“Baby Jesus” by Deborah Woodall
HE comes to us as a baby… gently, quietly, helplessly. He does not arrive with a retinue of guards or with an overwhelming apparition. He comes as an infant, his hands and feet powerless to hurt anyone. He comes as if to say,
I have not come to condemn you, but to give you life.
A baby. A prisoner of love.
When His enemies took His life, this King became once again like a baby: His hands and feet nailed to a tree, powerless to hurt anyone. He dies this way as if to say,
I have not come to condemn you, but to give you life.
A crucified man. A prisoner of love.
And now this King comes to you again like a baby, this time in the disguise of bread, His hands and feet powerless to hurt anyone. He comes this way, willing to be handled by His creatures, as if to say,
I have not come to condemn you, but to give you life.
A prisoner of love.
But brother and sister, you have the power to set this Prisoner free. For this Baby is crying for a place to lay His head; the Crucified One is thirsting for a drink of love; and the Bread of Life is longing to be consumed by a soul.
But do not think He is content with just that. For your hands and feet are not powerless. Through you, He desires to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to open the eyes of the blind, and let the oppressed go free.
To make you, and the world if possible, a prisoner of Love.
First published December 25th, 2007.
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