(for the North Huron Citizen, Dec. 24/22 issue)
It’s an almost
seemingly insignificant detail, but it’s lodged there in our memories through
the traditional telling of the Christmas story. Almost a throw-away line – yet
in some ways it symbolizes the essence of the unique Miracle Man’s ministry and
purpose.
“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped
him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no
room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7 KJV) Hearing this with our 21st-century
ears, we might respond, “How quaint! But what in the world are ‘swaddling
clothes’?!”
Again, as if to make sure we didn’t miss it, the sacred
text repeats this small detail a few verses later. Apparently it’s one of the
special identifiers by which the shepherds will be able to locate the
birthplace of the Miracle Man – or so they are told by the heavenly
messengers... “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12 KJV)
All right, our curiosity is piqued. What’s this
‘swaddling’ about? Obviously it’s not a modern-day ‘onesie’ Mary puts the baby
in, so what is it?
An online dictionary gives this meaning: “To bind (an
infant, esp. a newborn infant) with long, narrow strips of cloth to prevent
free movement; wrap tightly with clothes.” The Greek word behind the English
translation derives from a root “to wrap with strips”. Swaddling a newborn
infant probably served several functions. It would help keep them warm. The
confinement of cloth would give them a sense of security, and perhaps help
prevent them waking up startled should involuntary arm ‘jerks’ happen. (which
the young parents would appreciate!)
A newborn infant is already vulnerable, dependent upon
others for care, it won’t survive if left to itself. Yet it’s even more
constricted if wrapped head-to-toe in strips of cloth it’s unable to dislodge.
The equivalent for an adult would be a straitjacket! You’re helpless,
immobilized, unable to make a move.
Theologically, this is the last thing anyone would
expect if God were to suddenly appear on earth. The Almighty Creator, who
formed the heavens and the planets, the oceans and the mountains, has power
beyond anything the material universe holds. But in Incarnation He does not burst
on the scene as a mighty Titan, one foot on the sea and one on the land,
towering above all human edifices. Instead, in Christ God took on human form at
its most vulnerable point. (Though even somehow mighty and terrible King Herod
found it impossible to snuff out this tiny baby’s life when the despot threw
his military might against it.)
Jesus’ whole ministry showed incredible restraint. He
performed miracles of healing, yet declined to rain down fire from heaven upon
Samaritan villages that refused to let Him and His disciples lodge there when
passing through. Jesus drove demons out of a maniac and sent them rushing down
a hill into a lake, yet when the townsfolk asked Him to leave their area, He
did not object but quietly complied and went elsewhere. Jesus raised Lazarus
from the dead, but when this proved the last straw for the Jewish religious
leaders who began to plot how to destroy Him, He did not ultimately resist them
but stood silent against their trumped-up accusations and allowed Himself to be
crucified as a blasphemer (even though His enemies were absolutely mistaken).
Jesus in His earthly form would exit much the way He
entered – wrapped in strips of cloth, embalmed hurriedly by Joseph of Arimathea
and Nicodemus. He became weak in order to make us strong. He became slaughtered
in order to provide us with new life. He became unjustly condemned and the
innocent victim of capital punishment in order to take from us the burden of
our sins and provide us with forgiveness. As was prophesied about Him many
centuries before, “...He poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with
the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:12)
Being swaddled, straitjacketed (if you will), made powerless
is a startling symbol of the style or posture of Jesus’ whole ministry. The
Almighty subjected Himself to limitation, hunger, ridicule, and unjustified
flogging and death for the express purpose of freeing us from our own bondage,
our entrapment, to sin and death – to besetting sins, temptations, persistent
addictions that would otherwise drag us down and destroy us. By His wounds
(stripes), we are healed; by His strips we are loosed to walk free in the
eternal love and light of our Heavenly Father.
The Apostle Paul described Jesus’ whole attitude as one
of pouring-out, giving up His own power and privilege for the benefit of
others... “Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality
with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant,
and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8 NASV)
A ‘bond-servant’. May the binding of the Miracle Man in strips of cloth, becoming bound and restrained as a helpless babe, become especially precious to you this Christmas as you trust in Him and learn to walk with your Saviour in the eternal life and freedom He has procured for you.
