During the Advent Season, it is adorable to hear children sing Away in A Manger and watch them rock the imaginary baby while visualizing what it might have been like in Bethlehem that night.
But if Jesus had stayed in His manger how different His life and ours would be. If He had stayed in Bethlehem and out of Jerusalem, He would never have faced a cross. If He had cried, cooed, and not preached and taught, His life would have been much safer.
But He was not born for that. Jesus wasn’t born to stay in a manger or Bethlehem. Jesus was born to preach, teach, heal, and forgive. We often cherish the warm candles and nativities of Christmastime but want nothing to do with the One whose birth they commemorate because we don’t want to turn from our sins.
Herod and the Jewish leaders recognized the threat Jesus posed and both tried to eliminate Him. Even Jesus’ hometown crowd tried to push Him over a cliff since He was too controversial for them, and many still try to cancel Him today. Jesus could have avoided all of that if He had just kept His head down, gone with the flow, and made no waves.
But He was not born for that. Jesus preached God’s truth and shared God’s love and compassion. But He also opposed all sin as well as unjust rulers who distorted truth and withheld grace. While He never wavered on God’s laws, He also offered forgiveness and restoration to those who would repent and receive Him. He offended everyone at some point or another. And He still does. He did not come to please princes, presidents, or us. He came to do the will of His Father and He did it perfectly from beginning to end.
Even though we might like to keep Jesus in His cozy Bethlehem manger, we must recognize that He did not stay there! He came to show us how to obey God and get along with each other. He came to show the way, go the way, and be the Way.
Ultimately, He came to die for the sins of all. From before Bethlehem, from before His conception, from before the world’s beginning, His purpose was to be the perfect sacrifice to take away the sin of the world so that humans might be reconciled to our Creator! This too He accomplished.
He also defeated death by rising from His grave triumphing over the darkness that imprisoned all humanity. And He lives today to provide that same victory to all who will receive Him.
As we marvel at the Babe in the manger this Advent season, let us remember that He did not stay there; that He grew up to teach, love, and guide us and most importantly to save us. If you never have, admit your sin and ask God to save you through the blood of the One who laid in the manger that first Christmas night.
George Bowers CBC Executive Board
