20th December 2023
‘Tis the season for babies…
…and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger…
Luke 2:7 (NIV)
…or at least one baby in particular. In an increasingly secular society, there are fewer and fewer nativity cribs to be seen; fewer school performances centred around the birth of Jesus; but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
Mary, as the mother of Jesus, was inevitably at the centre of all that went on because her child, like any other helpless and dependent human child, needed feeding, changing, keeping warm, protecting. Anyone who has cared for a new-born child will recognise the process – putting ‘stuff’ into – and catching everything that comes out of – this tiny, noisy, human machine.
Life would be relatively easy if that’s all there was to it. But then this tiny human needs love. Love – that quality that tests our language and understanding, shifting and changing with context, defying definition. Paul did his best in his first letter to the Corinthians. We can take each word in Chapter 13 and study it, to try and nail down the parameters of this elusive quality, ending up with nothing more than a dry dictionary. And it doesn’t get close to explaining how so many parents can see their infant smile and forget the sleepless nights, the endless washing and the worries about health. It doesn’t explain how they may long to take away any pain – preferring to experience it themselves.
The parents’ example with their writhing, noisy, messy offspring is also the example of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the many children who are part of what started off as a perfect creation. We have created a mess – a huge mess – that needs cleaning up. We clamour to be fed, spiritually and physically. Metaphorically, and in reality, we cry at night. We get sick and are in pain.
Christ took our pain. We are fed through God’s word and fellowship with others. And we know that the mess we have created in our relationships and in the world has been, and will be, cleaned up.
At this present time in our world, there is no peace. There is hunger. There is little love in so many dealings we have with each other. This ‘home’ is fraught with unhappiness, violence and – mess.
But there is a plan and it is summed up in a baby, who was born into a nation in captivity, and in the short but eventful life he went on to lead. The baby grew up and it’s a story worth following.
Prayer
Father, thank you for the yearly reminder of the God-designed birth of your Son. Let us not leave him helpless, in the manger, but recognise the person he came to be: our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Study by Maggie Mitchell
About the writer:
Maggie Mitchell attends the Market Harborough congregation of Grace Communion International
Local congregation:
GCI Market Harborough
9 The Point
Rockingham Road
Market Harborough
LE16 7QU
Meeting time:
Sunday 11.00 am
Local congregational contact:
Sinead Henderson
Email: sinead.henderson@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church