Throughout December we now witness a different kind of Christmas tradition that has become an annual event.
We see all the protests that get lodged about this or that nativity scene that is on, or is too close to, public property. Some respond to this by asking, “How could anyone be against something so pretty and beautiful and hopeful?”
But maybe the people who protest such things are more in touch with the deeper challenge that the Babe in the manger presents than we ourselves are at times. If you don’t want your world turned upside down, if you don’t want to be assailed for your sins and proffered a bloody salvation on a cross as the way to have those sins forgiven, then you won’t want to see the manger scene.
God’s grand and cosmic challenge to sin and selfishness, to violence and greed, is very much on display at Christmas.
Christmas is about the One who would ultimately give up his own life to save everyone else. The wider story does not end in death.
At the end of the day, life triumphs because the very little Jesus who elicited this firestorm of hatred from the sinful people of this world found a way to unmake hatred and violence from the inside out.
By letting himself get caught up in this world’s web of violence and deceit, of death and destruction, Jesus managed to defeat these powerful forces in a way brute force itself could never have done.
Jesus’ birth right in the middle of this world’s suffering is the only hope we’ve got for now or any future time.
Thanks to Scott Hoezee
How has the Manger Scene impacted YOUR life in a significant way?
THE BEST OF ALL GIFTS AROUND ANY CHRISTMAS TREE: THE PRESENCE OF A HAPPY FAMILY ALL WRAPPED UP IN EACH OTHER!
