What Child is This?

The Virgin sings her lullaby

Have you ever truly thought, “What made Jesus so special?” We read the Bible and we see the miracles He performed and the amazing acts of love and grace He displayed, but so often we decompartmentalize the God incarnate with the baby Jesus. But they were the same person. Little six second old baby Jesus was the same one who died on the cross for your sins.

I know when I read the Bible so often I read the scriptures for the religious meanings and context, but the book is also a book of history. I’ve heard people say, “Bible characters” all the time and when I hear that I instantly think of other books that are fictional. When you read a biography, do you call the people in there characters? When you watch a documentary or reality television show, do you call the people characters? Most of the time I hear people call them by their names, but I rarely hear someone say “Those characters on Duck Dynasty are hilarious.” They usually say, “Uncle Si is hilarious.”

You may be wondering what I am getting at, but we have to realize that Jesus wasn’t a fictional character who fed the five thousand, walked on the seas, healed the sick, loved the loveless – He was a real man just as Winston Churchill, Jimmy Stewart, Christopher Columbus and Elvis Presley.

When I teach my group of young guys I try to convey to them when we read the book of Philippians Paul was writing it while he was under house arrest or in prison. He was a real man writing a letter to another real group of people in a church in the real city of Philippi. Adding that groundwork to the Bible adds another dimension. It is like when you get a Christmas card from your Aunt Charlene in Boise. She is a real woman who took time out of her day to write a card to you. There is a personal touch from getting something as personal as a letter. In some traditional Christmas cards the writer gives a yearly synopsis of the family. That is what the entire Bible is – a love letter synopsis of God’s workings. The next time you read the Bible, look at the personal touches. Anywhere you read in the Bible you should be able to see them.

So, my question returns, what made Jesus so special? I think the better question may be, what makes Jesus so special?

I always find the missing sections of the Bible the most interesting. What happened between Jesus’ birth and when he was small boy going to the Temple. How was his life as a teenager? What did his friends think of him in his twenties. The gaps we will never know, but I am sure He lived life like the rest of us with one significant different. He lived it sinless.

I believe he experienced the highs and lows that also shadow over us. Did he perform any miracles when he was a child? Who truly knows, because it is stated that the first miracle He performed by turning the water into wine was the first of his ministry in Cana. Did he perform miracles for his family beforehand not to bring glory to the Father? So many mysterious gaps that I find fascinating, but those gaps do not hinder my faith. It’s just intriguing to wonder.

Christmas time is an exceptional season to wonder and ponder. There are so many things that are unknown, so let your mind drift. We have the foundation of Mary and Joseph in a stable in Bethlehem and a few other added insights, but the rest is a wonderful mystery.

One of the mysteries is what was Mary feeling during that night? We can read in Luke 1 what Mary was thinking months before giving birth. But we never read what she was feeling the night of Jesus’ birth.

A beautiful Christmas hymn “What Child is This,” is a stunning telling of Christ birth, then a section fast forwards to His death and then circles back to his birth. When I hear this song, I can picture a movie of the Life of Jesus with sporadic flashbacks of that meek scene in Bethlehem.

There are multiple beautiful lines in this carol, but one that stands out to me is,

The virgin sings her lullaby

This line shows the intimacy that Mary must have been having with her newborn son just as most mothers would be having their first night. I can picture her scared teenage eyes looking in Jesus’ and diving head first in love with her son at that first glimpse, letting all her fears dissolve into his soothing gaze. I can see her smiling and rubbing his little cheeks, counting his little fingers, feeling the stubble of his finger nails. I can imagine her leaning down and kissing the top of his bald or full of hair head. I can close my eyes and see her inhaling that baby smell as the aroma causes her smile.

But most of all, I can see her singing a song to her baby boy as she holds him tightly wrapped in her arms. She could have sung him a traditional Jewish lullaby, or maybe it was a song that her mother sung to her as a young girl, or maybe it wasn’t a song with words, but a soft hum. The wordless hum of exceeding joy mere words could not express.

Whatever she was doing, I can imagine she was recalling all the moments that led her to holding her new born son. The moment when the angel Gabriel came to her and said she would be with child. The moment when she felt the spirit of God rain down on her. The sideways glances she received in the marketplace when an unwed mother started to show a little belly. The worrisome look on her parents faces as they send her to her aunt and uncles home. The hard conversation of telling her future husband, Joseph that she was pregnant. The overwhelming relief when Joseph agreed to wed her. The tiresome journey to Bethlehem as she was on the verge of labor. The terrifying moment her contractions started and the women of her family were miles away. The moment of relief when she heard the first stifled cry of Jesus.

I’ve seen on television shows and movies the first moments mother’s have with their newborns and it seems there is an instantaneous connection that happens. Mothers immediately start to envision what their newborn will grow up to be, dreaming lofty dreams of unbelievable portions. But to a mother, anything is possible for their baby.

I wonder what Mary was dreaming about for Jesus. She had been welcomed by an angel telling her that she was going to bring forth the Messiah that generations of her family had been waiting for. I could see her looking down at her little baby born and dreaming those same big, lofty dreams of him changing the world.

Thirty-three years later she witnessed Him changing the world through his death on the cross. I do not think that is what she was smiling about in that Bethlehem stable. No good mother ever wants to see her child suffer.

Sadly, the dreams and aspirations mothers’ have the first night with their newborns rarely come to pass.

But it is still lovely to dream of the rich life your child will have. Jesus had a full live, reaching the potential he was destined for. It just wasn’t the way Mary had intended.

You may not have reached the potential your mother had for you, but your life isn’t over. The God who opened seas for men to walk can open doors for your next step. The creator who causes sunflowers to move with the sun can cause all the obstacles to fall out of your way. The savior of the world who defeated death with a mere breath can defeat your biggest enemies.

You may think you haven’t reached your potential, but none of us have. We are all striving to reach what God had destined for each one of us. So, if you are struggling, take heart, because you are not alone. If you feel you are at the end of your rope, hold tight, or not – maybe fall into the hand of God who has been holding you since the moment He dreamed of you.

Don’t give up on yourself because there are many people who haven’t given up on you yet. You may not have ever had a mother dream lofty dreams for you the day you were born, but God’s dreams for you are much, much better than someone’s earthly dreams. You may not have ever had a good relationship with your mother, but God loves you more than you could ever know. You may have bitterness and hate for the woman who gave you up, but God never gave you up. He’s still watching over you like a proud dad. Even when you mess up, He’s still there taking snapshots of every thing you ever do, framing them for everyone to see.

When God made you, He stopped what he was doing and took the time to count out every one of your hairs. He looked at the stars and wanted your eyes to twinkle just the same. He found a beautiful shade of sand and wanted your hair to shimmer the same way. You may see just a reflection of a person with a hard life, but God sees his masterpiece.

And I’m pretty sure God was humming when he made you because he was dreaming up some incredible dreams for you to achieve.

And I’m pretty sure, He’s still humming over you – waiting for you to see the limitless future that lies ahead.

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:31

__ATA.cmd.push(function() {
__ATA.initDynamicSlot({
id: 'atatags-26942-5fd66c6de9837',
location: 120,
formFactor: '001',
label: {
text: 'Advertisements',
},
creative: {
reportAd: {
text: 'Report this ad',
},
privacySettings: {
text: 'Privacy settings',

}
}
});
});