That first Christmas wasn't a festive, Christmas card perfect, Precious Moments time. A teenage girl gave birth to her first Child in a cave, not safe at home. It stunk. It was damp. There were farm animals wandering around. I'm sure Joseph had a elbow aside a sheep from it's feeding trough just so Mary could lay down her newborn.
Mary wasn't dressed in a lovely pastel blue robe. She wore a stained tunic. Her hair wasn't perfectly combed. It was matted and sweaty. Not a single golden halo could be found. Her mother wasn't there to hold her hand, lay cool clothes on her forehead, and clean up the Baby afterward. Her mother probably wasn't even speaking to her. Her father wasn't there to tell her "You did good, sweetheart." Her father was probably ashamed of her.
Joseph wasn't standing off to the side, serenely looking on at the Baby, and leaning on his staff. He was probably shooing off chickens trying to roost on the trough and pushing cows away from his wife. All the while worry and questions spinning in his head. How would he keep them safe? Could they even return home? What if something happened to Mary or the Baby? Could he be a good father to this Heavenly Child?
The Baby wasn't wrapped in downy, white blankets. He was probably swaddled in some spare old rags that Joseph was able to beg from the Innkeeper. He was probably cold. Did He know even in that newborn state what awaited him? The lower class childhood? The burden of helping his earthly parents make ends meet? The ridicule and scorn that followed him during his ministry years? The awful death that only hardened criminals were sentenced to?
Not exactly the picture we're used to seeing every year. No gold foil edging or velvet details. But for all the ugliness, dirtiness, pain, confusion, and hurt, this is the picture that I want to see. Because that's real life. Life is not pretty. Life is not greeting card perfect. Life can be ugly. My life can be ugly. My heart is far from perfect.
Into all this nastiness, Christ came down, and became a fragile baby. From glory, He became a man. He did this for me, for you, for that annoying neighbor, for that criminal, for that politician, for the world. He became flesh so He could die for us, take our disgusting sin upon Himself, then conquer death by coming back to life all because He couldn't stand the thought of us not being with Him in Eternity.
This was Christ's gift to us. The gift of Life.
