A Christmas Message From The Naked Jesus

Many churches today speak of Jesus in two ways: Womb or Tomb, were everything centers around the idea of the birth or death of Jesus. While some, have a deep desire to connect the two, while somehow leaving out the rest of the story. The story of Jesus is deeper than the womb and tomb many churches strive to share, much deeper, and that story should move us to a deeper walk – one where we are living the teachings, and not just reading, or hearing others speak about those teachings. For many in the womb and tomb thought, the idea of going deeper, is a study in academics. Where one reads the story, and simply memorize what they see as the important verses. The story of Jesus is the story of a Transcendent God, walking among us all; sharing love, grace and forgiveness with everyone. It is a story of this amazing God, connecting our lives with the Divine, and together with each other; it is a story telling us that we are all one people – one people who are loved, and one people who must love others to truly live the walk of Christ. It is a story of Great Love, a story of Great Grace, a story of Great Compassion, a story of Great Giving, a story that moves us from the ME to the WE.

If we only find ourselves talking about the birth and death of Christ, we miss the joy, love and compassion, of what it means to be like Christ. We miss the amazing gift of sacrifice, Jesus’ sacrifice for us, and our sacrifice for others. We miss out on the compassion of helping those in need, not because we get something in return, or because it is required of us, because when we experience the compassion of Christ in our lives, when we experience the living teachings of Jesus in our hearts, we desire others to feel that compassion coming from us. Not being forced upon others, but emulating from our hearts, our souls, our actions and into the lives of others.

In John’s recording of the Story of Jesus, John shares this, “God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.” When all we do is look at the womb, the “sweet baby Jesus,” we are ignoring his passion for life. If all we do is look that the tomb, the “empty tomb,” we miss the story of how Jesus interacted with humanity, how he taught us to live, to love, to forgive, to live in compassion.

There is nothing wrong with seeing the womb and tomb, they are important to the story of Jesus, but let us never forget that it is the life between those events that changed the world; that brought into our world the teachings that can change who we are and teach us to love, change, and be Jesus to the world around us.