The Birth Of Jesus

It feels a little like we are disrespecting God when we describe His humanness and humbleness at birth. God incarnate was intentionally incarnatized as a baby. We have a hard time accepting the unvarnished vision of that. Are you offended by the idea of the Powerful Potentate in poopie pants? I don’t believe God was offended. After all, He created the whole child-bearing process. He was born via the birth canal of a woman. He cried. He wet his swaddling cloths (definition: cloths intended for swaddling). And, yes, he passed gas and a whole lot more. I think we need to accept all of the birth stuff: nine months of womb life, labor pains, blood, placenta, dirty diapers, breast-feeding in the middle of the night, crying, screaming, goo-ing and cooing. Amazing! God with us. Jesus is born in Bethlehem.

The terribly vulgar and incredibly stupid Ricky Bobby in the movie Talladega Nights explained to his complaining wife, “I like the Christmas Jesus best and I’m saying grace. When you say grace you can say it to grown up Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus.” He began his prayer at dinner, “Dear Lord Baby Jesus.” No Ricky Bobby. When you pray, you must pray to the risen Lord. It is upon His authority as the one who paid the price for our sin through his death on the cross, and rose from the grave conquering death, that we who receive Him as Savior and Lord, have the privilege of addressing the Father in His name. As long as we understand that, we can muse over Ricky Bobby’s “tiny infant Jesus” prayer. After others at the table interrupted his prayer, he started over with this: “Dear Baby Jesus, in your golden fleece diapers with your tiny little balled-up fist.” After another interruption, he tried again: “Dear 8 pound 6 ounce newborn, infant Jesus . . . don’t even know a word . . . just a little infant so cuddly, but still omnipotent. . . . Thank you for all your power and grace, dear baby God, Amen.”

Blasphemous? In the context and spirit of the movie, I would call it very distasteful. But, as a child of God who is awed and amazed by the humility of the birth of God’s son, I choose to enjoy the playfulness of it. Almighty God, whom I love with all my heart, became a baby in the same painful, rude, traumatizing, yet wonderfully exciting family experience that you and I had. The writer of Hebrews tells it like this. “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)