Christmas Cards

The Christmas card scenes of the birth of Jesus of- ten leave me wondering how we got these pictures from the story in the Bible. For example, the crèche scenes depicted with Mary on one side of a manger and Joseph on the other both looking adoringly at the baby wrapped in cloths ‘wearing’ a halo don’t quite fit the reality of the story.

Now I realize that a photographer in that day, [if there had been such a thing] would have had the sensibili- ties to not take the picture of this family right after the baby was born, but my remembrance of what my wife looked like after the birth of any of our children certainly would not have made it onto any Hallmark card. While I think that my wife under all other circumstances is very beautiful and would rival any “Mary,” it simply is not reality to think of Mary without the sweat and exertion of labor and being exhausted.    If the baby was lying in a manger, it was be- cause the mother wanted some rest.

Also, what was the baby like? I know that all mothers think that their baby is the most beautiful creature ever to be born. For mothers, it seems like a halo sur- rounds their baby. It is as though their baby is the object of perfection. But newborn babies, after they’ve been washed of all the blood and mess of living inside the womb, often have malformed heads, are dark red and scrawny. They are not often the cherubic, fat-bodied, full-cheeked babies of Christmas cards.

So without being cynical, what did take place in the stable of the inn? Think of it this way: the Creator of the Universe took on the characteristics of a human being. He suffered the indignities of being assigned a body, being confined to a womb, and enduring the pain of being born. He wore no halo, received no crown, and was gazed at in wonder by shepherds mostly because the announcement they had heard said here in this dark, scrawny baby was the long awaited Messiah who was to be the Savior of the world!!

That is the wonder of Christmas. O come let us adore Him!