Which ‘Baby Jesus’ Are You Wanting?

This Rock City Nativity is a scene familiar to most of us around Christmas.

Maybe you’re familiar with the scene in the film, “Talladega Nights,” when lead character Ricky Bobby (portrayed by Will Ferrell) attempts to say the blessing for the Christmas meal, praying to “dear Lord Baby Jesus.”

When Ricky Bobby’s wife points out, “Jesus did grow up, you don’t always have to call Him Baby,” he replies, “I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I’m saying grace…I like the baby version the best!”

He’s not the only one, apparently. Especially this time of the year, with Nativity scenes and Christmas pageants abounding, there’s a fascination with the cute and cuddly Jesus, nestled in a makeshift crib surrounded by Mary and Joseph, shepherds, barnyard animals, wise men and angels. The Christ Child, like most babies, fills us with a sense of, “Awww!”

Maybe, like Ricky Bobby, the reason many people prefer the infant Jesus is that babies aren’t threatening. They just lie there, and so long as they’re fed and changed in timely fashion, they pretty much let us do whatever we want.

Festive lights like these at Rock City help in celebrating
the birth of "the light of the world."

My friend, Len Allen, recently spoke about three versions of the Son of God people choose from as Christmas nears. The first is the “Santa Jesus,” or “the God of tradition.” Perhaps you’ve even seen the painting of Santa Claus kneeling to worship the newborn King. A curious mix of fable with truth, but a lot of us desire a Santa Jesus who will give us everything we want, not to mention the things we need.

The second is the “sweet Jesus,” Len said, representing “the God of emotion.” We get a warm, fuzzy feeling contemplating the idea that “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” as we’re told in John 1:14. But we don’t go much beyond that. Because cooing, giggling babies don’t place great demands on us. They provoke some happy sentiment, but that’s all.

Then there’s the third version, the one that typically doesn’t come to mind when we gaze at the manger scene. It’s what Len called “the substitute Jesus, the Savior sibling.” It’s the biblical Jesus, the one that, even in that inconspicuous Bethlehem setting, already was anticipating a life that would culminate on a cross, to become the atoning sacrifice, the only cure for a terminal human disease called sin.

The “problem” with this third version of “Baby Jesus” is that, as Ricky Bobby’s wife noted, Jesus did grow up. He not only performed miracles and lived an exemplary life of love and compassion, but also said provocative things, things like:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it” (Luke 9:23-24).

“Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more” (John 8:11).

These hardly scratch the surface of the teachings of Jesus Christ that have turned the world upside-down and transformed lives for 2,000 years. But it’s clear they weren’t expressed by a baby perceived as an unimposing “Santa Jesus” or “sweet Jesus” that expects nothing of us.

Such words were spoken by the Jesus whose unceremonious birth in Judea that we observe at Christmas became intertwined with the horror of a cross commemorated on Good Friday, and His glorious resurrection that millions celebrate on Easter. So which “baby Jesus” do you prefer?

The Crèche and the Cross

The Nativity, or creche, is integral to the Christmas tradition.

This time of year we often see the so-called “manger scene,” also termed the Nativity or crèche, in homes, stores where holiday decorations are sold, and on public display where protests from freedom-from-religion types have not prevailed. Churches stage a “live Nativity,” complete with baaing sheep, mooing cows, even camels. It’s become an integral part of the Christmas tradition.

A heartwarming representation of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth, the Nativity shows the Christ Child surrounded by Mary and Joseph, adoring shepherds and animals, worshiping wise men and angels. Although it’s not always accurate – the biblical details and historians agree the Magi arrived as much as two years after the birth – the crèche displays, small or large, show both the humility and regality of the divine birth.

But I’ve often felt something important is missing in these well-intended scenes. I’m not an artist, but if I had talent for paint and brush, I’d try to include within the humble setting the shadow of a cross, perhaps falling across the Baby in His makeshift crib. Because if it were not for the Cross, the penultimate act of Jesus’ life, there would be no need for a crèche. It would have no meaning. It would have been just another baby being born.

Without the cross, the creche
is merely a sentimental symbol.

The Bible verse many of us know, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life” (John 3:16), reveals Jesus as the first Christmas gift. But God did not send Him to serve just as teacher and role model, but also to become Savior and Redeemer. Because the Scriptures also tell us, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

In fact, from the moment of His birth, Jesus was embarking on the journey that inevitably led to the Cross. We’re told as He agonized over what lay in front of Him from a human perspective, Jesus prayed, ”Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour” (John 12:27).

In the film, “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” the character played by Will Ferrell offers a prayer to “dear Lord baby Jesus.” It seems Jesus perceived only as an infant is far less imposing and demanding than the adult Christ. And yet, we’re told, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7). He didn't do that as a baby.

The Scriptures also inform us, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). It’s troubling for many of us to admit we’re sinners, rebels desperately in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. It seems insulting to consider that we – good people we think ourselves to be – need to be “redeemed.”

But that’s what the Bible declares. We enjoy the crèche, it says, only because of what Jesus did on the Cross for us.

So the next time you admire the Nativity, that warm and cozy scene, remember it didn’t end there. That was just the beginning. God came in the flesh to offer a gift we could never obtain on our own, the greatest Christmas gift of all time. And because of that, we say MERRY CHRISTMAS!