“An Unusual Nativity”

 

BIBLE READING: 1 Peter

                There is an old story told of a preacher and his family who one year decided that they were really going to go all out with their outdoor Christmas decorations.  They had saved up their money and purchased a large, life-size Nativity scene that would cover a good portion of their front yard.  This set had everything, Mary and Joseph, angels, shepherds, animals, and of course the manger with the baby Jesus.  As they were putting the finishing touches on their front yard Christmas masterpiece, their young son brought out one of his favorite pool toys that he wanted to add to the scene, an eight-foot tall inflatable Tyrannosaurus Rex.  Although their nativity scene was large, this dinosaur was enormous towering over it all.  This certainly was not something that would fit within the context of the Nativity.  His father tried to explain to his son that dinosaurs became extinct long before the birth of Jesus, and that the T-rex just did not belong there.  Yet, the little boy insisted that this was his contribution to the scene.  Reluctantly, mom and dad placed the gigantic inflatable dinosaur behind the rest of the Nativity characters hoping to remove it after a few days.  However, when they all stepped back and looked at their beautiful decorations, with this fierce creature hovering over their holy scene, it dawned on them that maybe this dinosaur was saying more than they realized.  That dinosaur that looked as if it were about to pounce down upon the manger that held the baby Jesus and devour the entire scene with one gulp, reminded them of something important.  Just like that Tyrannosaurus Rex is looking over the shoulders of all the Nativity participants, someone is also looking over our shoulders.  The ugly monster that is the Devil is hovering over us just waiting to rob us of all the joy, peace and cheer that comes through Jesus (I Peter 5.8).  Although he may appear, big and scary, the one that is in the manger is much stronger than him and all the dinosaurs in our lives combined.  God has given us the victory over anything that seeks to threaten our joy, even if it is a giant inflatable Tyrannosaurus Rex.  This holiday season may this imagery of this unusual outdoor Christmas decoration remind us that “greater is He that is within us, than he that is in the world” (I John 4.4).