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December 4 – This Baby (A Christmas Carol Advent)

21 MORE DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

Video

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCsud5X3A54

History

This Baby is from Steven Curtis Chapman’s Christmas Is All In The Heart album released in 2003.

Commentary & Analysis

As opposed to yesterday’s song, Away in a Manger, this song starts with a more appropriate view of Jesus as a baby – “Well, He cried when He was hungry,Did all the things that babies do.”  Jesus was fully God and fully human, and despite the fact that the bible does not explicitly tell us about his infancy, it is likely that he cried, rocked, napped, wiggled, giggled and cooed as this song proclaims.  I particularly like the juxtaposition of his humanness (“seemed as natural as it could be”) and his nature as God that made the angels sing, made a new star and change the world.

The chorus of this song is a rundown of several of the attributes of Jesus.

  • The angels announced his birth. (Luke 2:8-21)
  • A new star shined at his birth. (Matthew 2:1-12)
  • He came to change the world. (Luke 19:10)
  • He was God’s Son.  (John 3:16)
  • He was like no human who ever lived. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
  • He was God with us. (Matthew 1:23)

In much the same way that the first verse dealt with the humanness of Jesus as a baby, the second verse deals with his humanness as an adolescent.  Like a normal boy, he had to learn to read and write.  He likely loved to spend time with his human dad Joseph.  He learned a trade.  He grew taller.  His body changed, and he went through the normal growth pattern.  The final line of the verse indicates “And all the neighbors said He’s such a fine boy” which is likely a reference to Luke 2:52:

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.  [Luke 2:52 ESV]

In the final verse, this songs looks at several of the things recorded in the Bible which Jesus did as a man including crying a death and revealing heaven in human form.

Questions for further Reflection / Devotion

The following questions are meant for your reflection and or devotion.  Feel free to meditate on them, discuss them with your family or others or post your responses here.  I would love to hear from you.

  1. How do you reconcile in your own mind that Jesus was fully human and fully God?  What does it mean to you?
  2. Why do you think God chose to come as a baby and live through adolescence and early adulthood before he began his ministry?
  3. Mary knew that Jesus was the Son of God.  How do you think she must have felt raising the Son of God?
  4. Do you find it easier to accept the fact that Jesus was fully human or fully God?
  5. Take some time to talk to your family about what it means that God was fully human and experienced many of things they experience as kids and young adults.

Lyrics

Well, He cried when He was hungry,
Did all the things that babies do;
He rocked and He napped on His mother’s lap,
And He wiggled and giggled and cooed.
There were the cheers when He took His first step,
And the tears when He got His first teeth;
Almost everything about this little baby
Seemed as natural as it could be.

CHORUS

But this baby made the angels sing,
And this baby made a new star shine in the sky.
This baby had come to change the world.
This baby was God’s own son, this baby was like no other one.
This baby was God with us, this baby was Jesus.

And this baby grew into a young boy,
Who learned to read and write and wrestle with dad;
There was the climbin’ of trees and the scrapin’ of knees,
And all the fun that a boy’s born to have.
He grew taller and some things started changing,
Like His complexion and the sound of His voice;
There was work to be done as a carpenter’s son
And all the neighbors said He’s such a fine boy.

CHORUS

But this boy made the angels sing,
And this boy made a new star shine in the sky.
This boy had come to change the world.
This boy was God’s own son, this boy was like no other one.
This boy was God with us. This boy became a man,

And love made Him laugh and death made Him cry.
With the life that He lived and the death that He died,
He showed us heaven with His hands and His heart,
‘Cause this man was God’s own son.
This man was like no other one,
Holy and human right from the start.

CHORUS

This baby was God with us, this baby,
this baby was Jesus;
this baby was Jesus,
this baby was Jesus.

Return to a Christmas Carol Advent index page.

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