I Lost Jesus!

 

I was in the middle of creating on Saturday when a friend wrote and asked if I made nativity scenes. 

I told her that I had not made any nativity scenes, but that I would be happy to try. 

So I found a pattern, 

Printed it, 

Traced it, 

And cut it out. 

It was the stable, Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. 

After laying the design onto the piece of wood, I realized that it needed a Bethlehem star. 

So I sat out to draw a Bethlehem star. 

Once I finished the star,

I went to place it over the nativity, but baby Jesus was missing! 

I looked and looked and looked, but I could not find Jesus!

I walked away, 

I went to supper, 

I came back, 

But I still could not find Jesus.

I even looked in my trash pile to make sure that I hadn’t thrown him away! 

Completely befuddled, 

And determining that Jesus must have ascended on the same day he was born, 

I cut a new baby Jesus.

My nativity was once again complete with all of its characters

And it even had the Bethlehem star.

But I was still confused as to where the original Jesus had gone.

A few minutes later,

After I’d given up looking for him,

I found the original baby Jesus in the green tin box.

I have no idea how he got there.

But he was there. 

Unscathed.

 

I think sometimes when we lose sight of Jesus,

The real Jesus,

The man who time and time again defied social and religious norms

By welcoming the outcast and embracing the poor,

We quickly fashion a new Jesus in our image—

One who looks like us and acts like us and does the things that we want him to do.

Maybe we shouldn’t do this.

Maybe we should trust that the real Jesus will show up 

In due time, 

When we least expect him. 

 

I did not like losing Jesus on Saturday evening. 

I felt weird and out of sorts and knew that something was missing. 

May we feel the same when we lose sight of the one who gives sight 

And causes the blind to see. 

And then, when he appears, 

May we rejoice in his presence and share him for all to see. 

 

Amen.