Nativity part one

I have always loved Nativity scenes. I remember as a child helping my grandmother put out a huge one in the living room every December. It was like a family heirloom. It was huge. It had a large wooden stable and heavy (lead?) figurines about the size of the old-fashioned GI Joes of the early 70s.

Nativity scenes are neither scripturally sound nor do they accurately represent the events of that night, but I do appreciate that they at least attempt to keep Christ as the reason for the holiday. For the next few posts, I’m going to ignore the inaccuracies such as the wise men and the shepherds being in the same place at the same time, and look at each of the traditional characters to see what we can learn from them. Today I will focus on Jesus. The next post will look at Mary and Joseph. A third post will see what we can learn from the shepherds and the wise men.

First there is Jesus. That helpless little form, covered in blood, was the vessel in which the living God poured His essence. That may not be the best way to phrase it but when discussing the Almighty God being incarnate, there are no words to adequately describe it. Jesus was the perfect example of sacrificial obedience. He surrendered everything to become a man so that He could be the Lamb who saves the world.

We often refer to Jesus’ sacrifice as suffering on the cross. While that was a sacrifice, His whole existence as a man on the earth was a sacrifice. As God, He was omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. For a time Jesus surrendered all of those attributes to live with the limitations of a human man. The closest example I can think of is a person willingly becoming blind, deaf, and paralyzed in order to be used by God.

Even worse, Jesus lived in heaven where no sin exists. As a man He was constantly surrounded by sin and wickedness which God hates. Think of the things you hate, that make you angry, or that break your heart. Now imagine being in close contact with those things 24/7 for your whole life. That is what Jesus chose to endure so that He could fulfill the Father’s plan.

Christians are called to sacrificial obedience. We are called to surrender our will and agenda to God, for His purposes, knowing that God has nothing but the best for us. What is best is not always pleasant or fun. Sometimes the best thing for us is painful for a season. We will likely have to give up certain goals or desires because God has something better for us. We can pursue what we want, but if we choose to follow God, we will need to trust that His way is best.

Jesus’ sacrifice gave the hope of salvation to the world. It also made Him the Lamb of God, worthy of great honor in Heaven (Revelation 5:1-14). God will use our sacrifice/obedience as well, both to bless others, and to bless us.

Lord God, take my life, I give it to You for Your purposes. I trust You to have the best plan for me even if it doesn’t seem that way at a point in time.