Where's Jesus?

Troubling times have affected us all and you may be dreading 2011. But Jesus is right there in our midst, encouraging us to continue to fight the good fight.

by Jim Beilstein

Special to The R-C

A few years ago as Christmas was approaching I noticed that Baby Jesus was missing from the manger in our nativity scene. I first thought maybe my wife Mary or daughter Charla or son Josh had taken Baby Jesus so I proceeded to interrogate them in my quest to find Him. But they denied all knowledge of His whereabouts.

I continued my quest for MIA "missing in action" Jesus and believed He must have fallen behind some of our packages next to the creche. So I methodically moved each package to ascertain where Baby Jesus had landed. But no Baby Jesus.

Mary suggested maybe one of the cats took Jesus. Now that seemed a little bizarre to me, but Mary knows these cats a lot better than I do.

Sure enough, Baby Jesus was lying next to Webster, our cat. Webster who goes walking with me when I get the mail, Webster who sounds like a herd of buffalo when he runs, and Webster who is hated by the mocking birds of our neighbor and who is dive-bombed by them on a daily basis. Come to think of it, maybe that is why Webster took Baby Jesus - he was looking for protection.

As I reflected on MIA Jesus, I thought He was never really missing at all. Jesus was in the midst of our house next to our animals and Mary, just as the actual Baby Jesus was next to the animals in the stable with another Mary.

"When the angels went away from them into heaven the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.' And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger." Luke 2:15-16.

It seems we are about to start a new year that many people see as troubling. America is fighting two wars, is in a financial crisis, and seems to be a society that is against Christmas and the Christ Child. These troubling times have affected us all and you may be dreading 2011.

But Jesus is right there in our midst, encouraging us to continue to fight the good fight against the evils of this world. He is not asking us to do anything that He did not do as He paved the way for us in this life and for our eternity.

Still we sometimes want to put Jesus in a box or in a creche, and when He shows us He is bigger than any box or any creche, we wonder what He is doing. We wonder what He is doing as He takes us through difficult times and gives us the faith to believe He is always there.

I pray that each one of you has a blessed Christmas and that the Baby Boy takes away your fear of the new year, knowing that He is already there preparing the way for you and for me.

Jim Beilstein is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, 1480 Douglas Ave., Gardnerville.