Silent Night

I can't help feeling that whoever wrote the Carol 'Silent Night' didn't have children or have any friends with young children.

 

       Silent night, holy night

       All is calm, all is bright

       Round yon Virgin Mother and Child

       Holy Infant so tender and mild

       Sleep in heavenly peace

       Sleep in heavenly peace.

 

Whilst not a parent myself, I am surrounded by friends with young children, all of whom can testify that the first few weeks following the birth of their child/ren was anything but silent.

 

All was not calm.

 

They did not all sleep in heavenly peace.

 

However, I have noticed that there is a sense of calm that descends on a room when there is a baby around.  All eyes will turn towards the child, conversations will peter out and a sort of hush descends on the room. 

 

There is something calming and soothing about the presence of a baby.

 

It's the same with Jesus - both the baby and the man.  There is something calming in His presence.  When we look to Him - really look to Him - we find that the other things in our lives fade away.  The everyday busyness is stilled and we find ourselves at peace again.

 

       "You will keep in perfect peace
       all who trust in you,
       all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
       Trust in the Lord always,
       for the Lord God is the eternal Rock."

 

       [Isaiah 26:3 NLT]

 

 

When we look to Jesus and put our trust in Him, all becomes calm and we can sleep in [perfect] heavenly peace.

 

 

 

 

 

Away In A Manger

I don't often think of God - or Jesus - as a baby.

I think of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  God my Strength, God my Stronghold, God my Tower.  God my King, God my Lord, God my Saviour.  God my Hope, God my Peace, God my Healer.  God my Bridegroom, God my Friend, God my Redeemer.

But I received this beautiful Christmas card yesterday, along with my birthday cards and the image of Jesus as a baby really struck me.

 

 

Jesus as a baby is weak and vulnerable.  He is completely dependent on the loving kindness of His parents.  His life is in their hands.

 

I often wonder why Jesus came to earth as a baby: God could have stepped down into this world as a fully-grown man and could have started His ministry immediately.  He could have had one or two years of preaching Good News and healing the sick and then still died on the cross.

 

So why did He come to earth as a tiny, helpless baby?

 

God isn't interested in a quick fix.  He's playing the long game.  He was more concerned about living His life alongside us and being a part of our lives, than He was about His own comfort and convenience.

 

The Bible describes Jesus becoming human this way,

 

        "[Jesus] who, being in very nature God,
        did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

        but made himself nothing,
        taking the very nature of a servant,
        being made in human likeness.

        And being found in appearance as a man,
        he humbled himself
        and became obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!"

 

       [Philippians 2:6-8 NIV]

 

In order to empathise with us and to understand our struggles and temptations, Jesus made Himself completely like us.  He humbled Himself so that He could fully understand our humanity.

 

I love this verse from the beginning of John's gospel, too -

 

"So the Word became human and made his home among us.  He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.  And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son."

 

        [John 1:14 NLT]

 

Jesus made his home among us.  He didn't just pop to earth for a brief visit.  He came to stay and to live alongside us, in all the messiness of our lives.  He came as a baby so that He could grow up among us and enter into our humanity.

 

I love this section of Hark the Herald Angels Sing about Jesus becoming a baby:

 

       "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
       Hail the incarnate Deity
       Pleased as man with man to dwell
       Jesus, our Emmanuel
       Hark! The herald angels sing
       'Glory to the newborn King!'"

 

Jesus died for us as a man.  But He came to us as a baby.  Vulnerable and humble and longing to be loved.

Wrapping Paper

There is nothing more irritating when you have given someone a present, than watching them open it  r-e-a-l-l-y   s-l-o-w-l-y. 

 

You know what it is that you've bought them and you're excited to see their face when they unwrap it, but the longer it takes them to get into the present, the more irritating it becomes.

 

I remember a friend telling me several years ago how his nephews had been more interested in the wrapping paper that their Christmas presents had been wrapped in, than the actual presents themselves.  As soon as they had unwrapped their gifts, they had screwed up the wrapping paper to make a football and spent longer playing with that than they did with their gifts.

 

When it comes to Christmas, sometimes we can get distracted by the 'wrapping paper' too - the extra bits that the real Christmas message is wrapped in.

 

You hear people saying Christmas starts at home, or Christmas is all about family.  We focus on the gifts and the decorations and spending time with loved ones and eating a lot and drinking a lot and watching TV and going to parties and going to nativity plays and carol services.

 

And these things are all good.

 

But they are only the wrapping paper.  They are only the packaging for the real message, the real gift of Christmas.

 

These things are all good, but they cannot save us, or bring us life.

 

Only Jesus can do that.

 

“And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins [...] 

        Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
        She will give birth to a son,
        and they will call him Immanuel,
        which means ‘God is with us.’”

 

       [Matthew 1:21, 23 NLT]

 

 

Let's not let ourselves get distracted by the wrapping paper and the 'packaging' this Christmas.  Let's look beyond the food and the drink and the decorations and the parties and the church services.  Let's look beyond it all and peer into the crib, until we can see the tiny baby who came to save our world.