http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+22:8&version=NIV
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%201:18-19&version=NIV
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+5:12&version=NIV
We have a ceramic manger scene that we put out every Christmas season at our house. On our coffee table. Front and center. It contains all of the usual pieces. Stable. Joseph, Mary & baby Jesus. Angel. Shepherd and sheep. Cow & donkey. Wisemen and camels.A couple days ago, Beth noticed that baby Jesus was missing. He’s rather small (after all, He is only a baby!) measuring about 1 ½ ” long. We don’t know if He was misplaced by the grandkids a week ago Friday. Or if He came up missing sometime during our Christmas Open House on Sunday. On Wednesday, I enlisted our two grandsons, Brett, 5, and Jaydon, 2, to help me look for baby Jesus. We were armed with flashlights (it was in the evening when we began our search) and a determination to restore baby Jesus to His rightful place.
Toward that end we checked the toy box. Not there. Then a large plastic container that holds an assortment of plastic food. Not there either. We then employed the flashlights to look under the couch. Then the love seat. Nothing. I even shoved my hand down as far as it could go into the interior of the couch and love seat. After temporarily getting it stuck, still nothing. No sign of baby Jesus. Not even a trace. How could He have just vanished?
While I had my hand probing deep into the couch, Brett proudly exclaimed that he had found baby Jesus. I knew he hadn’t. I wish he would have. What he had done was to substitute another figurine in baby Jesus’ place. I turned to see where he was pointing. Of all the figurines he could have substituted, Brett didn’t use the angel, shepherd or wiseman. Nor did he use the donkey, camel or cow. There, in between Joseph and Mary, he had placed a lamb. A lamb! I couldn’t believe it. Talk about a God moment! How appropriate. How symbolic. I started to try to explain the significance of what he’d done. But I stopped short. After all, how do you explain something like this to a 5-year-old?It is interesting that God ordained that a lamb should be the primary animal used to take away sins. Not a horse. Or a cow. Or a pig. Or any other animal. Now while goats, bulls and birds were used in various types of offerings, it was the lamb that occupied the special place of importance. It was a lamb that was sacrificed during Passover. It was a lamb that Jesus and His disciples sacrificed and ate the day before He hung on the cross.
Little did Brett realize the symbolism of what he'd done when he placed the lamb in the place of the baby Jesus. As we now know, the importance of Christmas does not lie so much in the fact that God came into the world. That is significant. But what ultimately makes Christmas so special is Good Friday. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The atonement, that no one else in Heaven or earth could make, was accomplished by Jesus. The Lamb of God. Who takes away the sin of the world. Yours. And mine.
I don’t know if we are going to find little baby Jesus. I’m beginning to have my doubts. Just the same, I’d like to keep our manger scene. Because from here on out, every year that we set it up. I’m going to place the lamb in baby Jesus' spot. Just like Brett did. To remind me, and anyone else who sees it, of the reason for the season.
Lord, I thank you for how You often teach us spiritual truths through children. I thank you for the part that Christmas has in Good Friday. And Easter. All these holidays are dependent upon each other. Together, all of them make me who I am today. Your child. Thank you for the Christmas Lamb. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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