Epiphany Communion Meditation

by Russ Moncrief

Although not what you would generally consider a Christmas movie, the film Talladega Nights: The Legend of Rickey Bobby is a wildly dumb movie featuring Will Ferrell as a NASCAR driver. Will Ferrell has made an acting career of playing funny but often extremely silly characters in comedy movies and the part of Rickey Bobby is no exception. There is very little value in the movie except for the scene where the Bobby family is sitting down for a meal and Rickey offers the grace. “Dear Lord Baby Jesus,” he begins then goes on to say thanks for the food, his family and friends. He then continues, “Dear tiny, infant Jesus, we” — here his wife interjects — reminding Rickey that Jesus did grow up and that he didn’t always have to call him “baby.” To that Rickey replies, “Well, I like the Christmas Jesus best and I’m saying the grace. When you say grace you can say it to a grown up Jesus.”

At this time of year, a lot of us are just like Rickey Bobby — focused on the little baby Jesus in a manger. After all, we are here to celebrate the birth of the Christ child. As the angel of the Lord proclaimed to the shepherds, this is a night of celebration and great joy to all the people.

It is very easy to just focus on Jesus as a baby in a Bethlehem manger — gentle, innocent, harmless. Too often we want to leave him in that very spot never realizing or perhaps unwilling (even afraid) to acknowledge that Bethlehem was just the beginning of the record of the One called Immanuel (God with us). Humankind needed a saviour. We needed saving from those things that separate us from God and from one another. The Good News is Christ our Saviour is born!

This communion table reminds us of the purpose for which the baby Jesus was born — to grow to adulthood and become the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. It is easy to like Christmas Jesus best. But delight in Christ’s birth only makes sense when you know the rest of the story. The events after Bethlehem constitute the real message of Christmas. Only by looking past the manger scene, to see Christ gathered with his disciples around a table, to the cross where he died so that we might have reconciliation with God and everlasting life, can we really know the Joy of Christmas.

Bethlehem was just the beginning. In this season, we must honour not just the Christ of the Manger, but the Christ of the Cross.

REFERENCES:

Christmas Communion Meditation, Dr. Mark R. Bender, Dec 24, 2018.

Stories for the Lord’s Supper, Douglas Redford, “Where Are They Now?” The Standard Publishing Co., 1999.

Russ Moncrief is a semi-retired veterinarian and a member and Elder at Mapleton Church of Christ (Disciples) in Ontario. He and his spouse, Lesley, are the parents of two adult children, Scott and Whitney.