I saw a stable, low and very bare,
A little child in a manger.
The oxen knew Him, had Him in their care, To men He was a stranger.
The safety of the world was lying there, And the world’s danger.
A baby changes everything. This baby, this newborn King whom we hail in the manger, he is a danger. He is a danger.
This child is dangerous because nothing is as lovable as a baby. Babies, by their nature, are cute and cuddly.
– Salus Mundi, Mary Coleridge
If all children in their own way, are lovable, even more so must have been the most adorable Jesus. This little Lord Jesus, asleep in the hay, is dangerous. Why? Because if we take seriously what goes on in the Nativity, then our whole little world will have to change; the world as we know it will have to change’ Think about it: in our fallen human condition, how do we know the world, in its fallen human state, in our fallen human nature: we know it as violent, filled with hatred, with anger and avarice, with lust, shame; a world of sin. This Earth is groaning under the weight of it all.
And into this darkness comes a light; into this silence comes a world, a very little word. Listen to this letter of Blessed Jordan of Saxony, written from Paris in 1229 to another Blessed, Diana:
“I cannot find the time to write you the long letter your love would wish for and I would so gladly send. Nonetheless I do write, I send you a very little word, the Word made little in the crib, the Word who was made flesh for us, the Word of salvation and grace, of sweetness and glory, the Word who is good and gentle, Jesus Christ and him crucified, Christ raised up on the cross, raised in praise to the Father’s right hand: to whom and in whom do you raise up your soul and find there your rest unending for ever and ever. Read over that Word in your heart, turn it over in your mind, let it be sweet as honey on your lips; ponder it, dwell on it, that it may dwell with you and in you for ever.”
Into the darkness comes this very little word, this logos, the light of the world. We have the God of paradox present in our midst. God, all powerful, becomes all weak as a baby; God, all wise, becomes all needy, as a baby; God, who is eternal, enters into time as a baby. And he does this, all the while remaining God.