Stolen Baby Jesus

Read Luke 2:15-20 Christmas Day (Year A) A couple of Christmases ago, as a family, we vacationed in New York City the week before Christmas Eve. Up on 5th Avenue, right by the Rockefeller Center, there was a life-size Nativity Scene. As expected, it offers all the usual characters; however, if you looked closely, you could see that baby Jesus was chained and bolted to the ground, ensuring that no prankster would carry him off, because, seemingly, it happened every year. In fact, out of curiosity, I discovered that if you Google "stolen baby Jesus," you will find dozens of news stories of the infant Jesus being taken from manger scenes all across the country. Year after year, in town after town, from church corners to front yards, someone will think it sport to steal baby Jesus out of the manger, and he is often never to be seen again.