Look Beyond the Baby in the Feedbox

So we’ve talked about this special Baby who came into this world, why He came, and the circumstances into which He arrived. But the story doesn’t end with the birth of a boy baby. Oh no. If that were the end of the story — well, it wouldn’t be much of a story.

No! A Baby was born, but it was what that Baby grew up to become, and what He did while He walked this earth, and, most important, what He did at the end of His mortal life — that’s the story. The Baby in the feedbox is only the beginning.

You see, as the angel had told her, Mary named that baby boy Jesus. And that boy grew up to become a rather controversial rabbi who went around Israel healing the sick and maimed, preaching God’s Kingdom, and … forgiving people’s sins. This didn’t thrill the other religious leaders, and they decided he was a bit too controversial to be allowed. It didn’t help that whenever Jesus came up against the self-righteous hypocrites of His time, He laid into them with some really choice words.

So they arrested Him. Convened a kangaroo court and convicted Him. And talked the ruling authorities into putting Him to death.

Now, if that Baby had been merely a man, that would be the end of the story. Dead guy hanging on a cross, and so much for the hope of mankind.

But that Baby was God the Son, come to pay the price demanded for sin. Remember that the consequences for the original rule-breaking was death: physical and spiritual. And only a perfect man could pay the price that would reconcile man to God and make a relationship between them possible again.

And so, when Jesus died on that cross, it was not the end of the story. It was the continuation of the love story between God and man. Jesus died and His body was committed to a tomb. He descended into Hell. He was there for three days. And then He came back to life. His death paid the price. His resurrection proves that the sacrifice was sufficient.  And now man and God are no longer permanently separated.

Or they need not be.

You see, God still gives Man a choice. God isn’t going to strong-arm people into fellowship with Him. The choice now is not whether you will, or won’t, eat the fruit from a special tree. The choice now is: Will you put your trust in the Man who was God, Who traded Heaven for Hell to die for you so that you could be reconciled to God for all eternity?

And that, dear readers, is the entirety of the Christmas story. It only begins with the Baby in the feedbox. It looks beyond that Baby to the Man on the Cross, and beyond Him to the Risen Lord.

Tags: Christianity, Christmas, faith, holidays, Jesus, Religion, True Stories