The truth behind the Silent Night

The real "Silent Night",
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

Parker got two very cool nativity scene play sets for Christmas. This was great because Cathy and I were feeling a little bad that Parker knows all about Santa Claus but not much about Jesus. Then again, he's only 2 and hasn't started Sunday School yet!

One set was from his Aunt Mindy and was "Little People." The other set was from his Uncle George and was "Veggie Tales." Parker loves Little People, but has not seen much of the Veggie Tales. They do have a fairly new Saturday morning show on NBC that we've watched maybe once. Great theme song: "Cauliflower! Sweet and sour! Half an hour!"

The Veggie Tales one interested me the most because of one specific feature. No, not the gold tooth that one of the Magi has, but the fact that the baby Jesus (in this case a carrot, we think) includes a pacifier. That's not really the traditional image of baby Jesus ("The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes"). Why should we believe that a new born baby didn't cry? There's no mention of this in the Bible. The birth of Jesus is only told in two of the four Gospels (Matthew and Luke) and then after that, the only mention of the young Jesus is the story of him staying in the Temple during Passover after his parents went home (Luke 2:40-52). The other Gospels pick up when Jesus is an adult and is starting his ministry. And there's no mention of Jesus as a non-crying baby.

So, did baby Jesus cry? I's like to think that he did. The Urban Dictionary has lots of suggestions for what might "make baby Jesus cry," but I think it's much more simple than that. Jesus cried when he was cold, hot, wet, bored, poopy, hungry, itchy from the straw in the manger, when he smelled the animal manure and when Mary and Joseph dressed him in ugly cloths. He was a human and more importantly started life as a baby. That's why I think that Jesus with a pacifier is great. It's something young kids can relate to; a crying newborn who needs comfort.

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