The unrealistic Nativity scene

 

My mind works in weird ways, and I don't blog about everything I think about... I might be committed to a nice padded cell if I did, but I was thinking Christmas thoughts last night, and while I sat gazing at our Christmas tree with boring everyday white lights, I was thinking about that first Christmas. And it hit me. My Nativity scene, and probably most of them out there, are not realistic.

  No, I'm not talking about the wise men. There are people who think they shouldn't be in a Nativity scene since they came later when Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were in a house. I don't think its that big of a deal, and have my wise men in the stable. I'm not about to set them across the room somewhere like they are on their way....... that would be weird.

  If you have a Nativity scene, look at it. What do you see? Mary, Joseph, the wise men, a shepherd or two, some animals, and baby Jesus in the manger. And that is the unrealistic part. He is in the manger. Yeah, I know He was laid in the manger for his bed, but do you really think that is where He would be with people there to see Him? What do you do when you go to see a new baby? You don't stand back and just gaze at the baby. Granted, this was no ordinary baby, but still.....

  A few months ago, I was at the hospital where I work as a security officer when I ran onto my cousin who was there to pick up her daughter and new grandson, who had just been born a couple of days earlier. I walked down with her to the maternity ward to see the baby. After saying hi to the new mother and her two siblings, I asked what comes naturally when seeing a baby, "Could I hold him?" The mother passed the little bundle of joy to me, and I stood gazing down at one of life's miracles: a new baby.

  I wasn't in the waiting room for all of my 6 nieces and nephews birth, but I was there as soon as I could be to see my new niece or nephew and hold him or her. There's just something about holding a baby. Only the hardest and evilest of hearts is not moved by a baby.

(Me, holding my oldest nephew, Josiah, 12 years ago)

  Now imagine the shepherds gathered in the stable. Most likely they were fathers who had held their own children and maybe grandchildren. Being shepherds, they had also held small lambs and carried them on their shoulders. I have to imagine that it was the natural thing for them to ask, "Could I hold your baby?"

  Picture the scene. Dirty, smelly shepherds holding God Himself. They had held babies before, but never a baby like this one. They had held lambs many times, but never had they held the Lamb of God Himself. A Lamb that would one day die for their sins, and for the sins of the whole world.

  This baby was God in the flesh. King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but He was here on earth as a baby. Mary held Him and nursed Him at her breast. Joseph held Him, played with Him, taught Him how to be a man....... I cannot imagine that these lowly shepherds, the people God first invited to see the Savior of the world in a stable, just stood and gazed at this baby. No, they held him. Passed Him from one to another, rubbing his cheek, having God Himself grab their rough and worn fingers in his tiny hands. I'm sure they knew He was special. Having angels appear with their message spelled that out loud and clear. Did they realize just who they were holding? They may have had an idea.

  But He was still a baby. A baby to be held and loved.

 It is easy to look back at Bible characters who walked with Jesus, who saw Him in person, and wish we had been there. Can you imagine holding a baby and knowing it is God Himself in flesh?

 I was thinking that. What it must have been like to be there, seeing and holding the Baby Jesus. But the shepherds left and Jesus stayed there in the stable with Mary and Joseph.

 I am reminded of what Kyle Idleman said in his book Not a Fan: "We are often envious of people in the Bible who talked with God, who saw Jesus and walked with Him. We can't wait to get to Heaven and ask them what it was like, to walk and talk with Jesus. To hear God speak to them in an audible voice."

  Kyle goes on to say this: "But we may have it turned around. It may be them wanting to ask us what it was like to have Jesus living IN us. In our hearts." Interesting thought, and it may have merit. The shepherds walked away, taking the joy of holding and seeing the Baby Jesus, God in flesh. But He stayed behind.

  We can't physically hold God, but don't we have it better than the shepherds? We can have Jesus in our hearts. with us 24/7 every day of the year. He is with us wherever we go. We don't have to go somewhere to see Him, to talk to Him. He is in us. With us. Emmanuel.