Christmas Wishes

In this Sunday's Gospel, there was a line that struck me.  It wasn't the most important nor did it receive any commentary in the homily, but it stirred something in me. The Gospel was about John the Baptist and the crowd's questions about what they should do to repent.  While it was a powerful scene to imagine, it was the second paragraph that ignited my memory, when it began with the phrase: "The people were full of expectation."

I remember listening to a friend tell a bunch of high school kids the story of his Christmas when he asked for a Bat Masterson cowboy doll.  He said he had made a Christmas wish-list consisting of only one item: that doll.  Grandparents, Mom and Dad, even Santa, all were given the same request.  My friend relayed the story that his Christmas wish had moved into an expectation. "I knew I was going to get it," he said.  What Tony received that year was a black belt.  A present "that was probably more than my parents could afford that year but one that devastated me that Christmas morning."

I remember everyone laughing at that story when he told it.  We all ached for him as a little boy knowing how much he must have wanted that action figure.  As the laughter settled down, Tony told the group of kids that the Jewish people were expecting God to be a powerful king to save them.  They were God's chosen people, and they were "full of expectation."  He reminded us that as good and faithful as the people were, their wish, their prayer, turned into a demand.  And when they didn't get a gunslinger-but rather a baby born in a manger in Bethlehem-it must have felt like a black belt.  

As we move closer to Christmas morning and my expectations rise that I will find the perfect gift for Doreen and the kids, or I wrestle with how to respond to "What is on your wish list, Uncle Chris?," I am thankful that today's Gospel helped me to remember the story of Bat Masterson.  It's a little too easy to let the joy of Christmas wishes turn into a list of things I've got to have or have to do.  My memory of a story about a little black belt came at a perfect time for me. 

It is probably more than we deserve, but God once again offers the greatest Christmas gift we could ever expect to receive: his Son.  Let us rejoice and be glad!

Wishing you a most blessed Christmas and a joyous new year.

Chris