…[T]hey saw the child with his mother Mary…

What would you think if you had lived there?  Residents in Bethlehem didn’t know what to think. Caesar Augustus’ new tax law had already overcrowded the little town.  And that star — or whatever it was — had been shining over the community for weeks, making some residents a bit nervous.  Then came the night when the sky lit up as if it were on fire.  Later those crazy shepherds ran wildly through the streets shouting something about a baby being born who was some kind of savior!  What was going on?  It wasn’t even New Year’s Eve!  Then weeks later the Roman soldiers, those awful mercenaries of death, came from Jerusalem.  The rumor was that some false king had been born, or something like that.  They broke into houses and killed so many precious baby boys…  It was horrible, so indescribable.  Parents wailed helplessly over lifeless forms on the floor.

These were the events surrounding the birth of the Christ child.  In fact, Matthew uses this term child, meaning young child, seven times: verses 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 20 and 21.  What is it about babies and young children that make them so loved by virtually everyone?  All are born naked, small and so vulnerable and needy.  In fact, there is nothing more at risk of death than an abandoned baby.  He is completely incapable of taking care of himself.  There is no coping mechanism or inherent instinct that will help a baby or very young child to survive on his own.  Whether born to wealthy parents or in poverty, every baby needs caregivers – preferably parents – who will care for the child by providing love and meeting the child’s needs.  This was no less true of Jesus as a baby as any other child.

A young child is dependent and exceedingly defenseless.  Probably nothing else speaks so forcefully of the full humanity of Jesus.  He was indeed one of us “yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).  He is God who became man, God with skin.  It is hard to fathom how the Father could take such a “risk” of trusting the baby Jesus to Mary and Joseph, but he was ultimately responsible for the child’s safety.  This is best seen by the angels he dispatched to warn Joseph in a dream about Herod’s murderous plan.

This brings up another point about Jesus being a young child.  King Herod was known as Herod the Great.  He started the royal family that bore his name.  He had 7 sons through 5 women.  Naturally he had thoughts of establishing a dynasty that would last for decades, if not longer.  Even though he was an Edomite, Herod became “king of the Jews” after a revolt broke out in northern Palestine.  He sailed to Rome and lobbied the Roman Senate for this title, being a native of the region and well connected with power brokers there.  He promised that once he returned as the Jews’ king, supplied with money and fortified by Roman soldiers, he would keep the peace and bring to an end Palestine’s reputation of being Rome’s most troublesome province.  The Senate believed him and proclaimed him “king of the Jews.”  They also gave him the money and soldiers he asked for.

That is why the Magi troubled him so much when they asked him, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2). This question cut right to the core of Herod’s claim to royalty.  It also threatened his family dynasty.  Even as a baby and child he was the true king!  His was royal blood.  No man or political assembly appointed him king.  He, not Herod, was the descendent of King David. Herod wasn’t even of the right family or tribe or ethnicity, let alone the right God.

If we were God planning to come to earth, how many of us would have done it this way, to start from scratch and become an embryo, then a fetus, then a baby born to a teenage, not-yet-married mother and a stepfather?  I imagine none of us would.  Not exactly your “textbook” family, is it?  But that’s the plan God chose.  From conception to birth to infancy to childhood all the way through adulthood and his heavenly throne, Jesus is incarnate deity.  Unseen in conception, vulnerable at birth, dependent as a child, he experienced all that humanity can experience.  He is no stranger to what you are going through.  In fact, he has been where you are, tasted what you have experienced, and still prevailed by the Father’s grace.

What child is this?  What a Savior that was born!  Only in him can we find hope.  Have you thanked him who was a child for being all that he is today?