Merry Christmas, everybody!
Taking a moment to think about what that really means this year, my mind wandered to a strange place. Namely, this:
It’s doubtful that Jesus was even born in December, but if today actually were his birthday, I imagined his Dad showing up with a big cake all a-glow. Jesus might be told to make sure he blows out all the candles and to make a wish. And maybe those candles are actually all the souls of the saints from yesterday, today and forevermore. Really, what more would He want?
Although I managed to creep myself out with the idea, the more I thought of it, the more scripture came to mind that made it seem not so far-fetched.
After all, we are likened to candles,
“…thy whole body also is full of light…” Luke 11:34
“ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
And isn’t human blood the wine that God has pressed here:
“…Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress…” Revelations 14:18-20
Surely that is creepier than my candle-soul cake musing.
And isn’t it Jesus’s father who gives him the elect, much like in the cartoon?
“My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” John 10:29
Yeah, I don’t think anyone with half a mind would try to knock that cake out of of the hands that created the stars and man-eating dragons and lava-spewing volcanoes and all the rest…of the universe. Nopes. You shall not pass.
Now I don’t think Jesus would ever want to blow out our candles, but luckily, I don’t think he has to to make a wish.
So, merry Christmas, with blood wine and carnage and flesh-eating dragons and also ultimate safety from all those things!