Luke 18:35-43 “What’s in the Box?”
One Christmas when I was young and our little house very
crowded, my father set a refrigerator box next to the tree with mom’s name on
it. We were very excited and wanted to see what was in the enormous box. Mom
started to unpack the box. Wadded up newspaper, sheet after sheet came out. Finally,
she has to crawl into the box to get all the waded paper out. In the bottom was
a lovely ballpoint ink pen. Mom was so pleased with her gift. But I want to
tell you about another Christmas Box.
It was late at night and everyone was asleep, just as they
should be on Christmas eve. That’s when it happened. A hand reaches out and
slips a small box wrapped in bright paper under the tree. It’s not as big as
the others, in the morning it quickly is lost in the rush for bigger packages
and bags. Wrapping flies all over the room and the little gift gets covered
with paper and bows. In the process of picking up the little gift slips under
the tree skirt. Soon it’s a new year and time to put away Christmas. As Father
takes off the tree skirt and gets ready to take the tree outside he finds gift
and wonders at it. There is no tag that says to and from. He places the gift on
the coffee table where it sits forgotten.
The next day decorations are being packed to be put away in
the attic for next year. In the hurry of putting things away the gift is
mistaken for a decoration and put into a box and packed away. The next
Christmas when it is taken out of storage it is placed on the coffee table and surrounded
by candles. Now every year the gift is put out as a decoration without a thought,
no one knows who it is for. No one knows who it is from. More importantly no
one knows what is in the box.
Today I want you to know what’s in the box. But what does
blind Bartimaeus have to do with our forgotten Christmas gift.
Bartimaeus and a friend are begging by the road when they
hear Jesus is coming by. Bartimaeus has heard great things about Jesus,
wondrous things. So, he starts to shout out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on
me.” The crowd wants to hear what Jesus might say and they tell the blind man
to shut up. Blind Bartimaeus just shouts louder until Jesus commands him to be
brought over. Before the feet of Jesus the blind man says again, “Jesus, Son of
David, have mercy on me.”
Jesus ask a strange question, “What would you have me do for
you?” did Jesus not know the man was blind? Or could there be more? What if
that question were asked of you? What if at the feet of Jesus you were to hear
Jesus say to you; “what would you have me do for you?” What might you say?
Wait before you answer, think about what you really need. Forget
money, forget things, this question is to great for those kind of things. To
answer this question you need to go deeper into your heart and soul. Take a
moment to search for what you really need. What you need; is it love? Is it
forgiveness? Is it understanding? Do you need healing? Do you need answers? Do need
release from bondage? What is it that you want Jesus to do for you?
Well by happy coincidence the forgotten gift belongs to you.
Inside is what you really need. All that is required is that you open the gift.
How do you open this gift? First answer Jesus’ question. “What
would you have me do for you?” Now thank him for what you know is inside the
box. It’s not new for it’s been there all along, it’s not what you expect but
it is what you need. Hold it, treasure it, experience it, for it is yours!
And now you know what’s in the box.
