Day 30 - Monday, December 26
Title: GOD’S GIFT SPURNED
Scripture #1: Luke 13:34
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” 
Scripture #2: John 1:10–13
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Poetry & Poet:
“The Ballad of Befana”
by Phyllis McGinley

Befana the Housewife, scrubbing her pane,
Saw three old sages ride down the lane,
Saw three gray travelers pass her door -
Gaspar, Balthazar, Melchior.

"Where journey you, sirs?" she asked of them.
Balthazar answered, "To Bethlehem,

For we have news of a marvelous thing.
Born in a stable is Christ the King."

"Give Him my welcome!"
Then Gaspar smiled,
"Come with us, mistress, to greet the Child."

"Oh, happily, happily would I fare,
Were my dusting through and I'd polished the stair."

Old Melchior leaned on his saddle horn.
"Then send but a gift to the small Newborn."

"Oh, gladly, gladly I'd send Him one,
Were the hearthstone swept and my weaving done.

"As soon as ever I've baked my bread,
I'll fetch Him a pillow for His head,
And a coverlet too," Befana said.

"When the rooms are aired and the linen dry,
I'll look at the Babe."

But the Three rode by.

She worked for a day and a night and a day,
Then, gifts in her hands, took up her way.
But she never could find where the Christ Child lay.

And still she wanders at Christmastide,
Houseless, whose house was all her pride,

Whose heart was tardy, whose gifts were late;
Wanders, and knocks at every gate,
Crying, "Good people, the bells begin!
Put off your toiling and let love in."

GOD’S GIFT SPURNED

Mothers know the satisfaction of a clean house. We know it partly because of how rare it is, and when the stars align and we have time and peace enough to scrub the floors and set the toy shelves in order, to look on our treasures clean and in their places, we feel the joy of our accomplishment deeply. In fact, as I write this devotional I am basking in the pleasure of a freshly cleaned house. The kids are with my husband at the Nutcracker and I have had the entire morning to make ready our house for the Christmas season. The hum of our robotic vacuum is the soundtrack to my meditations, and the smell of bleach and orange is in the air. 

And in my satisfaction that I have all the things in order for Christmas, Befana has a message for me. Making ready to welcome the Christ child has nothing to do with getting the ribbons on the rims of my jars of homemade marmalade. 

I am writing this devotional before Christmas, but you will be reading it just after. What did you (and I) make of the time that was given to us to welcome our Lord this year? Did we clear the way through the clutter of shopping and cleaning, of feasts and decorations, of concerts and performances and guests over to dinner, and make way for the King? The Scriptures today warn us that it’s not always so easy. There is something in us that doesn’t love a prophet telling us that the kingdom of God is at hand, that does not know nor receive the one who made us when he comes. 

And perversely, it is as likely as not that the reason we fail to receive him is because we are so intent on fulfilling his mandate to us, only under our own power. Is Befana not attending to her small domain, ordering and caring for her garden? Yet like Martha she has chosen the mandate to order and care for God’s world, to subdue it, over the call to sit at Jesus’ feet, to walk with God in the cool of the day. Her choice not to get up and follow the wise men to Christ’s cradle is proof that she is already wandering.

I don’t know how we did this Advent season in putting down our garlands and attending to the advent of our maker. But I am comforted by the words of Cynthia Clawson’s love song, which remind us that Christ is not just waiting sternly to see if we got it right this year. In Isaiah 66:13 God likens himself to the mother who comforts her children, who restores them and brings them back into the garden, the promised land, once more. May God graciously draw us to himself this Christmas season. May we find an end to our wanderings in receiving Him, and so gain “the right to become children of God” (Jn 1:12). 

Prayer:
Lord Christ, we are so easily distracted by our own attempts to prepare for and celebrate your coming, and in our distraction lose sight of your presence here with us. Tune our hearts to receive you this Christmas, even if that means leaving all our preparations undone to go and find you.
Amen.

Dr. Janelle Aijian
Associate Director of Torrey Honors College
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Torrey Honors College
Biola University

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