Man in a Manger

So.... first, let me say, Merry Christmas!

We all know of the picture painted in our minds of the nativity of our Lord Jesus, a baby in a manger.

We see Mary, seemingly non-exhausted, sitting by a manger. Joseph stands in the background, a small smile on his stoic countenance. The manger is well lit by a warm glow. The shepherds kneel in awe at the baby in the cradle, and a small line of lambs stumble behind them on thin legs. A donkey peers over Joseph's shoulder; you could swear that he's grinning.

It is a nice picture, but it is NOT the point of Christmas. Christmas isn't about Christ's birth, it's about a Savior coming to earth to save us. The awe in the shepherd's eyes isn't due to the fact that there is a baby in a manger- they have seen many babies in their lifetimes. Their wonder is at the Savior, God come to earth to save them.

We are all guilty of making Christmas about the baby- it is much more fun to tell of a special baby than to tell of His now grown body hanging on a cross in our place. We all have heard the first part of Handel's "Messiah", but few have heard the second half, dealing with the death and resurrection of Christ.
We celebrate Christmas with a month of fun- we decorate our entire house, bake cookies, host and attend parties, put up trees in our living rooms, carol in our neighborhoods...
But we are lucky to even give Easter more than a passing thought, maybe attending the sunrise service at church, or spend a day off.

But it is not the baby in a manger that is our salvation- it is the man on the cross. They are the same, Christ, but the fact that a baby is born will not save us. That the Son of God would die a horrible and agonizing death in our place WILL.
The baby is special because of His mission on earth. The Christmas story is not about a baby. It is the first chapter in the story that culminates on Easter Sunday, when Christ rises from the dead, taking it's pain for us, and enabling us to enjoy eternal life.

It is no simple baby in the manger. It is a Man. The Son of God. The Savior of the World. Our King and Lord.

We need to remember that Christmas is not the climax of the story- it is merely the beginning.
We celebrate Christmas not because of Christ's birth, but because he came to earth to save us.