One of my favorite gifts this Christmas is a new handcrafted nativity set given me by my children. After hearing me complain every year about the “white baby Jesus with blue eyes,” my eldest daughter spotted the perfect replacement at a Fair Trade sale. The kids all chipped in, and I love my new scene.
There is one thing that particularly intrigues me, though. The “baby” is the man-Jesus! Does anyone know anything about this? My daughter wasn’t completely sure of the originating country.
I wondered if it is the artist’s rendering of God becoming “man.” Could he/she have been trying to emphasize the humanity of Jesus? Or, did it possibly seem too scandalous to think of God enfleshed in baby? I’ll enjoy puzzling over this for years to come, and I’ll be so glad not to have a more “real” Jesus!
Meanwhile, If anyone knows anything about the man in the nativity set, be sure to let me know!
