to answer such venomous evil, and perfectly sufficient to deal with the problem of sin,
restoring peace with God.
How carefully, then, we should treasure what we have been given. To ponder the Saviour’s perfect life.
To remember that He was tested in every respect yet without sin. To grasp the glorious truth of
justification and to sense the full weight of what it means to be accepted in the Beloved. To open the
gift—and consider it from every angle.
Jesus, in His life, death, and rising again, deals fully with the consequences of sin.
But the promise is not merely about forgiveness; it directly confronts the power of sin in our lives, as
He comes to save His people from their sins. Opening this wonderful gift must never leave us thinking
it a license to do as we please. His mission is to change us, to banish sin, and to restore the image of
God in our lives.

Stephen Roger