In all the hustle and bustle of this season of giving and receiving, I had a funny thought today: what would God want for Christmas? I should add that these are the kinds of thoughts I usually have when I’m either mowing the lawn or vacuuming the house (the latter of which I was doing this afternoon).

The question made me smile because it seems so juvenile, the whole notion of “getting” God something. I mean, what do you get the guy who LITERALLY has everything? (“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” — Psalm 24.1) But the question did prompt me to think about a much more important question, one that has fully occupied my mind for most of the afternoon: what does God want? I couldn’t help but think about the 8th century prophets of Israel and the message they preached. I thought of Micah 6, which makes for unusual Christmas Eve devotional reading, I’ll admit. No manger, no round yon virgin. No, Micah 6 begins with God summoning his people to trial to account for their idolatry and wickedness. To make matters worse, God Himself is the plaintiff, accusing Israel of breaking her covenant vows with Him. 6.3 is perhaps the most chilling line of all: “What have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me!“ Not exactly the kinds of things you want to hear from God.

Israel’s response is telling (6.6-7):

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

Three attempts to buy off the LORD, each one increasingly more absurd than the previous one. “Can we appease the LORD with a sacrifice of great quality — a year old calf?” In the sacrificial system, calves could be offered anytime after they were 7 days old (Lev. 22.27), so a calf that had been fed and cared for over the course of an entire year would have been considered a choice sacrifice in Micah’s day. But God doesn’t seem interested. “Or how about a gift of great quantity, LORD? Thousands of rams? Ten thousands of rivers of oil?” Again, no dice. Israel’s final offer indicates just how great a breach of covenant has occurred: the offer of a child sacrifice, a common pagan ritual. With this, Israel slinks back, realizing she has offered YHWH all she can offer. Now we’re ready for Him to lower the gavel and hand out a sentence of judgment.

But that’s not what we find. Instead, these words:

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

What does God want? He’s not interested in our finest gifts or the sheer volume of our offerings. Instead, God desires a responsive heart. He wants His people to pursue acts of justice and righteousness for His name’s sake. He wants His people to live in loving (chesed) relationship with Him and with others. And He wants us to walk, albeit with humility, into a future defined by justice and love.

That’s what God wants for Christmas.

Christmas Eve, 2009