Baby Jesus
Posted by: forthrightmag <forthrightmag@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: FINAL PHASE
Baby Jesus
by J. Randal Matheny, editor
Christmas season softens the heart and allows mushy
feelings to surface. For a few weeks, that's a good
thing, I suppose. We do could a lot worse. A bit more
of it all year 'round might smooth the hard edges of
the world's societies.
In places the mushiness turns to carelessness and
materialism. But what to expect from a holiday borrowed
whole-cloth from pagan religion and given a veneer of
Christianity?
So facts about the birth of Christ get skewed and
retail sales make business owners happy. More than one
way to have joy at Christmas, right?
In the New Testament, there's no reason for the season,
but somebody made up one. And people get mad today when
the season goes from holy day to holiday, from mangers
and creches to crowds at the mall.
BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS
I like to think of the baby Jesus. As the first step in
the fulfillment of God's plan of salvation.
In the traditional creche, the scene is a crowded one
around the manger. Animals. Shepherds. Men from the
East.
But with so many marching through at the beginning,
when the Incarnation came, only one from that first
crowd was present at the End. Mary.
"Now standing beside Jesus' cross were his
mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife
of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene" (John 19:25
NET).
Mothers obviously want to be near their children. Just
yesterday I read an article where mothers waited on the
sidewalk while their children took college entrance
exams in Rio de Janeiro.
But Mary is more than mother, she is, at the end, the
consummate disciple. She takes up her cross at the end
as well, has borne it for years.
The Father is even conspicuously absent as the Son
hangs from the cross and cries tears of pain, as he
must be, to fulfill the plan.
THE KING MUST DIE
Early on, Jesus knew he was born to die. Somewhere
between childhood and his baptism, his human
consciousness absorbed his divine purpose, set before
his birth, determining that there would be an entrance
into the world of men. Part of that divine silence
which we would do well not to linger on.
But Jesus did begin with the end in mind.
Beginnings move toward an end, and endings mean new
beginnings. Something like the English line, "The king
is dead; long live the king!"
GOSPEL MATH
Two out of four gospel accounts begin with Jesus the
adult. Only Matthew and Luke record details of the baby
and child that was Jesus.
All four, however, record his crucifixion, death,
burial and resurrection. And they devote major space to
these events that occurred in rapid succession, in a
matter of days.
Jesus' birth was important, no question there. But his
ministry showed the man; his death, the plan.
CONTEXT
Could the divine plan have called for an adult Jesus to
be beamed down to earth, ready to hit the ground
running? After all, the old Adam, they say, had no
belly button. Sounds plausible, but the new Adam needed
a Context. And that had been provided for him, after
being built up during centuries. Four hundred years of
silence. Whipped-up messianic expectations. Roman peace
and mobility. All in the fullness of time (very
different from the nick of time), says Galatians 4:4.
"But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born
of a woman, subject to the law" (NLT).
SECOND TIME
I was not present at the manger, nor at the cross, when
it happened. I missed the first time, though I have
gotten in on the story since then.
But I'm determined to be there the second time around.
During Christmas, besides thinking about the baby
Jesus, think about that, too.
"... after Christ was offered once to bear
the sins of many, to those who eagerly
await him he will appear a second time,
not to bear sin but to bring salvation"
(Hebrews 9:28 NET).
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