Day 17 The Christmas Thief: An Advent Calendar in Prose

 

The Christmas Thief

An Advent Calendar in Prose

Day 17

“A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”

Drivel. As he pushed through the holiday crowds, Barnaby’s thoughts ricocheted back and forth in time from his mother’s drunken prayers to the little girl’s teddy bear. 

How could anyone believe that a baby in a manger was a king? Who could believe that a king would die for bums like me? What would make a little girl give up her greatest treasure to a dream, a myth, the stuff charlatans used to fleece the masses? The golden altar loomed over the manger. The baby in the manger, the man on the cross, the golden altar. Which one was truly Jesus? 

Barnaby scuffed along the sidewalk, blind to the holly and tinsel, deaf to the joyous carols. The manger and the cross wrestled in his mind. Jesus, holding a teddy bear, looked straight into Barnaby’s heart.

Barnaby flopped into a booth at Maggie’s and ordered a cup of java. Father Brown’s droning echoed in his ears. The shivering parents, the humble shepherds, the Wise Men, even the sheep and the cattle were all welcome at the manger. Somewhere in the back of Barnaby’s mind, a niggling memory brought him back to his mother’s side. Another sermon, a solemn one, his mother crying as the priest told of the suffering Jesus, the one Barnaby could never reconcile as real, looking down from the cross and forgiving those who were jeering at him. Two other crosses flanked his. Two criminals who deserved their sentences. Two thieves. 

Barnaby signaled for another cup. 

Savior for All: Luke 23:39-43 One of the criminals hanging alongside cursed him: “Some Messiah you are! Save yourself! Save us!” But the other one made him shut up: “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him—he did nothing to deserve this.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.” He said, “Don’t worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise.” (MSG)

Challenge: The earthly journey of Jesus stretches from the cradle to the cross. Often, we forget that Jesus did not stay a baby in a manger. He grew and prospered, taught and healed, loved, wept, and suffered. In his final moments on the cross, Jesus forgave his persecutors and welcomed a criminal, traditionally thought to be a thief, to join him in his heavenly kingdom — not after he had served his sentence, not after he made recompense, but immediately, the moment he believed. Today, believe and you will be in paradise with Jesus. Offer a word of forgiveness to someone in your life.