Baby Jesus Problem-Solver

7 ways Baby Jesus is relevant to modern-day challenges.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

The cute baby in the sweet nativity scene. The headliner in our favorite carols. The adorable star of assorted seasonal knickknacks, arts, and crafts. It may seem that Jesus in his infant form can be minimized, vanillafied, his world-changing impact mentally postponed into adulthood or even relegated to quaint holiday tale. In reality, right from the start, the baby Jesus was a revolutionary force with enduring impact, dispatched to solve our heart problem: Sin with all its many destructive side effects. Baby Jesus remains the ultimate problem-solver. Here are seven ways the manger baby offers practical insight for our modern-day troubles.

1. Baby Jesus was unaffiliated.

Jesus was not a member of the religious or Roman elite. He didn't claim any social status or financial privilege, nor did he invoke any national, political, or organizational allegiance. Even as a Jew, Jesus was an outlier. In fact, Jesus had no clear affiliation of any kind, apart from to God.

Jesus upsets the establishment. In fact, a lot of them.

These days, so many claim the moral high ground, the right to be right, the remedy to our ills, even daring to claim the corner on Jesus himself, each invoking a particular subset of Christian teachings that best serve their end. This usually involves overlooking some other Christian precepts that are equally essential. Yet peace, harmony, moral integrity, justice, and real solutions to an ever-growing list of problems elude us.

While the hellish headlines scream ever louder, we desperately need Good News and that is: We do urgently need rescue and we have an all-sufficient rescuer in Christ as...

Adoration of the Magi, Matthias Stom, 1630s

2. Baby Jesus underscores our neediness.

The fact that God dispatched a lowly infant in a barn as mankind's Savior reveals the extent of our woeful weakness, our need, our dependence. From the onset and ever after, we can rely on Christ as the source of love, strength, wisdom, and eternal safety. Apart from him, we are of-so much weaker than we know. In Christ, are adopted children of God with all the benefits of unrestricted access (1.) because...

3. Baby Jesus is both access and accessible.

Through Christ, our unrestricted access to God is restored, available to all. Despite His history-shaping standing, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, an insignificant town, in what many believe was an open-air stable accessible to anyone who cared to stop in. He was not sheltered in a heavily guarded palace accessible only to the privileged, or a temple for the holy, or tucked away in a family's private home. His physical birthplace is a symbolic invitation to the unrestricted access we all have to and through Christ. More importantly...

A Adoração dos Magos, Domingos Sequeira, 1828

4. Baby Jesus is the great equalizer.

...there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

Despite the unlikely setting, both simple shepherds and global leaders knelt before the baby Jesus, in humble recognition that they were in the presence of greatness. Likewise, the Begotten Son was given to save the entire world from the voluntary and legit consequences of sin--enmity with and eternal separation from God. Jesus wasn't dispatched to save those we deem worthy, the good, the notable, or a particular group of people. He came to save all of us, because we're all a beloved mess!