The manger scene at Christmas is one of my most loved images. Every year we clear off the top of our sideboard to make room for the stable and all the usual (and some unusual) Bethlehem characters. And when we are blessed to have a grandchild or two to help it gets even more entertaining as we set up the “birthday party for Jesus” as our grandkids used to say. But as much as I love thinking about what this must have been like for Mary and Joseph, there is one potential downside to thinking of Jesus as a baby. The downside is that Jesus is no longer a baby. Advent is not the anticipation of a coming baby it is the anticipation of a coming king.

We celebrate the birth of Jesus because that baby is now the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Advent is the season of our anticipation of his return to rule the earth with justice. Advent is the anticipation of all that was promised, long before this baby was born.

Jesus is no longer helpless

Many many years ago as I was preparing to leave on our first missionary trip, I was listening to a young girl give a devotional talk. My expectations for this talk were pretty low because I knew this girl (or so I thought) so I didn’t expect much from this devotional. But God has a funny way of using whoever he wants, however he wants and he used this girl to say something that has stuck with me to this day. She said many things that day but the tagline was always your Jesus is too small. She talked about various fears we have, how they affect our actions, and how at the root of these fears is the belief that we have a small and fragile Jesus that might break or fail if we do not carefully protect him.

A weak Jesus might fail us in temptation, and a baby Jesus might be crushed by opposing viewpoints. So, the question for us is twofold: Is Jesus the King of kings, and do we believe that? Failing either of these two questions brings about all the worst in us. If we have any doubt that Jesus is the king of the universe we may get defensive and even violent as we try to protect him. But the King of the Universe does not need our protection; since He has already defeated death and the devil, He can’t be harmed by lies or slander. The truth will always win. The truth has already won. Lies are just noise now. Lies are a noise we must learn to ignore as we put our full trust in the truth. Remember, Jesus is the truth (and also the way and the life).

The fear of a breakable Jesus can also make us timid. If we are unsure about Jesus then the things people say about Jesus disturb us and shake our faith. We lose confidence in the truth and compromise out of the fear of our neighbors. We begin to “go along to get along” because we are just not sure that our tiny fragile Jesus can hold up to the world’s criticism.

Jesus and his gospel are unstoppable. If we truly believe that, we do not have to be fearful or defensive. In Jesus, we have already won no matter what the world wants to do. The only loss to concern ourselves with now is the unnecessary loss of those who have not or will not, believe the truth. We are safe and therefore we can love those who still have not believed from a place of complete safety. The lies of this world will not stand, Jesus always will.

This Week

This week, as we reflect on the Christmas story, let’s not forget that the baby was only the beginning. That baby grew up. He loved us, He gave his life for us, conquered evil, rose from the dead, and is currently ruling and reigning at the right hand of God. We as His followers are in Him strictly by grace, so his victory is our victory. We need not fear as we wait this year, no matter what the world throws at us. The Jesus we trust is no longer tiny and fragile. The Jesus we wait for at Advent is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We are complete in Him and eternally safe in His love and power. Let’s close by remembering what Jesus said in the Gospel of John:

"Do not let your hearts be distressed.

"I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.

Have a great week!