God Becomes a Baby

Understanding the meaning of the Incarnation at Christmas

12/25/2018

Luke 2:1-14 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,  because there was no room for them in the inn.

When I was at the University of Dallas, I read a curious book called Cur Deus Homo, written in 1095 by the medieval theologian St. Anselm. That title asks a question in Latin and means, “Why did God become man?” But with all due respect to St. Anselm, I think he asked the wrong question. The much more baffling question to me is, “Why did God become a baby?” God could have come from heaven a fully grown man, kind of like how God created the very first man, Adam, fully formed in manhood, in the prime of life, full of vim and vigor. Jesus could have come as Arnold Schwarzenegger with muscles bulging and guns blazing, ready to save the world. But instead he chose to make his grand entrance into the world not enfolded in majestic clouds and commanding armies of angels, but surrounded by swaddling clothes, barely able to move a muscle. The question that St. Anselm should have tackled is why did God become a baby? That is the question we should all ask ourselves at Christmas because that’s exactly what God did. Now, why?

I would like to suggest to you three reasons why God became a baby, and perhaps they will shed a little more light on the meaning and mystery of Christmas, like the light from that little star guided the three kings to the Christ Child, a baby. I love those billboards that say: “Wise men still seek him” because only the wise know to seek a God who would become a baby. Here are the three reasons God did that: (1) a baby is harmless, (2) a baby is edible, and (3) a baby needs love.

First of all, a baby is harmless, and indeed it is very vulnerable and cannot survive without constant attention and care. That is why everyone instantly drops their own defenses around a baby. Have you noticed what perfect fools people make of themselves in order to try to catch a baby’s attention? Just watch what shenanigans people do when they try to take a baby’s picture and make it smile or laugh. I see this all the time at baptisms when I hold the baby and watch people make bizarre noises, wave and jump around like idiots. I wish I had a camera to take a picture of the people.

Why is this? Well, when we meet an adult for the first time, we ask ourselves: “Is this person a friend or a foe?” “Are you going to help me or harm me?” We sort of size them up in our minds. On the other hand, when we approach a baby, we never ask those questions because we know instinctively a baby is harmless and we want to assure it that we are harmless, too; indeed, we act like complete clowns to win the baby’s trust. I have seen CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies, generals of the army, presidents of nations, all reduced to clowns for the entertainment of a baby, especially when it’s their own grandchild. No matter how big you think you are, a baby can bring you back down to earth. That’s one reason God became a baby; it is harmless and it help us be harmless too.

Secondly, a baby is edible. Now, before you call me a cannibal, answer this question: when you see a really chubby baby, have you not wanted to bite his or her chubby legs or arms? If we’re honest, we know we have felt that urge to munch loving on a baby. God became a baby precisely as a kind of prophesy of his ultimate purpose, namely, to feed us with himself, indeed, with his own Body and Blood. Do you know the word “Bethlehem” literally means “house of bread”? This Baby would become the Bread of Life we hear about in John 6, and would feed all the world with himself. What was Jesus first baby bed? It was a manger full of straw and hay to feed the animals. God became a baby in Bethlehem and was laid in a manger to foreshadow the fact that he would become the spiritual food of the Eucharist, and we can all munch lovingly on Jesus. Every time we come to church for Mass, we walk into a new Bethlehem, a house of bread. God became a baby to teach us how he would feed us.

And thirdly, a baby needs love. Isn’t it amazing how we love all babies, regardless of their race or religion, their color or creed, their nationality or names? We have no prejudicial preferences for a brown baby or a white baby or a black baby. Every baby is beautiful and each one is easy to love. If God had become immediately a full-grown man, we would come to him loaded with questions and complaints and criticisms against him, which is what happened during Jesus’ public ministry. It’s easy to be angry at an adult. But who blows up at a baby? Unless, of course, they are crying in church during my homily. Blaise Pascal the French philosopher, famously said: “There is a God-shaped hole in every human heart, and only God can fill it.” I believe there is likewise a human-shaped hole in God’s heart that only our human love can fill. All babies need love, even the divine Baby, Jesus, and becoming a baby made it easier for us to love him.

Maybe I should not be so quick to question St. Anselm, who was after all a bishop, a saint and a doctor of the church. But the baffling fact that God became a baby cries out for an explanation more than a hungry baby cries out for his mother’s milk! Jesus did nothing by accident, not his conception, not his crucifixion, not his crowning in glory. Therefore, he also had a reason in becoming a baby. It happens to be his same reason for doing everything else, namely, to show his love for us, and to help us love him. Few things capture that mutual love between God and man better than a baby.

Praised be Jesus Christ!