Bring Jesus Home
Christmas B

Antonio P. Pueyo
Reproduced with Permission

As a one who has worked in parishes for many years, there is one sight that always warms my heart on Christmas day. It is worth all the trouble of Christmas preparations. After the mass, I just sit and watch families approach the Nativity scene. The children have their parents in tow as they reverently approach the Baby Jesus in the manger. The theological significance may be beyond their grasp but they know that something great happened with the coming of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God born of Mary. God has come into the world as a little child. This is a joyful and an important event. That is all they know and that is all that really matters.

Action starter: Where can you bring some light?

There were times when children would demand from to their parents, “Let us bring Baby Jesus home.”

Wisdom comes from the mouth of babes. Let this be our inspirational word for this Christmas, “Bring Jesus home.” As an observer watching the proceedings at the Belen, I could see that some parents had to stop their children from physically getting the Baby Jesus to bring home. The most common way to make a child behave was to threaten, “Father will be angry. He is watching you.” Other explanations would be, “Mary will be sad,” “The priest will take care of Him.” “Jesus belongs to the church.”

Jesus does not just belong in church. He belongs in our homes, our places of work, and our places of recreation. Jesus does not just belong to the Church. Jesus belongs to the whole of humanity and the whole of creation. Jesus came for the whole world. The core message of Christmas is that God loves everyone of us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn. 3:16).”

God had a purpose for sending His Son among us in a human form. Jesus came into the world to shed light on the darkness, “The Light shines in the darkness and darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5).” Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life, came to teach us how to live in this world which, oftentimes, may be a “vale of tears.” He also came to tell us that life is not limited by the horizon of time, that God’s in-breaking in time through His Son brings the promise and hope of eternal life and eternal joy.

This is the core message of Christmas. God is love and this love is shown in Jesus. Perhaps this message penetrates the simple consciousness of the child and so they would like to bring Jesus home. We adults have to deal with the practical consequences of this demand, not in its litera sense, but in the sense of being a witness and disciple of Jesus. What happens if we bring Jesus with us?

The answer is clear. He will bring light into the darkness. A Blessed Christmas to you and your loved ones.

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