Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? About a month ago, Brenda's parents encouraged our daughters to write down their "wish lists" for Christmas. Guess what? Our girls actually got some of those things for Christmas! Surprise, surprise!

There's really very little about this season that can surprise us anymore, is there? In fact, there are entire stores at the mall devoted to helping find something for the man who has everything! We can't even surprise ourselves!

My folks managed to surprise me at Christmas exactly twice. The first time was when they gathered us kids together in early December, and said to us, "Now, we hate to say this, but don't expect anything much for Christmas this year. You see, we don't really have any money!"

That kind of shocked my little heart awake! I'm not sure what bothered me more, the fact that they didn't have any money, or the fact that I wasn't going to get a Christmas present.

The other time my folks managed to surprise me at Christmas was the year that they gave me a present that seemed so stupid! I mean, here I am, 13 years old, and they get me this dumb toy that just runs around this way and that! It was a locomotive, the kind you might get for a twelve year old -- but not for a teenager! No teenager would dare admit he got a present like that! From his parents, yet!

But, there's something of that flavor to the story of Christmas we read this morning. In some ways, God's gift to us at Christmas seems all wrong.

I. It's the Wrong Gift (... in the days of Caesar Augustus ...)

For one thing, it's the wrong gift to send.

I know we get so used to hearing about God's great gift at Christmas, that we can hardly think in those terms. I remember the story they told years ago at a church in Grand Rapids. The minister was giving a children's message and he wanted to show the little ones how God cares for even the smallest animals. He squatted down in front of them, and he said to them: "I want you to tell me who I'm pretending to be. I have a long furry tail, and I live in the forest." No hands raised. No nodding heads. So he went on.

"Well," he said, "I have soft, furry skin, and I collect nuts, and I hide them in the trees. Finally there's a little response in the gathering. A young girl raises her hand. The minister nods to her expectantly, and she says, "Well, I know the answer is supposed to be Jesus, but it sounds like a squirrel to me!"

The answer is supposed to be Jesus. We know that. We're programmed to believe that. But think, for a minute, about the world that Jesus entered.

... in the days of Caesar Augustus ... we're told.... in the days of Caesar Augustus ...

What were those days? What was the world like in the days of Caesar Augustus?

Well, those were days of the most marvelous peace the ancient world had ever known! The peace had come about all because of a great savior, miraculously born, and unusually gifted. You see, forty years before this, Julius Caesar had died. And he died so tragically! Remember the story?