Baby Jesus

 

(I joined a Bible study writers Facebook group. They had a December challenge to write a short devotional based on a Christmas song. This is what I submitted.)

Mark Lowery wrote “Mary, Did You Know” a few years ago. Just recently I was thinking about the question: “Jesus, did you know?” We can identify with Mary. We are human like her. We know information that our brains just can’t seem to process. I can see how Mary would remember the words of the angel, the pregnancy conceived miraculously yet could not understand the significance of those things when she was busy doing all the things a mother does: nursing a baby, bathing Him, caring for a helpless infant. But how do we identify with Jesus as a baby? He was God before time began. That didn’t change when He took human form. I can’t even begin to process that. 

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin.

He knew the weakness of being an infant, God in the form of a helpless creature dependent on Mary for nutrition, nurture, cleanliness and comfort. He knew the weakness of being unable to communicate yet He had all wisdom to share. He knew the weakness of skinned knees, annoying siblings, and parents who, while divinely chosen, did not have His complete wisdom. 

I remember a commercial from my childhood. Tony the Tiger was trying to tell a child that his daddy didn’t know how nutritious Frosted Flakes are. The child kept trying to interrupt him, and finally said, “But Tony, my daddy knows everything.” That’s how human children think. But Jesus knew everything. Mary and Joseph didn’t. Imagine how He felt.

Psalm 50:9-12

I will not accept a bull from your household

or male goats from your pens,

10 for every animal of the forest is Mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

11 I know every bird of the mountains,

and the creatures of the field are Mine.

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

for the world and everything in it is Mine.

God who spoke through Asaph saying that he would not ask for food if He were hungry, depended on Mary to feed Him. 

John 1:2-3

2 He was with God in the beginning.

3 All things were created through Him,

and apart from Him not one thing was created

that has been created.

Colossians 1:15-17

He is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn over all creation.

16 For everything was created by Him,

in heaven and on earth,

the visible and the invisible,

whether thrones or dominions

or rulers or authorities—

all things have been created through Him and for Him.

17 He is before all things,

and by Him all things hold together.

Imagine Jesus, through whom all things were created, sitting on the floor of Joseph’s workshop playing with the scraps of wood. His chubby little hands were building houses and towers. Creator God playing with building blocks. God Himself experienced the weakness of tiny little hands.

Matthew 26: 52-53

52 Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in its place because all who take up a sword will perish by a sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot call on My Father, and He will provide Me at once with more than 12 legions of angels?

God Incarnate, who had legions of angels at His disposal, fell and scraped His knee, mashed his finger while helping Joseph, twisted His ankle playing, and was exposed to germs and viruses. He experienced the physical pain other children experience as they grow and play.

Exodus 19

16 On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a loud trumpet sound, so that all the people in the camp shuddered. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.

God, who spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai took human form, with crying His only way of communicating for about a year, then single words, then phrases, and eventually sentences. God who appeared in fire and a dark cloud of smoke and flashes of lighting, who spoke out of the thunder, who shook the entire mountain knew the weakness of being limited in His ability to communicate.

When we think of Christmas, we think of Jesus like we might think of a sweet little baby. Mary knew He is God. But Jesus knew everything. He knew that people would follow Him, hear His teaching and still not understand. He knew that the brothers He played with as children would accuse Him of being deranged. He knew that in 33 years, He would carry our sin to the cross so that we could be forgiven, redeemed from our bondage to sin. He knew the physical and emotional suffering He would endure for us. He knew my sinfulness. He knew your sinfulness. He knew He would willingly die so that you and I could be saved. He knew He would resurrect in power. He knew He would ascend into Heaven. He knew He would send His Spirit to empower the disciples. He knew His Spirit would dwell also in us when we accept His gift of salvation.

Romans 1:2-4

 2 which He promised long ago through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures— 3 concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh 4 and who has been declared to be the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness.

Hebrews 1:2-3

2 In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 

Thank you, Jesus, for loving me so much. Thank you for taking human form, with all the limits that includes. Thank you for choosing to understand the weakness of my flesh by dwelling in flesh yourself. Thank you for bearing my sin on the cross. Thank you for resurrecting in your own power. Thank you for making intercession for me. Thank you for the promise of our inheritance in Heaven.