The Baby Who Plays with Nails

But the LORD was pleased

    To crush Him, putting Him to grief;

    If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,

    He will see His offspring,

    He will prolong His days,

    And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

Isaiah 53:10

There is a small sculpture in the Louvre that I love, though it often goes unnoticed amidst the wealth of art that surrounds it. If you enter one of my favorite rooms in the Denon section, you will pass by the famous sculpture of Cupid and Psyche. Just before you get to Michelangelo’s Esclaves you will pass this sculpture in the photo above, entitled,”L’Enfant Jesus jouant avec un clou,” (The infant Jesus playing with a nail), by Paolo Bernini.

Now, since it is Christmas season, I am immediately drawn to Christ being shown as an infant. What is celebrated on Christmas day is indeed the hope of all humanity. In the darkest of times, in the darkest of places, we see that we have a God who is willing to lay aside glory and power to become a man (a poor, infant child at that) in order that he might shine the true light in the places where it must be shown.

Christmas is our hope. It is the advent of our Hero, Heaven’s Champion. Yet, as I gaze into this sculpture, I realize that Christmas can only be appropriately viewed with the shadow of Good Friday lurking over the manger where Jesus lay. Jesus was born to suffer and to die. Suffering is the purpose of Jesus’ incarnation, and you can see it on the face of the baby in the sculpture. The innocent hands of that child would soon be pierced by those same jagged, rusty nails.

Isn’t that the testimony we are sometimes forced to give about our own lives? In the midst of all of our hopes, dreams, and joys is driven a rusty nail of despair. As much as we want our lives to be fairy tales with happy endings, most of the time our circumstances point us to difficulties and sufferings. If we must content ourselves with what this world is offering us, we submit to a bleak existence. The world does not teach hope.

Yet the baby that would take the nails was not taught of this world. He knew the terrible cup he would drink and still spoke of hope, peace, and joy. How could Christ preach the gospel he did?

The answer comes after death. It is Easter that trumps Good Friday. It is the resurrection where his glory would be manifested. It is the eternal that gives hope to the temporal. Jesus sent a very important message to all those who would believe in his name, namely, that unspeakable joy awaits the ones who make it through the perplexing sufferings that this life holds.

We will be grateful for the many joys that we receive from God this Christmas season, but we must also remember that the baby would take the nail. This world is not a place that is friendly to transcendent messages. Yet the baby that lay in the Christmas manger is nevertheless the invasion of God into a hostile world. He comes wielding weapons of love, patience, wisdom and kindness. The world fights back with wooden crosses and iron nails. And, despite the rebellious hearts with which the world fought, its nails proved to be His glory and our salvation.

Gloria in excelcis Deo