Rev. Cecil Van Niejenhuis
Dec 24, 2025
There are so many things a baby cannot do…
Cannot walk
Cannot talk
Cannot feed oneself
Cannot fend for itself…
Babies, almost by definition, are weak, dependent, powerless
Babies are vulnerable.
And the story the Bible tells…
The story we remember tonite…and celebrate…the Christmas story
This story turns our eyes to Jesus as a baby.
A Jesus who cannot walk
Cannot talk
Cannot feed himself
Cannot fend for himself…
A Jesus who is dependent, powerless, weak…
Vulnerable.
And this baby, says Matthew
Says Luke
Says John…this baby is God with us…
God, Creator of all ---in the flesh.
How can this be?
Almighty God…powerless?
The Word—who spoke the universe into being…unable to speak?
On the one hand, to see Jesus…God with us---in this form…a baby…
Seems impossibly odd.
Ah…but on the other hand…
It is possible to see that babies actually have a lot of power.
They may look tiny—such wee things…
Their feet may be small, their hands soft, and look so helpless
---but they are capable of making all kinds of people around them jump!
Babies can make grown women and men cry out of sheer joy and utter frustration.
They command attention: hold me,
play with me,
find my soother
Adults do laundry, blend food, change their schedules, plug their noses…
Buy this, and paint that…
and turn rough tough big people into play-machines who make funny noises just
to see if they can get this little one to respond…
Babies turn ordinary people into moms and dads.
---and lives are forever changed.
Babies in this way—have a lot of power.
And we can see that in the story of Jesus too!!
Even then, when he was a baby, and in all of the events leading up to his birth there in
Bethlehem…and surrounding his birth…
A star appeared in the sky…for Jesus sake
A Roman emperor Caesar—issued a decree (unwittingly—for Jesus sake
Joseph and Mary end up in Bethlehem…for Jesus sake
And labor pains begin, mysteriously, miraculously, while they were there…
The birth of Jesus… changed Mary and Joseph’s lives entirely
Mary’s family. Joseph’s family. Swept along in all of this…
The innkeeper—affected.
Shepherds…just our there working the night shift…minding their own business
But when the sky suddenly filled with angels, singing, exclaiming, and telling you about
this baby…you go!
You see. And you tell anybody that will listen---this is what we saw and heard and
saw…and….
--what about all the people who heard the shepherds raving about this baby and angels..
What about them?
Would they join in worship and wonder?
Or would they turn to each other and say—Really?
The wisemen and that star…it had them hopping..
The angels were hopping…a flurry of special delivery messages…and this chorus!
And Herod…and the chief priests and teachers were scrambling…where is this newborn king to
be born??
This baby Jesus had a lot of impact.
Luke says that when Caesar issued that decree, which covered the entire Roman world…
We’re talking France and Spain to Egypt and Liberia, and Greece and Croatia and
Turkey and Syria and Jordan and Iran…
When Caesar issued that decree, everyone went to his own town to register. Everyone.
So yes, babies…this baby particularly…has a lot of power…
And yet here he is…a helpless babe, wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger…
And later, a helpless, condemned man on the cross, wrapped in cloths and laid in a tomb
Think again of all that baby cannot do—how helpless, dependent, vulnerable…
And then consider this: this wee one…
This weak one…
This Jesus is God in the flesh…the embodyment of God.
On Christmas, God comes down the stairs of heaven, baby in arms, and God says…
Hold this baby.
Hold Me.
Jesus the baby—embodies the heart of God..
The will of God
The essence of God…
In this baby and in the ways he taught
The way he suffered and died and was raised up again…
The seeds of hope are planted…we find in Jesus –a revelation that says all that is hurtful
and broken and evil in this life, all of the oppression and corruption---all of it will be
addressed…because the God who is all-powerful shines a light into the darkness…
He gives us this baby; and when you are given a baby, it calls out in us our very best instincts…
To care for, to protect, to provide
To love, to ensure that this little one belongs and knows it…
God revealed himself to us---in a way which calls out in us the ways in which we might image
God. Hold this baby, says God. Hold me…and hold each other