The cradle and the cross.
Remember this today: We only celebrate the cradle because of the cross.
My wife and I have become the opposite of “back row Baptists.” Don’t ask me how it happened. It just did. What that means is that every Sunday, we sit in the front right section of the church, usually in the first three rows.
Not because we’re somehow more holy. But because… well, I don’t know. We just started doing it and haven’t stopped.
Maybe it’s partly because of this: For me, at least, I’m less distracted. I’m more engaged. I’m more attuned to what’s being said. The hard-hitting points hit, well, harder. But also, what I’ve realized, is that I tend to pick up on the sub-points better. The “little” things.
And that’s what happened this past Sunday. In our final service of Advent, the minister (not our regular pastor but a friend of mine who was filling in) said something that has stuck with me all week. And in light of Christmas, I think it’s a point you need to hear as well. Because it will hopefully give the birth of Christ a little more meaning for you.
I’m not going to belabor the point. You probably have a lot going on today. So let me get straight to it. Here’s a summary of what he said:
The cradle we celebrate today is only important because of the cross we will celebrate in a few months. In other words, without tomorrow’s cross, today’s cradle doesn’t mean much.
Think about that for a second. In world religions, it’s not odd for a “deity” to be born, to have some sort of origin story. In that sense, Jesus is similar to Buddha. But what makes Jesus vastly different from all other gods is that not only did he come, but he later died and rose again—all out of love for those who he calls to follow him.
Of course Jesus stands apart in a lot of other ways, too. But I think the point remains: The good news of the cradle is only worth celebrating because of the actions on the cross. The cross is what makes the cradle so important. Only on the cross does the birth of Christ really become the best news ever.
Can you see that? We want to “sanitize” Christmas these days. It’s been turned into a consumerist holiday where Christ is an afterthought. But the truth is that it is about Jesus, and Jesus from the moment he came into the world was about one thing: the cross.
So, friend, today and this week as you celebrate the birth of Jesus, I encourage you to do so with an eye toward the cross. Remember that without what happens at the end of his life, the beginning of Jesus life isn’t much to celebrate.
The good news of a “baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying in a manger” is the best news because of a man wrapped in burial clothes lying in a tomb. A tomb that could only hold him for three days.
The Christmas story has meaning because of the resurrection story. That’s “joy to the world.” That’s worth “telling on a mountain.” That’s what makes the night of “our dears savior’s birth” so holy.
Don’t forget that.
(If you’d like to watch the sermon I’m referring to from my church, I’ve included it below. Like I said, my friend Thomas delivered the message, and it was great.)
(Our pastor, Afshin, who is a converted Muslim, also drove the point home during our Christmas Eve service. You can’t separate the cross from the cradle. You can see that around the 1:01:31 mark below.)
