Baby Jesus: Bundle of Joy

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:6-7

As usual, the Christmas season has been blowing past me in a blur—filled with final exams, work tasks, shopping, and mounds of to-do lists. I found myself thinking, “If I can just get to Christmas, maybe then I can enjoy it.” And as true as that may be of how I am feeling and how we live our lives, that statement made me stop and pause. Christmas isn’t something to get to; it’s something to experience. And if I was going through the advent season with this mentality, something was off. I searched my heart in an attempt to slow down and I realized that this year the thing that seems to capture my attention centers around the fact that Jesus Christ was a baby. I’ve always known He was an infant, but more recently I’ve been struck by the thought of what that actually meant.

These fresh stirrings on the subject of the Christ child probably have something to do with the fact that I’ve spent a lot of time with the two new littles in my life—my niece and nephew. Being around a newborn (or two) changes the scenery of your life just a bit and I'm seeing that first-hand. These days when I step into my brother’s apartment, I am usually met first by the dog who looks like she is one cry or dirty diaper away from asking to live somewhere else. My eyes then take in piles of tiny blankets and bottles and burp cloths. All around the room, there are baby swings and bassinets and play mats, and car seats. And somewhere within the organized chaos, I find the babies—sometimes awake, sometimes asleep, but usually a combination of the two. Often when one is happy, the other one is screaming, and vice versa.

It can be wildly crazy, but also wonderfully beautiful because amidst all the cries and diapers and formula, there are two tiny treasures that are already uniquely displaying their personalities. Kentley smiles in a way that melts your heart but also has the lungs of a lion. She likes to be rocked and talked to constantly. Liam likes to look around from his perch or absorb cuddles, but he also takes to squealing a lot for no apparent reason. He even has perfected a ninja move that will knock his bottle away when he no longer desires it. It never ceases to amaze me what new things they do when I am with them. But as many leaps and bounds, as they make, the fact remains that they are still completely dependent on us to do everything. Babies are the picture of vulnerability, trust, and dependence because they know nothing else. And in that innocence is a surrendering to someone who knows what they need more than they do at this stage in life.

The more I spend time with them, especially during this time of year, I can’t help but think of the first Christmas and the baby we celebrate. To my disappointment, there’s not a whole lot recorded in the Bible about Jesus as a baby. We know He was swaddled and laid in a manger. We know He got some powerful gifts, and we know His mom treasured all of it. Scripture gives us the smallest amount of details of how He was presented to the temple and of their journey to Egypt and then back to Nazareth, but Jesus’ baby book seems to be missing from the collection. We don’t know where He was when He took His first steps or what His first word might have been. It doesn’t say if Mary and Joseph were sleep deprived or if they struggled to bathe Him or hold His head up as they learned to be first-time parents. And we don’t know if Jesus liked to be rocked or if He preferred to sleep in the hay and watch the world from His safe place there.

As I begin to imagine the scene, I wonder so many things about God as a baby. Did He find the animals in the stable curious? What caused His first smile? When He wrapped His tiny fingers around His parent’s hands, could they feel the power of God the Father in His grip? And what did it feel like for the God who knows all things to become a baby who knew no things?

As much as I would love to know all these things about baby Jesus, perhaps they are not included in the Bible because that’s not really the point of Him becoming a baby. Maybe the point of becoming an infant was that He humbled Himself to a lowly and vulnerable position completely dependent on others. Could it be that the Creator of the Universe “came low” as a model for us to do the same? Maybe Christmas isn’t so much about the stable and the manger as it is a reminder to us to submit to our Heavenly Father in obedience. Perhaps this Christmas the Lord of Heavenly hosts is calling us to willingly climb down from our self-seeking tendencies and offer our dreams, desires, plans, and schedules to His divine authority. And maybe He is asking us to have vulnerable and open hearts that are dependent on Him to give us what we need in this season of our life. 

Jesus could have come to earth in a lot of different ways, but He chose to come defenseless and small. Not because He was small, but because in small moments of obedience, big things can break forth. I think entering as a helpless babe was an example for all of us to enter into His presence the same way. This holiday season, when you gaze upon the manger scene and you see the tiny baby at the center of it all, remember that He chose to do that so a work could be done. The King of the World endured spit-up and wobbly steps so that we, His beloved children, could see what utter dependence on the Father looks like through the eyes of His son. Let us humble our hearts as we seek to follow that example.

Merry Christmas 2022!

-Only Hope