At our carols and cookies service last week, which we did in partnership with Joyful Noise, we had children dancing in the aisle and coming dangerously close to Pastor Troy, who was playing the guitar and singing here on the chancel. The kids were probably just in awe that this pastor wearing a T-Rex Christmas sweatshirt could sing and play the guitar so well.
Whenever I’m around the Joyful Noise kids, I’m always struck by how small they are. And then at that same service, I got to hold a baby. A six month old baby! He was so smiley and so…tiny! I mean, he was an average sized 6-month old baby, but he was so light in my arms. I could hold him with one arm!
Whenever I see toddlers and babies, I always turn to Matt and ask, “Were our children ever that small?” To which Matt always says: “I don’t think they ever were.” Now that both of my kids are taller than me, it’s even harder to imagine they were ever that small. As their mom, I see them every day, and I’ve witnessed Phoebe and Jenson somehow grow to be teenagers and pre-teens.
News flash…babies grow up! Christmastide, the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany, is the perfect time to reflect upon the fact that baby Jesus grows up. It’s tempting to keep Jesus as a sweet baby in the manger surrounded by barn animals, his adoring parents, and kind shepherds. It was a peaceful, quiet, and holy moment during a dark time in history. The moment of Christ’s birth was a ray of light piercing the darkness. But now it’s time to leave the manger and allow the little baby Jesus to grow up.
The time in which Jesus grew up was no less dark than the time he was born. While the power-hungry King Herod had passed away long before Jesus began his ministry, King Herod’s son ascended the throne, and as with all government officials, was in cahoots with the Roman Empire. While there were many advancements made during the Roman Empire, think aqueducts and architectural feats, the Roman Empire still ruled with an iron fist.
It was in this kind of world that Jesus was born and grew up. We talk a lot about, and our own passage from Hebrews states, how Jesus identifies with each of us because Jesus knew what it was like to be a human. He knows what it feels like to suffer, to rejoice, to cry, to laugh, to love, and to grieve. Add to that list that he knows what it’s like to live during a time of political turmoil and under oppressive rulers who care nothing for the poor, the vulnerable, and the stranger. Jesus knows all that is beautiful and heartbreaking about being human.
God could have decided to stay separate, above, and beyond us, and I can’t say I wouldn’t have blamed God if he did. We humans are messy and broken, and therefore we live in a broken and messy world. But I’m reminded by this passage just how personal God is. God not only wants to be with us, but chose to do so in the most intimate way by becoming one of us.
I heard a story once about a farmer who was woken in the middle of the night to see his barn engulfed in flames. He rushed out in his pajamas to lead as many animals as he could out of barn and into safety. And as he was leading the last of them out he looked up into the rafters to see a bird flying frantically in circles not realizing there was a window it could have easily flown out of, but it was on the other side of barn. Being a lover of all animals, the farmer frantically waved (albeit in vain) at the bird to make it fly toward the open window, but it was no use. In sad resolve, the farmer said “If only I was a bird I could lead this little guy to safety.”
This is what God did on Christmas Day as the baby Jesus. He entered into the flames that are our world, to lead us to safety and freedom. To lead us back to God’s own self.
Not only did God become one of us as Jesus Christ, but as Jesus Christ, he experienced what we all experience. Joy and pain. Happiness and sadness. Love and loss.
We won’t know this unless we leave the manger and allow Jesus to grow up. Because when we do, we grow up in faith. We allow Jesus to become more than just a holy, yet small and innocent baby. Jesus became human so that we know a God who knows what it’s like to be us in every way and at every stage – from infancy all the way to adulthood. It was ultimately his suffering on the cross that brought new life to all.
The author of Hebrews reminds us that we believe in a God who knows what it’s like to suffer. As a human. Which makes God that much more accessible and personal. That’s who God is for us.
Scott Bullock, pastor and author says this: “That ‘sameness’ which Jesus shares with us is the special sauce in God’s work of salvation”: 1) He suffers (v. 10), 2) He is connected to us as a brother (v. 11), 3) He shares in our flesh and blood (v. 14), and 4) He is like us in “every way” (v. 17).
Of course, there are essential distinctions made between Jesus and humanity. Fourth century preacher John Chrysostum once said, “He is a son, and we are sons [and daughters]; but he saves, while we are saved. Only Jesus can be declared: 1) The Pioneer of our Salvation (v. 10), 2) The One who “sanctifies” (v. 11), 3) The One who destroys the Devil and his power over death (v. 14), 4) The High Priest who removes our sins (v. 17), 5) The One who suffered to help those who suffer (v. 18).”
To put it another way, Jesus is the one in whom we put our faith, Jesus is the one who gives us faith and empowers us to grow in faith, all while Jesus chose to endure suffering and death so that we could always have new life in Jesus Christ and know that in Jesus, we always have a way back to God no matter how many times we turn away from God.
If we don’t leave the manger and allow Jesus to grow up, we will miss why he was born into our world in the first place. Christmas is just the beginning of how God changed everything through Jesus Christ. Will we allow Jesus to grow up by sharing our pain, suffering, and fears with him through prayer? Will we allow Jesus to grow up by allowing him to be our savior and Lord, who commanded us to love God, our neighbors as ourselves? Will we allow the baby Jesus to grow up by realizing that a faith in Jesus is not just a personal relationship involving a “me and Jesus” mentality. Not that that isn’t true, it’s just not the whole truth. Because Jesus also wants us to be his hands and feet in the world, to serve and love others out of the love Jesus has for us. That means our faith in Christ has to go beyond the love Jesus has for me to the love that Jesus has for us all. So I hope and pray this Christmas that we would allow Jesus to grow up. That with Jesus we would leave the manger and be changed by all Jesus said and did as a grown adult.