sterilized savior

We've remodeled the stable to make it warm, cozy, and nauseatingly appropriate.

The hay is scratchy.

The smell is hideous.

An animal stable is no place for any child to be born! Why have we made this story so sickeningly sweet and appropriate? Animal slobber and cow dung foreshadows Jesus' arrest, mocking, and crucifixion. It's not a sappy, sweet story....it is a real story of suffering the depths of human life and in the end digging deep enough into life to discover new life.

We've silenced our Savior. One favorite carol sings, "No crying he makes."

Bull! The baby Jesus cried.

Bull! God didn't come to live among us to be silent. Jesus spoke with clarity. "Blessed are the poor." Jesus pulled no punches. "Pick up my cross and follow me." He was not shy nor did he mince his words. "You hypocrites!"

Bull! The man Jesus cried.

We've sterilized our Savior.

For God's sake Jesus ate with outcasts and sinners!

Moltmann writes that Jesus' mere invitation to outcasts and sinners was the impetus for their healing. That means Jesus not only ate with outcasts and sinners,

Jesus invited them into his life, he listened to them and he filled them with hope.

When does the church do this? Who does the church invite in? Who does the church listen too?

God came to establish justice! This is the Reason for the Season!

Again, Moltmann writes that both the victim and the one who violates is need of justice. If the victim does not receive justice the one who violates does not receive justice. Both are victims of evil and need redemption.

I wonder what would happen if we thought about the justice of God as we unpacked our nativities and decorated our trees?