A baby …
God sent His son in the same form that we have all entered this world. Helpless, small, and easy to relate to by anyone, from any culture, anywhere around our world, in any time of history. I think God knew what He was doing, when He chose to send His son to us, as we have entered the world.
Songs like ‘Away in a Manger’, ‘Silent Night’, ‘The First Noel’, ‘Oh Holy Night’, ‘What Child is this’, and ‘Mary’s Boy Child’ (hum, memories of Boney M … maybe not this song), can be sung sincerely by those who believe in Jesus as their Messiah, as well as by people who simply feel they are singing a nice song about a historical figure.
A baby … unites people.
Recently I was thinking about the baby Jesus as I was singing a familiar Christmas carol to myself (to myself, because anyone in their right mind would never want to hear me sing out loud). The carol is “Christ the Lord is Born Today”, and the first verse goes like this:
“Christ the Lord is born today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heav’ns, and earth, reply, Alleluia!”
When I sought the rest of the lyrics, I realized that I had the lyrics wrong. The song is actually, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” I had gotten Christmas confused with Easter, I had gotten birth confused with death and resurrection.
But did I?
This tortured and bloodied man, was drawn into the blueprints before Mary was ‘with child.’ This picture, this messy, bloody, sickening picture, is why the baby was conceived and born. He, the baby we place (and, to be honest, we leave there, from Christmas, to Christmas, to Christmas) in the manger, was our sacrificial lamb, our redeemer. He, that baby in Mary’s arms, was to pay for the sins of the world, for the sins of me.
But, a bloodied man, dying on a cross … divides people.
God knew what He was doing, when He chose to bring the Messiah to us in the form of a baby. He knew that we could never fully grasp the way that we would be redeemed, saved. He knew what He was doing, and He still does.
One of my favorite artists of today, Ron DiCianni, created the painting to the right. To quote it’s description, “Heaven’s Loss dramatically depicts that while mankind was celebrating the birth of a King, the angels were weeping for they knew what man did not. They knew Jesus was not born for Christmas – He was born for Easter.”
Charles Wesley also understood the price paid for his own redemption, when he wrote this hymn nearly two hundred and fifty years ago. Maybe it is not so wrong to sing it as we celebrate the birth of the one who did the loving, redeeming sacrificial act, and not just at Easter.
itsawonderfilledlife 