I've been reading this book for years. If you have never read this book I urge you to go get a copy TODAY and take a couple of hours to read it. You will not regret this read!
The other day at my company Christmas party our President, Denny, read some excerpts from this book and a thought I had never had before hit me. I've been mulling it over ever since.
You know, if you haven't read the book yet do me a favor. Stop reading right here and don't read anymore until you have read the book! That way I'm not ruining the story for anyone. But if you have read the book hang with me on this new thought. I'm aware this thought may be one of the first things others had when reading the book, I can be a little slow at times! Haha!
The book ends with the Pageant finally happening. The Herdman's, the worst kids ever known to man, had scooped up all the main roles through threats and manipulation so everyone was on hand to see what they would do as Mary, Joseph, the Angel of the Lord, and the Three Wise Men. During the angelic singing of the choir Mary and Joseph come down the aisle with Baby Jesus slung over Mary's shoulder. Before putting Baby Jesus in his bed she thumps him on the back a couple of times to burp him. Gasps throughout the audience that Mary would dare to burp the Savior of the world! Next came the Angel of the Lord who yelled loudly and without a lot of, okay any, decorum, "Hey! Unto you a child is born!" And then the Three Wise Men come down the aisle bearing...well, what is it they are bearing? That is NOT frankincense, gold, and myrrh. Why it's, it's a...HAM! The Three Wise Men are laying a ham down in front of Jesus! Certain church members are appalled, most people are amused and...touched. The final touching moment nobody witnesses but the narrator of the book. Imogene, who plays Mary and is normally the biggest bully out of the whole crew, is kneeling in front of Baby Jesus and crying. And the consensus at the end of the Pageant is it was the best one they had ever done or anyone had ever seen.
That's the abridged version of the last chapter of the book. And it is within that last chapter that a new thought hit me. Okay I confess. One main thought hit me but there's a couple of others I thought I'd point out since I'm here. :)
Jesus was a real human baby and therefore to burp him was not outside the realm of practical ways to treat him. DUH. I'm most positive that Jesus, as a baby, needed to be burped. I think we forget that he came out of heaven and truly became one of us. He needed to be fed, changed, burped, he got scrapes and bruises. He wasn't immune to those things, in fact he came to experience those things because he knew we did and would.
I'm feeling pretty sure that the Angel of the Lord, upon declaring the birth of Jesus, didn't sing it all operatic like we perhaps imagine. I feel like the proclamation was somewhere in between Gladys' take on it (see above summary for how that sounded) and a more forceful "singing" of it. It wasn't something you wanted to hear quietly but yet shouted, joyfully, because it was and is the best news this world has ever received!
Okay, you're warmed up with my mini-thoughts. Here's the big one. Are you ready? :)
It occurred to me that the Three Wise Men in the Pageant presented Jesus, a Jewish person, with a ham.
I'll let you take as long as you need to let that sink in....
You there yet?
A ham is from a pig. Pigs, in the Jewish culture and religion, are not kosher and are not allowed.
Okay you get it now right? :)
They, unknowingly, presented Baby Jesus with an non-kosher gift! I take the greatest delight in this realization because (here it comes) WE aren't kosher. Right? We aren't. We present ourselves to Jesus and we aren't kosher. It is his grace and love and forgiveness and mercy that transform us from non-kosher to kosher. Just think about that.
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