Reflection on Matthew 2:1-12

Here you are. 

As you stand in the church, you realize that you have come once last time this holiday season to behold the Christ Child.  You are doing the same as the wise men did over two thousand years ago.  You have come to gaze at him, maybe to offer him some of your gifts, but most importantly, to behold him.  Maybe, you will even ask Mary if you can actually hold him, so that you and the baby Jesus can melt into each other and become one in love. 

There is something so wise in the notion of just holding the baby Jesus close.

Pastor Lonnie Lacy, from Saint Anne’s Episcopal Church in Tifton Georgia reflects on this very notion.  He says:

This may sound odd, but one of the most important things anyone ever said to me when I was still training to be a pastor was this:

“Honey, whatever that is you’re doin’, you gotta put it down and come hold this baby.”

“What?”

“Put it down, and come hold this baby.”

I was a brand new chaplain-intern at Children’s National Medical Center

in Washington, D.C.  I was all of 24 years old, just two years out of college.  I had just arrived and been told that the floor I would be covering was the neonatal intensive care unit.  I knew nothing.

So there I was on my first day.  My starchy white shirt.  My coat and tie.  My shiny new plastic badge.  A clipboard in my hands and a clueless expression on my face.

I had no idea what I was doing as I stood watching those nurses tending those babies who were fighting for their very lives.  So, I did what any of us would do: I tried my best to look very busy and very important.

By the way, if you ever want to look very busy and very important just carry a clipboard and flip the pages up and down while you glance up and side to side.

As a wise man once said, “60% of the time it works every time.”

But not on this nurse.  “Honey,” she said, “whatever that is you’re doin’, you gotta put it down and come hold this baby.”

“What?”

“Put it down, and come hold this baby.”

Let the record show, this nurse was no Virgin Mary meek and mild.

Before I knew it, she had physically yanked the clipboard from my hands, spun me around by my shoulders, popped me down into a rocking chair, and placed somebody else’s baby right into my arms.

“There,” she said.  “If you’re gonna be that baby’s chaplain, that’s what he needs you to do.”

“Uh okay,” I said, “But what else am I supposed to do?”

“Nothing!” she said.  “There’s nothing else you can do.  You just hold him.  And love him.  And pray.”

Turns out, she was right…

…It’s just true.  When you’re holding a baby, there’s not much else you can do except just hold it, and love it, and pray.  And honestly, the baby can’t do all that much either.

The two of you just sort of…melt into one another.  You just sort of…exist …together.

Whether you know it or not, you have come here…for one thing, and one thing only. You have come here to hold the Baby.

Whether you know it or not, he is the One who has brought you here…and really, there is nothing else you can do.  You just hold him.  And love him.  And pray.

And, I think that pastor Lacy is absolutely right.  The real reason we are here is so that we can hold Jesus, and love Jesus, and to simply pray.  In other words, we have followed the star that stands above all our churches so that we can behold the Christ child.  We are the wise men who come to worship as if nothing else matters, because when you hold the Christ child, nothing else matters.

Herod could not come and behold the Christ Child, because too much mattered to him.  Those who were under his influence and loved him as the king also could not come and behold this newborn king because for them also; too much mattered.  Herod’s rule mattered, and there was no room for the Christ Child in that picture.

So, you could say that beholding the Christ Child comes at great cost.  Some treasure might need to be set down, and given away.  As Pastor Lacy says:

To hold this Baby—this Jesus whom we proclaim…means you are going 

to have to put some things down.  When you hold this Baby, nothing else matters. Everything else falls away.

The pastor is right.  When you behold Jesus, everything else falls away.  Every other concern, every other thing that you hold important will suddenly become second place as you take Jesus into your arms.  All that previously needed to be done or was deemed vital in life, when handed the baby Jesus, is finally seen as…well…unimportant.

All of the important, heavy treasures will need to be set down.

All of the clip boards with their very important tasks will need to be set down.

All of the grudges and preoccupations will need to be set down.

All of your own self-serving desires will need to be set down.

All of our egos will need to be set down.

To hold a baby is to resign to setting it all down so that you and the baby can sit in the rocking chair and become one in breath, one in affection, and one in love.  So too holding onto Jesus is to set it all down so that you may become one in breath, one in affection, and one in love.

And, we are willing to do it; we are willing to set everything aside, because Jesus did it first. 

What does Philippians 2:6-8 say?  “…though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”

We lay it all aside, because Jesus laid aside all the power and glory and might in order to come and be with us.  Jesus laid it all aside for the sake of us on the cross.  Jesus laid it all aside so that he could melt into one with us in redemption and love.

And, it all started with a star. 

It was a star that guided the Wise Men to behold the Christ Child. 

For Pastor Lacy it was a nurse who served as his star, guiding him to lay the clipboard down so that he might be the best chaplain that he could be to a tiny infant in need. 

And, it was a star above the church that guided you to behold the Christ Child one last time this Christmas season. 

Come.  Follow the star.  Be guided by the Christ Child.  Give it all up…all the ego…all the concerns…and listen to what he has to say.  Follow the star and explore what it means to melt into one another with the Christ Child.  Come hold Christ close in your arms because he most certainly holds you in his arms until the very end.

(To Read Pastor Lonnie Lacy's full sermon, follow this link: http://stannestifton.com/sermon/what-we-hold/#description-tab)