What a Baby

It seems like a settled issue at this point, but whether Jesus was “fully human,” “fully divine,” or “fully human and fully divine,” was a huge controversy. This was the impetus for the council of Nicaea in the year 325, but was still simmering in 1560 when John Knox wrote the Scot’s Confession. He was not very subtle about it:

When the fullness of time came God sent his Son, his eternal wisdom, the substance of his own glory, into this world, who took the nature of humanity from the substance of a woman, a virgin, by means of the Holy Ghost. And so was born the “just seed of David,” the “Angel of the great counsel of God,” the very Messiah promised, whom we confess and acknowledge to be Emmanuel, true God and true man, two perfect natures united and joined in one person. So by our Confession we condemn the damnable and pestilent heresies of Arius, Marcion, Eutyches, Nestorius, and such others as did either deny the eternity of his Godhead, or the truth of his humanity, or confounded them, or else divided them.

We don’t refer to things as pestilential enough anymore.

This is one of the purposes of Christmas, that we are celebrating the human incarnation of God among us. We are celebrating the inherent humanity that was so bewildering. But do we actually think this is the case? I would argue that the author of Away In A Manger missed the boat; “The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.” I have never heard of a human baby not crying.

Jesus, as human, was subject to all of the things that humans were. Seeing as how we so often focus on the divine Jesus rather than the human Jesus, I think we need to remember his humanity. As this season anticipates the birth of Christ, I have some questions to ask about baby Jesus that will hopefully remind us that Jesus was, indeed, fully human.

• Did Jesus ever swallow a Drachma and Mary and Joseph had to wait to see if he would pass it?

• Did Jesus ever pee on Mary while getting his diaper changed?

• When did Jesus learn to roll over?

• Who was the most important person Jesus spat up on?

• Did Jesus ever hurt Joseph by yanking too hard on his beard?

• What was the first solid food that Jesus ate?

• Did he throw that food on the ground as an act of defiance against his parents?

• What was the first night that Jesus slept through the actual night?

• When Jesus first learned to walk, how long was it before he started to torment the sheep and donkeys he lived with?

• Did Mary and Joseph ever accidentally forget him at the market?

• Did Jesus ever blow out his diaper, and if so, who cleaned up his back after that?

• Did Jesus ever bite Mary while teething as he was nursing?

• What was his favorite toy?

• Did he ever poop while taking a bath?

Babies could be really gross. Baby Jesus was a baby. These are all things that babies do.

Fully human (for better or for worse) and fully divine.

Peace,

Rev. Jeff Fox-Kline

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If this reflection sparked your curiosity or gave you a new way to think about the humanity of Jesus, we’d love to keep exploring faith, questions, and wonder together. Come be part of our community this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. for a meaningful time of worship and togetherness. All are welcome to join; there’s always a seat saved just for you at Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church.