There are few things in life less intimidating than a sleeping baby, especially a baby sleeping on its mother’s lap.
More than two thousand years ago there laid a child, Jesus, on his mother Mary’s lap asleep. I have no doubt that like many other mothers before and since she marveled at her baby boy. She marveled at the little person in her arms with fingernails a quarter the size of hers, whose fingers wrapped around and clung to her own. Mary stroked Jesus’s head and examined his tiny eyelashes and took in his sleeping sounds and wiggles. He was finally here, after nine months of waiting, she finally got to see his face. What child is this who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping? This child is Jesus-- fully human, but COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from any baby ever born before or since. Jesus is also FULLY God! It’s a mystery we cannot fully comprehend, yet, true. The baby Jesus, completely dependent on Mary's love and care for everything, who laid in Mary’s lap, had SPOKEN the universe into being at the beginning of time. The baby who laid in Mary’s lap had formed man and woman, with the Father and Holy Spirit, from the work of His hands and breathed life into them. The baby who laid in Mary’s lap, snuggled by his mother’s warmth, had parted the waters of the Red Sea and led the people of Israel from a life of slavery into one of identity, purpose, and place, foreshadowing what He would do roughly 33 years later on the cross through His death and resurrection. What child is this who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping? This child is Jesus, the second Person of God who is one God, yet three Persons. This Jesus in so many ways is incomprehensible, and yet left Heaven to dwell with ordinary people to become human so the world could know God in a different way. To look at the baby in Mary’s arms you’d think he looked like any other everyday miracle born to a mother. He didn’t appear special. He didn’t glow as we often see on the Christmas cards, his glory, while yet there was masked (Philippians 2:6-8). His ordinariness was in direct contrast to his Godhood, but that’s how He choose to come. Through Jesus, God took the world by surprise! What child is this who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping? This child is Jesus, who would change mankind’s course in history forever. He had been foretold by the prophets of the LORD to the people of Israel. They were looking for a powerful Savior who would come as king and rule forever. They were expecting God to send a man to come and save the people from their oppressors, like Moses, like King David. They looked for the king who would come and fulfill all the promises that had been spoken about Him. This child, Jesus, did come to save. Jesus, as a man, would save people through faith in Him, and the way He would do it would confuse many. Jesus came to save even more than the people of Israel. He came to save those in the world who would believe in Him in a way so incomprehensible that many would believe in awe... and yet many would deny Him. What child is this who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping? Isn’t that really the question we should be asking ourselves this Christmas season? What child IS this? What God is this who would entrust Himself into our care? Are we so trustworthy? No. Is He so faithful that He would come to save an imperfect, rebellious creation? Yes. If our answer is that this child, this Jesus, is our Lord—what then? How will our relationship with Him affect our hearts this Christmas season? Ask yourself, once again, and sit in the question and your response to it. What child is this who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping? Follow up: Read The Christmas Story in Luke Chapters 1 through 2:21 Meditate on Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Prayer: Dear Lord, we pray that You’d immerse us in the question “what child is this who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping?” this Christmas season. We pray you would lead us to the true answer, that Jesus is God and man, God with us, and a savior like no other. God, to You be the glory. Amen.
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