From a Crib to a Cross

“From a crib to a cross” indicates innocence on both ends of life, from start to finish. We needed that kind of life as a model and a basis for our own innocence.

The Christmas story is stripped of life’s distractions. The Magi came to the palace in the capital, but Jesus had entered the world eight miles south of there in a barn. Instead of finding him with the king, the Wise Men found him in a house with a carpenter and his young wife. They did not approach a powerful ruler; they knelt to a baby. Position, power, prominence, and wealth have little to do with this story—except to provide contrast. Even the gold, frankincense, and myrrh served to finance the little family’s flight to a foreign country just to save the baby from being killed from jealousy.

The manner of the advent matches the purpose of his coming. It aimed at helping us by creating good will among us. What a person gives up is not as important as what he gives it up for. Christ gave up heaven to embrace humility (Philippians 2:5-8), to bring peace to everyday people that do ordinal things in common places—like shepherds that tend sheep in a pasture.

That is why we like Christmas so much; it speaks to all of us and honors each of us. These are emblems of his flesh and blood, which are just like ours, what he gave in the end to bring about the peace the angels sang about at the beginning: “Christ was born for this.”