A small rustic shed housing serene ceramic figures. Mary and Joseph, with their hands clasp together, stare down lovingly at a peaceful infant Jesus lying in a manger. Shepherds stand by leaning forward to get a glimpse of the beautiful infant. Their sheep are calmly lying around the stable chewing their cud. Three Wise Men are on bended knee holding their gifts in the air for the child to see. Above an angel dressed in white hovers over the beautiful scene arms spread open with an angelic smile.
This is what I remember of the Nativity at my Grandma’s house. Every Christmas season it would be set up, and every Christmas season when she wasn’t looking I would grab the peaceful figurines and recruit them as army men to help fight my imaginary wars. Once I accidentally chipped the tail end of one of the Wise Men’s robes. Imaginary wars are brutal like that.
Many homes in the U.S. and around the world have similar Nativity scenes displayed. All depict a peaceful and serene moment when divine became flesh. Most, when thinking of the birth of Jesus Christ, imagine those angelic Nativity scenes. But, I imagine the real Nativity was far from peaceful imagery we have in mind.
Think about it…first, an engaged girl becomes pregnant, and her fiancé knowing it wasn’t by him has enough concern for her to quietly break the engagement (by law he could have had her stoned to death). After angelic intervention declaring the child would be the Messiah, the fiancé takes her back. I can’t imagine the wild thoughts racing through the couple’s heads at the prospect of raising the Savior of the Jewish people. The couple probably had a myriad of emotions; fear, nervous anticipation, confusion, doubt, excitement. The man and his pregnant fiancé travel to Bethlehem, surely not an easy task. Then the man frantically tries to find lodging for the soon to give birth woman. A stable is the only available shelter. (Now, I used to raise livestock, and a barn is not a desirable place to give birth.) Itchy straw, manure, and pungent smells are the commodities for Joseph and Mary. Then comes the pain and confusion of this young woman’s first labor. Her screams and moans no doubt kept the animals at bay. Finally, after much struggle, the infant is born. His screams from being thrust into the harsh cold new environment fill the stable. The baby is cleaned, nurses, and wrapped up to lay in the only available crib – a feed trough. Joseph no doubt cleaned it the best he could, but grain crumbs are still lodged between the rough boards. A group of dirty shepherds arrive from the fields to see this amazing infant the angels sang about. In the back of everyone’s mind they are wondering if this helpless infant is really who the angels promised him to be. And the wise men? They are no where to be found. They are just beginning their journey towards the peculiar star in the sky.
This account isn’t exactly how it happened either, but I imagine its a little closer to reality than the images of modern day Nativities. Why do we imagine Christ’s birth as peaceful and perfect? Even though Jesus was fully God he was also fully human, and humanity can be messy, dirty, and uncertain. Jesus cried as a baby, dirtied his undergarments, and spit up after he nursed his mother.
Christ’s birth was as unglamorous and any person’s birth, perhaps even more so given the surrounding and circumstances of it. What an amazingly peculiar way for God to physically enter our world. The nativity models perfectly the humility of Jesus Christ. It shows how from the incarnation all the way through to his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ lowered himself and laid himself down for us. Christ was willing to leave heaven to come to earth as a man. Not just a man – a baby. Not just any baby – one born in the humblest of circumstances.
Jesus’ willingness to enter our imperfect world gives me assurance that he is willing to enter my imperfect life. What a Savior.
No comments:
Post a Comment