Have you noticed every nativity scene is set up in basically the same pattern? Is there a class you have to attend to be qualified to lay out Baby Jesus and His entourage? Do you need to earn a certificate before you can place everyone in the scene? Think about it. Don’t they all look the same?
First, there’s a barn with hay stuffed in the windows and half fences connected on the sides of the little stable. Baby Jesus is in the manger in the center of the scene, Mary and Joseph will be placed on either side of Jesus. There will be a sheep, a cow and a donkey placed close by but not too close. The shepherds will be spread out on side and the wisemen and their camels will be spread out on the other. There will be an angel there. Where the angel stands depends on what kind of angel came with your nativity scene. If there was a wire stand for the angel, the angel would be suspended in air over the stable. If there’s not a stand, the angel will standing right behind Mary and Joseph. The angel’s hands will either be pointed heavenward in worship or pointed at the Baby Jesus. And the star? Most the time the star is a lone Christmas light clamped onto the top of the stable.
Am I missing anything?
By the way, all of these nativity scenes are wrong. How are they wrong? For one thing, the wise men didn’t go to the stable to see Jesus. The wise men followed the star to a house. When they got to the house, the wise men saw the child — the word describing Jesus in Matthew can best be translated, “toddler.” Don’t believe me? Read the text. It’s right there in Matthew 2.
Go ahead. Check. I’ll wait.
Are you back?
What other clues do we have about this moment? Herod demands to know when the star appeared announcing the King of Israel’s birth. Later, when Herod finds out the wise men have slipped off without telling him where Jesus was, Herod kills every male child under 2 years old. Herod was expecting Jesus to be a young child by now. if that’s true, then you know Mary wouldn’t have let Jesus stay in the stable for too long. How long would it have been before Joseph was house hunting in Bethlehem? Jesus wasn’t in the stable anymore. He had moved on.
One of the unique things about the God we serve is that He moves. The Old Testament prophets taunted the idols of the surrounding nations. “What kind of god is this,” they asked. “If your god goes anywhere you have to put him in your wagon haul him around.” Our God went to Abram and led him to the Promised Land. Our God pursued Moses and took him to Egypt. God then walked with His people from Egypt to their promised home. Jesus walked from place to place and at times, Jesus was hard to find.
That’s the problem when you have a God who won’t stay where you put Him.
We freeze people in our minds all the time. Lovers freeze lovers in moments they believe can’t be more beautiful. Parents freeze their children when they don’t think they can get any cuter. Fans freeze their heroes in their greatest moment of glory and are always surprised to discover their heroes grow old.
And believers freeze Jesus. We have a transformative moment where we think Jesus can’t get more real than He is right now and we’ll try to hold Him in that moment. We remember where we were at youth camp when we were afraid to open our eyes during our prayers because we though we would see Jesus. He was that real to us in that moment. We know the pew we were sitting on, we remember the songs that were being sung, but when we try to recreate that moment we’re disappointed to find out we make it happen again. Why not? Simple. Jesus isn’t there. He’s moved on. Like I said, it’s frightening to serve a God who won’t stay where you put Him.
Christmas isn’t about coming to Bethlehem and to find Jesus. Christmas is about a God who came to Bethlehem to find us. Christmas celebrates the outrageous gospel message that God has come into our world. This God we have been looking for has come to our world looking for us. Christ, in our world, looking for us. Christmas is about a God who pursues His children.
So, if God won’t stay where we put Him, do we have any idea where He might be?
You don’t know? We’ve been singing it for weeks now.
“And His name shall be called Emmanuel, which means, “God with us.”
Christmas isn’t about where Jesus was, but where He is. Immanuel. God with us.
Merry Christmas.
