Battle Lines: Nativity Sets
I really like nativity sets. I have a small collection of them that I have picked up over the years from around the world. I find it interesting how different cultures adapt the nativity to “own” Jesus and His incarnation – as if He came specifically for them.
What I don’t like is the vulgarization of nativity sets. You have probably seen them. Instead of the Christchild, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and wisemen, you have a collection of dogs, cats, birds, cartoon figures, superheroes, etc. This greatest of all events in human history is trivialized with the worst forms of commercialization in the name of novelty.
Some have used the nativity scene to mock Christianity, which no doubt will happen again this year. The media will shine a spotlight on the offenders, lest we who honor Christ at Christmas miss the blasphemy.
Revisionists have helped us understand that what we traditionally portray in our nativity scenes is probably not accurate anyway. The Magi, or wisemen, likely didn’t show up until Jesus was almost two years old. Jesus was likely not born in a little barn or outbuilding but in a cave, as many will know from visiting the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
But then there is even a further variation that has come to us from Kenneth E. Bailey in his wonderful book, “Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes.” He explains that because animals were so valued in the Middle East, as they are even to the present day, they were not kept in separate buildings but in extended areas of the house. Because of this, the manger that Jesus was laid in, although not in the part of the house where the family slept, would not have been so very far away from them. If you will, it was like He was born in the garage of someone’s house. It wasn’t quite as inhumane as Him being born out in the barn. He was still laid in a feeding trough, but it was a little more hospitable than we typically imagine.
So, my little nativity set that I love to set up every year might not be so historically accurate. But what is accurate, what is most important, is that Jesus is at the center of it all. The baby Jesus is there, the focus of the admiration and worship of Mary and Joseph, of the shepherds and Magi.
When I place the baby Jesus in that central place, I am remembering once again that I want Him to be always at the center of my life. I want to recall that He came on that day so long ago for people like me who never stood a chance without Him. And as I place the kneeling shepherd by the manger, I see myself kneeling in worship, not alone but with the thousands of millions of generations who have named Him as Lord. I am so very grateful that He came.