To provide transportation for our team in Bacolod, Nathan and Karen Luther rented a large van from a local agency. Rentals, I’m told, come standard with the well-dressed guy above: Santo Nino. He sits on our dashboard keeping watch over us and protecting us (see my post on “World’s Worst Traffic”).
Icons of Santo Nino are highly valued. One of the most famous in the area was stolen from a Cathedral in Cebu. Suddenly the region was deluged by rains and flood. Santa Nino was returned by a repentant thief. And miraculously, or so it is thought, the rains and floods ended. People literally adore Santo Nino.
Nathan pointed out the clothing/attire of Santo Nino (Baby Jesus): crown, rich and regal robes, and ornate jewelry. Baby Jesus is always portrayed in this way in the Philippines. He’s virtually never portrayed as a vulnerable infant placed in an unsanitary manger. In fact, Nathan says he makes a point of telling students at Shiloh the biblical details of Jesus’ birth in contrast to the cultural marketing of Santo Nino. Some of the students, Nathan reports, weep when they hear the truth about baby Jesus.
I suppose, in many ways, we all dress baby Jesus up in the way we want to. He’s a kind of doll on whom we place whatever clothes we like best. We make him after our image. We attire him to suit our needs.
And while a baby Jesus with robes and a crown has a certain attraction, I’d rather have the baby in the manger. That’s the only way I can know for sure that God truly closed the gap between heaven and earth. Thats’ the only way I can know without a doubt that he knows my weaknesses and he’s walked in my shoes.
How do you tend to dress up Jesus?
Why are you thankful for a baby in a manger?
