What child is this
Who laid to rest
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet
with anthems sweet
While shepherd’s watch are keeping?
That’s really the key
question of the Christmas season, isn’t it?
What child is this? Who is this babe in the manger?
Is he just a picture on a
Christmas card? A fable? A sentimental
part of our cultural Christmas celebrations?
Or is he symbolic of God, but
a God whose sole purpose is to give me everything I want – to make sure my
stocking is full and nothing bad ever happens to me? Kind of a “good luck charm”?
Or – is it possible that the
baby Jesus…is the Lord of all creation?
The One who existed before anything we see and know…the one who spoke and it came to be?
The one who came not to fill
our stockings…not to give us everything we thought we wanted, but to give us
the one thing we truly needed? The thing
that we could never have any other way – redemption. Purchased for us, not in a manger, but on a
cross.
What child is this?
The answer to that question
is extremely important, because how we answer it will determine what our
response is to that child.
If he’s just a sentimental
part of our Christmas celebrations, then we’ll put a nativity scene on our
fireplace, sing some songs about him and hope that he makes us feel warm and
fuzzy inside.
If he’s a good luck charm,
then we’ll probably spend some time asking him for things – “bless me, bless
me…give me, give me…”
But – if by grace we can see
the baby in the manger as the Lord of the universe – flesh and blood who gave
himself for us…
I imagine we probably won’t
spend a whole lot of time asking for stuff.
I think we’ll probably spend most of our time saying “Thank you! Thank you Jesus! I give you everything. Not out of obligation, but out of joy and
gratitude.”
What child is this?
Lord Jesus, may I see you for who you really are this
Christmas.
