The Manger Baby was Human

 The baby in the manger that we celebrate at Christmas time – He was a human baby, with all the working parts just like any other baby.

He lungs worked well, for he cried, just like any other baby you’ve ever been around.

He pooped, he burped, he gurgled and laughed, he cooed, he spit up and tossed and turned just like every other baby we know.

And he didn’t bypass puberty.  He charged right on through that as well, for he was fully human – and fully divine.

And he had a career.  He became a carpenter.  He hit his hand a time or two, he stubbed his toe, his beard itched, he had body odor and he had to wash his cloths. 

He lived his life in those days just like you and I do.  It was a mundane life, mostly.  He had to learn his craft just as He had to learn to speak and read and write.  His parents taught Him to play nice with the other kids, and to share.

Perhaps he had a crush on that cute Jewish girl next door, or she had a crush on him.  Perhaps he didn’t really care for his math teacher, yet he learned, just like we learn.

He became a man, and lived among us.  He was one of us, you see.

This man, Jesus, was fully human and fully divine. 

John 1:14 says this: “The Word became flesh and made his home with us. 

I can’t relate to some rich oil baron in Dubai.  We have so little in common.  Our worlds never touch.

But I had a friend named Bruce once.  It was said, at his funeral that “Bruce was Jesus with skin on his face.”  My, oh my, what a concept.  Now I could relate to Bruce.  He sang in a choir I directed a few times.  I heard him sing solos and duets, and we appeared together in an Easter production once.  I could relate to Bruce for he was like me in so many ways.

That is what the babe-in-the-manger thing is really all about.  He came to experience life like us so that He could show us the way.

He wasn’t a theory.  He wasn’t a drawing on a sheet of paper of some future species.

He was flesh and blood and real.

I can relate to Him!

As we consider Christmas this year, I think we should make the candy, cook the hams and turkeys, wrap the presents, sing the songs and see the plays and pageants. 

And we especially should reflect on and read about this small child that was born of a virgin, and He grew up, just like us, and lived His life on earth, and died an earthly death – and He did it for you and me.

To show how much love He had – in the end, He stretched out His arms in one final gesture of love – and died.

I believe in the Manger Baby.

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