There is something shocking and seemingly unjust in the universe when the gift that the birthday kid gives is greater than the gifts that the party goers are able to bring to the party. But that is exactly what happened at Jesus’ first birthday party. I know it’s shocking to talk about the first two chapters of the Gospels outside of the month of December, but at His birth Jesus was given gifts by kings, but the real reason that He came was to give us a gift. He stepped into our darkness and our exhaustion and our hopelessness to bring us the greatest gift beyond anything our frail humanity had experienced up to that point. And Jesus’ gift to us that was set in motion long before He was born that December night would make the gold, frankincense and myrrh He received look like trinkets in a goody bag. That gift is the gift of Himself, given to us in the person of the Holy Spirit. How did it come to be that He could pour out the gift of the personal presence of the Holy Spirit so freely to us? That is what we will look at this morning as we continue our exciting journey looking at the goal of our salvation—the coming of the Holy Spirit.
