As I began explaining the story of the first Christmas, I was surprised to see one of the 4-year-olds become quite distressed. “Wait!” he called out, “Why did they put Baby Jesus in a place where the wild animals could get him?” Another girl piped up, “Yeah! Was Mary worried that the animals might accidentally eat him?”
My first reaction was to laugh to myself and realize I needed to explain the story a little better for my young friends who weren’t familiar with it. But as I thought about the little boy’s question over the next few days, a new question began to form in my own mind: When was the last time I had “pictured a Christmas”—really pictured it? When was the last time I had really pondered with childlike wonder and innocence the miracle that was Christ’s birth?
Christmastime has been a season of wonder for ages, and this is perhaps especially true of the first Christmas. Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and wise men all wondered at the holy baby in their midst and the life he would live.
When the angel visited the shepherds to deliver the message of the Savior’s birth, “the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid” (Luke 2:9-15). The angel told them to “Fear not,” and the shepherds joyfully shared the miraculous message with everyone they could. “And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds” (Luke 2:17-18).
Although the wise men were not visited by angelic messengers, they wondered and sought after the Christ and rejoiced when they found him.
“Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him” (Matthew 2:1-2).
“When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him” (Matthew 2:10-11).
When Simeon prophesied that Jesus would be “a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel,” Joseph and Mary “marveled at those things which were spoken of” the new baby (Luke 2:28-33).
Mary must have marveled that she would bear and raise the child who would grow to be the Good Shepherd and the means of bringing salvation to the world. She was amazed that God had “regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed” (Luke 1:47-48). As miracles unfolded, she “kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
Picture the little baby Jesus.
Think of his life and words so dear.
I think that maybe the shepherds, wise men, Mary, and Joseph wondered not so much at the baby that was born, but at what he would become. Former Church President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “The babe Jesus of Bethlehem would be but another baby without the redeeming Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary, and the triumphant fact of the Resurrection.”
This is the wondrous and true story of Christmas. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judea is preface. The three-year ministry of the Master is prologue. The magnificent substance of the story is His sacrifice, the totally selfless act of dying in pain on the cross of Calvary to atone for the sins of all of us.
The epilogue is the miracle of the Resurrection, bringing the assurance that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).1
At the end of his mortal life, Christ proclaimed, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice” (John 18:37).
So in this season of excitement and stress and joy, may we remember to think of Christ’s life and words. In this season of remembering the Holy Child, may we recapture a little bit of childlike innocence and wonder at the miracle. May we sing praise to Him and remember Him as we picture Christmas this year.
Posted by Shellie
1. Past President of the Church Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Wondrous and True Story of Christmas,” December 2000 Ensign
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