Nativity

Zoë's been memorizing what the angel says in Luke 2 in preparation for the Christmas play we're going to do this year--with Nico as baby Jesus, of course. (If we're ever talking about Jesus in a religious context, she points to Nico. He may get a God complex if this continues.) She's got the entire two scriptures down, though she recites them in a slightly modified form:

"Fear not. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy . . . for all people! For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. For all people!"

We decided she'd really enjoy the nativity they put on annually at the Provo tabernacle, not only because there is a camel (which she got to sit on) and other animals outside but because she'd get to see the angel performing her "lines."

It turns out she was delighted by the whole thing. When she saw Mary and Joseph with "clofs" on their heads, she clapped. When the baby Jesus appeared, she clapped. Whenever anyone said anything really, she clapped. And when the angel appeared to the shepherds, she mouthed the words along with her.

The nativity play itself was nice, though quite solemn for the most part. All of the actors seemed to be filling a mechanical role, in rhythm with the prerecorded narration, except for one: the slightly grown Jesus that the three wise men visited.

This little boy--one or two-years-old and probably the actual child of the actors playing Mary and Joseph--was very alive. He repeatedly climbed up onto a box that was part of the set only to be gently pulled down by his parents over and over. It was clear they were slightly embarrassed and wished that their son would behave like a proper Jesus, silent and still.

But that child was the thing that touched Josh and me the most. He was just so human. He was doing the things that Jesus would have done at his age.

There is one line in the song "Away in a Manger" that rings false to me. When wakened by lowing cattle, the lyrics claim, "the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes." But just because Jesus was perfect doesn't mean He wouldn't have cried as a baby. And it doesn't mean He wouldn't have climbed up onto a box as a toddler.

In fact, those are the very things that signifed His willingness to experience the human condition--all of the human condition, in the end. His gift to us is all the more precious because He wasn't just a God. He was also a man, a man who started out as a little boy who probably had more energy than his parents sometimes knew what to do with.