Dear Trekker,

A few says ago I came across a quote attributed to Carl Sandberg (noted biographer of Abraham Lincoln) which caught my attention: “A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.” For sure, I thought to myself. Wow! A truth so applicable for the Christmas season. Of course God would come as a baby! With the exception of Adam and Eve, that is how one enters the world. God is subtle! Man loves and chooses fanfare; God is far less dramatic most of the time.

In John’s gospel, Chapter 1, verse 14, we read, “the Word became flesh…” Interesting! Jesus Christ did not “come into being” when born as a babe in Bethlehem. The incarnation by the virgin birth is simply the means whereby “God pulled it off.” The “Word was God” (John 1:1) in the beginning and “became flesh and dwelled among us”. So…when the time had fully come, God Himself entered “earth history” (Galatians 4:4).

Now God had a “dilemma” (if God ever had one). Can anyone comprehend the depth of the descent Jesus experienced when He left heaven’s glories where angels praise God continually beyond space and time, to enter a world run amuck, full of humans who live life as if God didn’t exist? Something became terribly out of sync a long time ago, way before 2,000 years ago! Reality almost begs the question…how would you do it if you were God? How would you redeem a wayward world you created for yourself?

I’m reminded of a story I read years ago. How factual, I don’t know. But it is a wonderful metaphor of how God solved his “dilemma,” even if not true. An atheist professor (who had been fighting God for a long time as many atheistic professors like to do) was — “once upon a time” in the Rockies of Colorado, in a mountain cabin, in a terrific stormy snow blizzard. The cabin had a large picture window. He noticed birds were flying repeatedly into the huge picture window, seeking relief inside from the stormy cold outside the cabin. He was frustrated because he couldn’t communicate with them. Then it dawned upon him. “The only way I can help them is to become a bird as they are and lead them into safety, somewhere.” It was this dawning that led him to discover God’s incredible redemptive plan.

The apostle Matthew, in his gospel, Ch.1, outlines God’s genius. Verse 17 is key to understanding the human genealogy of the Baby, for it encapsulates succinctly the three-part Jewish historical narrative – the period of Abraham to King David, David to the exile to Babylon and the exile to the birth of Christ. This condenses the Old Testament and ushers in the redemptive phase offered in the incarnation. The incarnation, when the Infinite becomes the infant Baby Jesus, is surely the plumb line of all history. The baby Jesus at birth “becomes” the man Jesus Christ who liberates man from slavery to sin and self. Thirty-three years later, tragedy at the cross became triumph on resurrection day. I like William Barclay’s commentary: “In his genealogy, Matthew shows us the royalty of kingship gained, the tragedy of freedom lost; the glory of freedom restored. And that is the meaning of God, the story of mankind and of each individual man.”

But I don’t want to get ahead of myself. If you were God and were going to pull this off, what is the advantage of coming as a baby in a manger? The entire concept of babyhood surely is a “do-over.” God knew man would “mess it up” (i.e. the relationship God desired when He created us), yet He said to Adam and Eve, “be fruitful and multiply,” Genesis 1:28. And he also gave them the sexual desire to do so. Women want to have babies… men for other reasons are most willing to help.

But then Baby Jesus was to be an exception! He was to be fully God and fully man! So, this is how it came about according to Matthew’s account. “When his mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together (the normal way babies are born), she was found to be with child (pregnant) through the Holy Spirit (italics mine). This underscores why the Virgin birth of Jesus is so critical to the Divine scenario. Only God, from the outside, could redeem “on the inside.” And this, the birth of Christ, conceived and initiated by God, is a precursor for the “new birth” available to everyone. I like the Christmas carol phrase, “be born in us today.” Yes, God yearns in the beginning to be “born (too) in us” even as the baby Jesus was birthed in and through Mary by the Holy Spirit.

But again, I am racing fast. Let’s remember, babyhood is “loved by all,” peering into new life. Babies are instinctively loved, even if intimidating, often to men. Moms instinctively know how to care for “messy babies.” They need attention. They are so vulnerable, so dependent, but promises often are wrapped up in them.

The Baby itself… and the growth pattern of the Christ-child becomes such an example for us. He was humbled; he learned by suffering; he became a servant; he demonstrated humility; he  was authentic! (Trekker, read Philippians 2:5-10). If God were real, He too “had to grow” into the Man He actually was.

Ah, the subtlety of a baby! God captures us at the manger. We can embrace the Baby and follow the account of his life sequentially… his teaching, his death, his resurrection, his ascension into his heavenly home with the Father and the giving of his spirit (the Holy Spirit) to us.  If we know His history, we can find the key… belief… into our redemptive history.

The name of this grace for mankind is hope… promise fulfilled. All hope for mankind is tied up in Jesus. We can be born again. We can become a baby again, growing in Christ everyday into newness of life, becoming who we are intended to be. This baby (me) too is on a journey. We can love Him and one another, attending to one another as God nurtures us through His Spirit. It is a life endeavor, to love the adorable baby in us all. Each generation of human life is an opportunity for eternal life to be “born in us today.”

Trekker, I challenge you to see yourself there in the manger, cuddled up to the baby Jesus. He is an exceptional baby…you can be exceptional too, as you are being “born again.” You too can have a “fresh start” as you capture the true Christmas story, the “rest of the story.” But it all begins with being a Baby! The Baby is the prince of peace, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6). There is more than “swaddling clothes” that enwrapped the Baby Jesus!

Your trekker friend,

Jim Meredith