Something my pastor said this morning reminded me of a unusual story.  Mike was concluding a series called “Little Big Town” today and of course talking about the birth of Jesus.  He was pointing out that since Jesus came to save us, in very real sense He was born to die.  No one likes to think about death, especially at a birth, but you can’t get around it… when you think about the manger in Bethlehem, you cannot help but think of a cross just outside Jerusalem.

One Christmas in Virginia we did a Christmas presentation that showed various scenes from the life of Jesus from His birth to His resurrection.  When we depicted the Nativity, we had Mary spotlighted in the center of the stage as she cradled the body of her newborn infant.  A child soloist joined the choir in singing Michael W. Smith’s “All is Well.”

Later, after the crucifixion, the lights came up again on Mary in the same place on the stage as she cradled the lifeless body of her son in a recreation of Michaelangelo’s “Pieta.”  As the scene unfolded a soloist quietly sang, “Sweet little Jesus Boy, we didn’t know Who you was…” 

Just seems like we can’t do right,
Look how we treated You
But please, sir, forgive us, Lord,
We didn’t know ’twas You…

When we first storyboarded the scene, we thought it would be a powerful reminder of the connection between the manger and the cross.  We were right, but we weren’t prepared for just how powerful.  At dress rehearsal, we had to stop when all of us broke down.  The soloist choked up, and even the tech crew walked away from their posts wiping tears from their eyes. 

Opening night it had a similar effect on the audience.  But the moment was interrupted by a woman in her 60s, dressed to the nines in Christmas attire who was about ten feet from where I was standing in the tech booth.  She was mad and was making sure everyone around her knew it.  “Why are they showing this at Christmas?!  This is Christmas!  They shouldn’t be showing things like this!”  One of the usher team moved toward her, but she was already out the back door and out into the street, presumably to find some genuine Christmas cheer somewhere.

I don’t know who she was.  I never saw her before or after that, but it was very obvious she was a holiday purist… Christmas stuff should be at Christmas and Easter stuff at Easter and don’t go mixing up the two and confusing her!  The problem is that you cannot make that distinction, because without the cross and ultimately the empty tomb, the birth of Jesus doesn’t make sense.  It’s just another fable or myth.  Unless you follow the line that runs from the manger to the cross neither one makes sense.  But together they are the centerpiece of God’s plan to save mankind.

Over the next couple of days as you see the many depictions of the manger, follow the line that connects the manger to the cross and the cross to the empty tomb, and the empty tomb to our salvation!