“Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2)
“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.” (Luke 2:6-7)
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” (Colossians 3:16-17)
I have been reflecting this week on our Christmas card images of the Nativity scene – deeply embedded in our subconscious and reinforced by the Nativity sets many of us brought out of storage and set up at the beginning of Advent. My mum brought back our family Nativity set from one of her visits to Israel. It is carved in olive wood. In the market where she bought them, each figure was sold separately: a sort of divine pick-‘n’-mix! My mum carefully selected the figures she wanted. But she bought two of the ‘baby Jesus’ carvings, which were the smallest of the figures. Her rationale was simple: “It’s just in case we misplace one. After all: if Jesus is missing then the whole thing is pointless.” So, every year, when we set up our Nativity set, there are two ‘baby Jesus’ figures. And each year I reflect, with a smile, on my Mum’s insistence on our Jesus-and-a-spare Nativity Set and her words: “if Jesus is missing then the whole thing is pointless.” And each year we carefully pack it all away, ensuring that we don’t lose Jesus and Jesus.
And so, my reflection on our Nativity set is always about placing Jesus in the manger and then wondering where we should place “the other Jesus.” One is carefully placed in the manger. Last year, the other one sat on top of the stable beside the star. It’s an interesting talking point when visitors notice it! I can’t help thinking about this question each time: “where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?” An accurate biblical answer would be ‘in a manger in Bethlehem.’ But the text from Colossians makes me think He really needs to be placed somewhere else: in our hearts.
A Christ missing from the Nativity makes the whole thing pointless. But equally, a Christ who stays in the manger can be kept in one day: 25th December. The annual excuse for expensively wasteful over-eating, for self-indulgence. Significant – but no more so than any other single day we might wish to remember. A birthday. An anniversary. A pause. Nothing more. An interruption to the flow of life. A way station, a marker, a counting point in the journey of life. The Christ placed in the heart is with us every day of every year.
A Christ who stays in the manger can be kept in one place: be it Bethlehem or a Christmas card or a Nativity set or a church. Safely contained and boxed and packed away until we want to take Him out. The Christ placed in the heart is with us everywhere.
A Christ who stays in the manger can be kept in one form: the helpless, inoffensive, tamed, manageable, cute little baby, a gentle Jesus meek and mild, controllable. The Christ placed in the heart cannot be contained.
Where will you place Jesus this year?