Nativity defies logic


During this season of the year, it’s a good time to slow down and read the Bible story of Jesus’ birth. Its claims are so shocking that it’s easy to trivialize or dismiss altogether. If true, however, the nativity is a compelling event offering enduring hope for our broken world.

This age-old story asserts that 2,000 years ago, in a backwater village outside Jerusalem, the unthinkable happened: God stepped out of heaven and became human in the person of Jesus Christ.

Talk about close encounters! Eternal spirit became visible, holdable, pierceable. The maker of the Pacific Ocean took on flesh, two eyebrows, a liver, and floated in amniotic fluid. Unlimited power became weak, needy, dependent upon the nourishment of a young mother.

During a December 1973 broadcast of “60 Minutes,” reporter Harry Reasoner said it this way: “… it goes beyond logic. It is either all falsehood or it is the truest thing in the world. It’s the story of the great innocence of God the baby – God in the form of man – and it has such a dramatic shock toward the heart that if it is not true, for Christians nothing is true.”

According to the book of Luke, the “Angel of the Lord” appeared to a group of frightened shepherds to announce the blessed event. “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11).

And the detailed signs given to identify the newborn king strike a chord of curiosity. “ … this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12).

In ancient times, swaddling cloths were torn strips of fabric used to snugly wrap babies for security and warmth. A manger was a feeding trough for animals, typically found in a dirty, smelly stable of some kind.

Let this sink in for just a moment … torn rags and a feeding trough.

If the story is true, and this child really was Immanuel – “God with us” – why would he allow himself to be clothed in such humble garments and placed in a crude crib?

Perhaps these signs were not only for the shepherds long ago. Maybe they are timeless tokens pointing to the humble nature of Christ and the transforming work He offers today. Through them, I can imagine Jesus saying: “I still wrap myself in torn rags – not as a baby in swaddling cloths, but as a crucified and resurrected Savior. When welcomed, I come to the broken, frayed fabric of your life, places torn by your own sin and the sin of others. When invited, I come to dirty and smelly stables, too. There, I take upon myself your rags of shame, guilt, hopelessness, fear, anger and injustice. In exchange, I freely offer myself as an ongoing feeding trough of mercy, hope, peace and strength.”

Jesus’ brother, James, assures us that when we humbly draw near to Christ, He will draw near to us (James 4:8). This season, why not cash in on the offer?

Perhaps we’ll experience a gift exchange: rags for divine kindness. Paul, a former persecutor of Christians, boldly wrote that through Christ, “all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe – people and things, animals and atoms – get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.” (Colossians 1:20, The Message).

As we yield “the government” of our lives to Jesus, might we experience some aspect of the hope, guidance, comfort and wonder the prophet Isaiah ascribed to him: “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6).

John Weisman lives in Warren and is a manager of marketing communications for a business consulting company. Prior to that, he served as a pastor for 10 years in the Youngstown community.

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