"BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN
SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME
IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." (Matthew 1:23)
Her name was Karen. She was the young mother of two
pre-school children: Laurel, her daughter, age 5, and Matthew, her son, age 2.
Karen wanted the children to learn the real meaning of Christmas so early in
December that year she brought home a small manger scene. All the figurines in
the manger scene were made of wood, so they were pretty much indestructible..,
and also easy for little hands to pick them up and move them around and place
them in different positions.
The children loved the manger scene and they loved being able
to touch the characters and hold them in their little hands and arrange and
rearrange them in creative and child-like ways. As you would imagine, sometimes
the little figurines would disappear... and later show up in the most
fascinating places in the house.
And interestingly, the character that most often went away
was Jesus. Karen would walk by and see that Jesus was missing again. One of the
children had taken the Jesus figurine away and placed him somewhere in the
house. Once Karen found him on the window sill in Laurel’s room and Karen
thought, how appropriate. Jesus comes to
the world, born in a stable, but then he moves out of the manger to go with us
and watch over us wherever we may go.
A few days before Christmas, the Jesus figurine disappeared
again and Karen couldn’t find him anywhere. When time came to put the manger
scene away, Jesus was still missing. Karen looked all over the house and could
not find him anywhere. She called the children in to the manger scene, pointed
to it and she said to them, “Where is Jesus?” Five-year-old Laurel scrunched up
her shoulder and stuck out her hands, palms upward, in that universal gesture
which means, “Search me. I don’t know. I have no idea. I don’t have a clue.”
Karen then turned to two-year-old Matthew and asked him, “Matthew, do you know where Jesus is?”
Matthew became very animated and began talking a mile a minute. But as is
sometimes the case with two-year-olds, it sounded like gibberish and neither
Karen nor Laurel could understand what he was saying. He knew what he was
saying, but they couldn’t get it.
Finally Matthew went over and took his mother Karen by the
hand and led her to his room. Then he pointed to his bed. Karen pulled back the
covers and looked everywhere but no luck. But then Matthew pointed to his
pillow. There Karen found the Jesus figurine. There he was... under Matthew’s
pillow!
Isn’t that beautiful? Because, you see, for many
two-year-olds, bedtime is scary time. It’s dark in the room and they feel all
alone. But Matthew felt safe and secure because Jesus was there with him!
This is the good news of Christmas, isn’t it? We find that
incredible truth here in the first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel with these
magnificent words: “His name shall be called Emmanuel, which means, ‘God is
with us.” Here is the great truth of Christmas, the
great message of Christmas, the great promise of Christmas, the great joy of
Christmas, all wrapped up in that one word...Emmanuel! We receive the gift by acknowledging His
presence in our lives. Make this holiday
a holy day by spending time with Emanuel.
Scripture
to Claim:
And the Word became
flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten
from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
