This Christmas as we are blessed with two babies in the family
circle (and offspring from almost-toddler [further afield] to sixteen-in-three-days)
I’ve stopped to consider anew the wonder of God in the manger. God as a babe,
come to the world.
We speak of God being born into the most humbling of
circumstances … wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, His mother
a young virgin who feared God and who married a carpenter, shepherds their first
guests. No palaces, no crown upon His head, no royal court to pay homage. Apart
from the wise men who sought Him in King Herod’s palace, His birth may have
gone virtually unnoticed.
A humble beginning.
As I look at my youngest grandchildren being loved and
carried about (especially by besotted cousins), I realise that it was just not
the beginning that was humble.
God the Creator, a baby … dependent on others … feeding ... teething … learning to
roll over … and crawl … and walk … being a toddler ... learning to talk ... going to school … making friends in the
neighbourhood … welcoming younger siblings into the family … helping with
chores … present at family gatherings … participating in the customs and
rituals of this family which He had chosen to be His earthly one … learning
skills at His earthly father’s side …
Jesus perhaps did all this and more. Willingly.
I’m not sure I would choose to be a child again. To be under
someone else’s authority constantly. To have to interrupt my book or game to do
dishes. To learn to be kind to my sister. To struggle with uncertainty. To go
to bed when I’m told. Or come in to have a bath when I’d rather keep on
playing. To feel that household chores were divvied up unfairly. To compete
with siblings for a parent’s attention. To hardly wait until I could grow up
(only to learn that nothing really changes – household chores are still unfair
and I still have to go to bed before I’m ready).
But the humility didn’t stop there. It continued even in adulthood.
He came not to be served but to serve.
And the ultimate act of humility was to humble Himself unto death, even the
death on the cross.
This Christmas let’s remember the babe. But let’s also
remember His humility and the reason He came. To see the cross always there
alongside the manger. To know that His love and grace extends to us now even
two thousand years later.
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