If you're like me, you quickly tire of the goofy sentimentalism that attaches to Christmas. And especially to Jesus.

Walking home this afternoon from dropping my daughter's car off for an oil change, I passed a nativity scene on a neighbor's lawn. There was little baby Jesus, His little head lain in that crude manger, looking all peaceful and serene. Wouldn't hurt a flea. The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay. Sleep, baby Jesus, in heavenly peace.

Right.

There is an aspect to the Incarnation that is easily overlooked amid all this gush and nostalgia. Jesus' coming to the earth was not as depicted in the hymn, "The Snow Lay All Around": "The snow lay all around;/the stars shone bright,/when Christ our Lord was born/on Christmas night." We don't know whether that was the case or not, but the sweetness and placidness of the setting reflects the feelings many prefer to indulge at Christmas time.

Jesus' coming brought violence of the most radical kind. He declared (Lk. 12.5), "I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!" He intended to do some serious harm to someone, or, at least, to inflict some serious pain.

Robert Southwell, the 17th century priest and poet, captured some of the essence of this aspect of Jesus' coming in his poem, "New Heaven, New War." Benjamin Britten set part of this poem to a staccato Christmas carol which I doubt many of us have ever heard: "This little babe, so few days old,/has come to rifle Satan's fold./All hell doth at His presence quake,/Though He Himself for cold do shake;/For in this weak unarmèd wise/The gates of hell He will surprise."

Now there's a carol you can sing with fire in your eyes!

A century after Southwell, John Milton composed his "Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity," in which the coming of Jesus at Christmas sends every false deity, vain philosophy, and empty religion fleeing for the high ground, while Satan paces nervously in the depths of hell: "Our Babe, to show His Godhead true,/can in His swaddling clothes control the damnèd crew!"

Jesus came to earth to throw some flames around. He came to ignite the flames of righteousness and judgment, which consume like a forest fire all the dead wood of human sin and rebellion (Ps. 83.13, 14). And He came like a refiner's fire to try and purify the hearts of human beings, that He might capture us for Himself and take us, glorified, to be forever with Him in heaven (Mal. 3.2, 3).

That little Babe is throwing flames around, and we're not going to be able to escape. Pray that His fire will enter your soul not for judgment, but for sanctification.

"He comes to make His blessings flow/far as the curse is found." And when the curse of sin meets the fire of holy Jesus, there can be no doubt concerning which will be the last standing.

So the next time you drive or walk past a gentle nativity scene, pause for a moment. Smile sweetly - to reflect the mood of the times. Then offer this prayer to that little Babe, so few days old:

"Torch us, Lord!"

Related texts: Psalm 83.13, 14; Malachi 3.2, 3

A conversation starter: "Merry Christmas! Have you begun to feel the flames yet?"

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.