Christmas Day 2017

Christmas Day

Monday, December 25, 2017

And she brought forth her firstborn and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luke 2:7

I love this verse that most of us memorized when we were children, and the picture that it brings to my mind. I like to imagine a beautiful, young woman holding her infant tenderly, looking at his lovely face, having the feeling that she has just done the most wonderful thing a woman can do – bring a child into the world. I remember how wonderful I felt when I held our first child, almost as though I had done something no one else had ever done. Not so for me. Our baby was just one from many! But with Mary, it was so! She had just done what no woman had ever done before or would ever do again. She had given birth to the Son of God! She had the huge responsibility of being the mother to Immanuel, God with us!

What must have gone through her mind? She had borne the stigma of being pregnant in a little village where there must have been talk about her pregnancy! This was an extraordinary way to begin a marriage, and she had trusted Joseph not to abuse either her or her baby since now she held this miracle child in her arms. Was she overwhelmed? Did she cry? Did she feel afraid as she realized she would have to protect him, this God-sired child? Did she feel a sense of awe that she would be allowed to teach God to talk, to walk, to laugh, to play, to love? As she did what every mother does, as she kissed his head, his fingers, his toes, did she realize that she was kissing the face and hands and feet of God?

I love to wander in my mind back to that first Christmas. I love to try to imagine how it was and how it smelled and how it looked. I love to try to comprehend what it must have been like to witness – personally and first hand – this most important moment in history, when God entered the world as a human being. I imagine yet I cannot imagine.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.

Father, we cannot relive what we have never lived. We cannot imagine what is unimaginable. We cannot fathom your having allowed yourself to become a vulnerable infant. We cannot comprehend the joy, the fear, the uncertainty that Mary and Joseph must have felt. But we praise you that it pleased you to have such a wonderful plan. We thank you for this beautiful infant who became our Lord! Amen.

The Light of the World
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, 2008,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator.