Merry Christmas Eve! It’s December 24th, 2025. Tonight, many of us will exchange gifts, and they will get placed under a tree in anticipation of being unwrapped tomorrow. But tucked near the end of John’s Gospel is a gift most people miss at Christmas. It didn’t come wrapped in paper. It wasn’t given with celebration. And it was anything but cheap.
Today's Reading:
John 19,20,21,18
Scripture
“He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.” (John 19:39)
Observation
The secret disciple decided to go public with his faith in a very expensive way.
Seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes was an extraordinary amount. It’s far beyond what was customary for burial. This was the kind of preparation reserved for royalty. Depending on the purity it could have been worth millions of dollars in today’s currency.
What’s more startling isn’t just the cost—it’s the timing.
Nicodemus had followed Jesus quietly. Carefully. Secretly. But now, after the cross, when the danger was the highest, he steps into the light. When there was nothing to gain, and everything to lose, he gives an expensive gift that couldn’t be hidden.
Application
I catch myself doing this every Christmas. I don’t mean to—but I do. I assign value to gifts by the price that was paid. This one was expensive. This one must mean a lot. And then I open something else and think… wait a minute, this came from Walmart!
Nicodemus messes with that way of thinking.
Because his gift was undeniably expensive. Seventy-five pounds of spices. Years of wages. But John makes it clear: this wasn’t the main gift. It was the response.
Meaning isn’t found in the price tag. It’s found in what the gift points to. And his gift points straight to the cross. The most expensive gift was already given to me. It didn’t come wrapped in paper, but in the cross.
Prayer
Lord, thank You. Thank You for Christmas, for the cross, for the empty tomb. Christmas is usually about Your birth, but today I’m reminded that You were born with a purpose—to give us the greatest gift ever given. The most expensive gift. All I can say is thank You. Amen.
–Chris Kiriakos
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