The Stranger at the Manger

It had to be the most bizarre nativity scene ever constructed. The stable was an old Dukes of Hazard lunch box. A thermos was sitting next to the open lunch box, like the turret of a castle. And on top of the thermos was Darth Vader, arms spread out as the Angel of the Lord.

Along one side were Frankenstein, the Wolfman, and the Mummy as the wise men from the East, each with a small gift box in front of them.

On the other side, behind a Lego fence with a gate, several Furbies, beanie babies, care bear figurines and assorted other stuffed animals served as the sheep and livestock. Next to them were the shepherds: A Wookie, the Cat in the Hat, the Hulk, and Batman.

On the lid of the lunch box sat Barbie as Mary. Standing behind Mary, leaning against the side of the lunch box for stability and playing Joseph was G.I Joe, in full battle gear. And the piece de resistance was Bart Simpson in a shopping cart as baby Jesus.

It was a sight to behold. It was obvious by the look on the young boy’s face that he had spent hours designing and picking just the right toy for each of the characters.

Everything about that nativity scene was wrong or out of place. Who would have thought of Bart Simpson as baby Jesus? But at the same time, it was almost perfect, too. Not because of the characters, but because of this boy’s love for God and Jesus and Christmas that went into building the scene out of materials at hand and wanting to share it with his parents. What could be more perfect than that? Even if it did feel like drinking a dill pickle milkshake.

That’s the way we feel when John the Baptist shows up in our Christmas celebration. And here he is again. Once more muddying the waters of Christmas. Listen to this morning’s Gospel: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light” (1:6-8).

There are some who call John the Baptist “the Stranger at the Manger.” But it’s appropriate for us to remember John because he rightfully reminds us to prepare for the coming gift of the Christ-child.

No matter what else John said, the most important thing he does is remind us to get ready. “Prepare the way of the Lord.”

You and I prepare ourselves for all kinds of things: surgery, a wedding, child birth, a job interview, a birthday party, a trip to the beach. We don’t like to go unprepared. We might say we like spontaneity, but we prefer to be prepared for things. God through John the Baptist helps prepare us for the birth of Christ and the celebration of Christmas.

Now the truth is, most of us are a little bit like the Scribes and Pharisees; we don’t listen to the voice in the wilderness from weird Uncle John. We don’t want to listen to this unwanted relative at our holiday celebrations shouting about repentance, baptism and salvation. We want to sing carols, shop and exchange gifts.

But weird Uncle John, who doesn’t seem to fit into the Christmas story, is actually a gift from God. John reminds us of the important message. John is the annoying Salvation Army bell ringing constantly in our ears, reminding us to care for the least of these: the poor, the downtrodden, the homeless, the broken hearted. John is the burnt out bulb that makes the whole strand go out and makes us hunt for the one light that will make the whole strand shine.

John is God’s gift of preparation. That alarm clock voice telling us that the birth of Christ is just around the corner and if we don’t quiet our spirits, focus our hearts, and journey out to the wilderness where the manger is located, we’ll miss it.

So, you see, we need John to wake us up, to get our attention and to get us ready. We need John because sometimes it’s hard to see the Light of the World in the midst of all the Christmas lights and decorations.

John gets our attention above the din of Christmas revelry and reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas. The birth of this child we celebrate isn’t just about presents and trees and stockings and candy canes. The birth of this child is about finding our way back home to God.

The Good News of Christmas, the Good News John is shouting out there in the wilderness is that God hasn’t given up the search for us. Into this world of darkness, the Light of all Life Himself came to lead us back home.

There’s a story about a man named Albert, who was, to put it politely, a bit of a curmudgeon. One day a longtime friend tackled the problem. “Albert, do you realize that the Lord loves you?”

“Do you aim to tell me,” Albert scoffed, “That the Lord loves me when he has never known me?”

The friend thought for a minute, then said, “Albert, it’s a lot easier for the Lord to love you without knowing you than if He ever knew you like I do.”

That’s the amazing thing. God knows us and yet God sees so much potential in us that God sent us the greatest gift possible. We don’t need to stay the way we are, no matter how we got into the wilderness. The Good News is that God came looking for us Himself.

God put on the flesh and blood of our existence. God wrapped Himself in the rags of our humanity, stepped out of heaven and walked where we walk. God came looking for us, Himself, to show us the way back home.

The old George Burns-Gracie Allen radio show once had a routine in which Gracie, who played a scatterbrained wife, called in a repairman to fix her electric clock. The repairman fiddled with it for a while and then told her, “Lady, there’s nothing wrong with this clock; you just didn’t have it plugged in.” To which Gracie replied, “Oh, I don’t want to waste electricity, so I only plug it in when I want to know what time it is.”

Harold Vivien took the opposite tack. Harold was a junior mechanic for CBS in New York City. Back in 1930, when King George V was delivering a speech from London that was being broadcast around the world by radio, someone in the New York studio tripped over one of the main wires, accidentally severing them and knocking the king off the air.

When Harold Vivien saw what happened, he quickly sprang into action. He grabbed the wires that had come apart and used his body as a splice for 250 volts of electricity. Then he held on for twenty minutes until the King’s speech was finished. Harold literally presented his body as a living sacrifice so that the King’s message might get through.

That’s precisely what John the Baptist did. John might seem as much out of place as Wookies, Darth Vader and Frankenstein in the Nativity. But his heart is in the right place. His love for God and his love for Jesus need to be shared. He reminds us that the light was coming to displace the darkness, that God was coming for us.

“And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (1:14). Now that’s good news indeed.

Have a blessed and holy Christmas.