A new-born baby deserves our attention at Christmas, whether it be Jesus or Nelson Mandela

Where a baby is born, whether it be Jesus or Nelson Mandela or the babe next door, is the key to what matters at Christmas.

Birth is the essence of a Christmas message written for Marlborough News Online by Marlborough’s Rector, the Rev Canon Andrew Studdert-Kennedy.

Why do we start with Jesus’ birth? he asks.  And continues:

I have not read a biography of Nelson Mandela, nor his autobiography, so when he was buried in Qunu, the village in the Easter Cape Province where he had been brought up, I realised that this was the first time I had heard of it.  The last thing I discovered about Nelson Mandela was where he was born.

The same probably applies to all leading world figures – we respond to their adult achievements and only later trace their progress back to their origins.  We work backwards to their birth.

Except, of course, the person of Jesus where it is the opposite.  We start with his birth and only later learn of his achievements – if at all.

It’s worth remembering how strange this is.

Those who met Nelson Mandela were influenced by his achievements and personality, they wouldn’t be interested in where he was born; and for Jesus’ contemporaries the same would surely apply.  His first followers will have known nothing of the origins of his birth and responded to the adult in front of them.

So why do we start with Jesus’ birth and why do we re-tell the story as often as we do?

The answer is because the details of the birth, the great Christmas story, convey an underlying meaning about God’s availability and inclusivity. Jesus is pushed to the edges, born in obscurity, and visited by the socially undesirable shepherds. There is room for everyone in the Inn.

And the reason we keep returning to the scene is because it speaks to our restless human condition.  We live with a great sense of incompleteness but also a strong conviction of our potential.  The one earthly life of Jesus shows us what all lives could be like. We are encouraged to dream for ourselves and for our world.

As any parent knows, a new born baby demands attention and changes us.  We start at the beginning and allow them to grow up.  Let’s do the same this Christmas with the baby Jesus – allow him to grow up and change us.