What My Newborn Son Taught Me About God

Giotto, Nativity, Birth of Jesus

It all began a few weeks ago when my wife and I found our lives wrapped up in a series of first time parenting classes as we awaited the gift of our firstborn child. First there was a tour of the labor/delivery facilities and directions on what to expect on delivery day. Next was a class about baby CPR and child safety. NFollowing that was a session about Infant care and baby cleaning. Finally there a seminar about the actual delivery and birth. All of these classes impressed upon me the great calling of God that is parenting. Yet the third one (infant care and baby cleaning) was the only one that caused me to reflect on actual Scripture. One of the many things that the instructor trained us in was swaddling, a practice that I ignorantly thought had gone out popularity since it's heyday in the nativity story. Swaddling is the wrapping an infant in a cloth (or strips of cloth) to restrict movement and induce sleep. According to Wikipedia, it's popularity did wane a bit after the 1700's but only in the West. So when the Pre-Renaiisance master Giotto painted his fresco "Nativity, Birth of Jesus" in the 1300's, his depiction of a swaddled Christ child was on its way to being a historical sermon illustration rather than a potent universal symbol in Western Europe. So while learning to wrap my soon coming newborn I googled articles about the ancient childcare technique and re-read its mention in Luke's telling of Jesus' nativity. In doing so there was one persistent question in my mind: why did the Gospel writer mention this detail? All of the four Gospels are intentional documents. The narrative, characters, events and other details are all carefully chosen to communicate a desired message. No detail was given "just because." The details that each evangelist shares are threads that weave into layers that envelope the essential truths that the writer wants to share about Jesus. So, why does Luke want readers to take notice that Jesus was wrapped in "swaddling cloths." Wouldn't this have been the garb for any other child then and untold millions throughout the centuries? How does this detail weave into the threads of Luke's account and the other Gospels' thematic tapestry? Apparently their is something about the Son of God to be learned in this seemingly insignificant detail. And since it is about Jesus (the Word of God Incarnate) then it also contains something to be learned about God Himself.

Giotto, Nativity, Birth of Jesus

Luke 2:10-16

"Then the angel said to them,'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will bethe sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!' So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.' And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger."

Discovering the meaning and significance behind Jesus being swaddled at birth will also teach us the significance of biblical literacy. The first thing that we must learn from the swaddling note is that (just like real swaddling) it consists of layers. The meaning of the Gospel (finding Christ) lies at the center of several layers of narrative, bands of imagery and strips of Old Testament allusions. They have been placed there by the gospel writer intentionally. When we unpack their meaning (layer by layer) then the gospel writer will show us the the true nature of the Christ child laid bare... which is the revelation of God Himself. This true biblical literacy is not one that only relies on "verse by verse" exegesis (because the chapters and verses are a later editorial construct...albeit helpful ones). No, true biblical exegesis deciphers the meaning of a text with an "idea by idea" based exegesis. We must determine what ideas a given writer was trying to convey to determine the teaching of the Holy Spirit. I believe that there are three elements in the Lucan birth narrative that will aid us in appreciating the gravity of the swaddling imagery.

1) Placement: It is part of a greater sub-narrative (the Nativity) that in itself continues a thread that unlocks the meaning of the Gospel narrative itself. This sub-narrative acts as the evangelist's preface and will give us a foundation of what to expect in the rest of his narrative.

2) Imagery: Swaddling is wrapping a child in strips of cloth to restrict his movement and induce sleep. This image will be repeated and deconstructed in other places to carry a theme throughout the other sub-narratives.

3) Characters: The present actions feed off of the story of Mary and Elizabeth earlier within the Nativity sub-narrative. This sets a pattern that will be repeated later on: There are two prominent women who attest to his birth, one named Mary who cares for Jesus. This pattern will be repeated when the deconstructed swaddling imagery appears to carry the underlying theme.

In ancient literature repitition, patterns and parallels acted as an equivalent to our present day undelines, italics, bold text and ALL CAPS. They were used by writers to communicate to the reader that something was important. The three elements of placement, imagery and characters are used in the cases of swaddling throughout the gospel to convey the central theme.

John 11:38-44

"Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, 'Take away the stone.' Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, 'Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.' Jesus said to her, 'Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?' Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, 'Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.' Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth!' And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Loose him, and let him go.'”


Giotto, The Raising of Lazarus (detail)

Luke is not the only gospel to employ the the same elements of placement, imagery and characters to further the theme put forth with the swaddling detail. In fact is it's use in the Gospel of John where we are allowed to see the identity of the theme. John does this by deconstructing the swaddling to its basic elements and using them in inverse order. Just like Luke, John tells of a body wrapping that is paired with entrance into one of life's portals. Yet John does not tell of a child's entrance at birth but a man's exit at death. The swaddling that he speaks of is Lazarus's mummification and burial. The placement of this episode occurs within the stories of Jesus' friendship with the siblings Lazarus, Martha and Mary that ribbon throughout the various gospel accounts. By the time Jesus encounters Lazarus' corpse it has been fitted in the standard grave cloths (which appear similar tithe standard birth cloths) and his face has been wrapped. While on his way to the tomb Jesus is meet by two characters: women who are prominent to those familiar with the gospel accounts. True to the template that Luke set forth, one of these women is named Mary and she had cared for Jesus. The keen reader at this point remembers the story of the sibling rivalry between Mary and Martha where Martha served the party while Mary took the position of a disciple at Jesus' feet. These are the same feet that had been doused in the ointment if an unnamed woman's alabaster box, washed with her tears and dried with her hair. An unnamed woman whom many believe to Mary Magdalene... a woman who some have argued may also have been Mary the sister of Lazarus and Martha. These women were tasked with the cruel assignment of clothing their deceased brother for the afterlife and the eventual resurrection. It was a resurrection that they both assumed would come with the final judgment on the last day. Little did they know that they had seen the Resurrection, befriended it and stood amongst them now in the person of Jesus. It was to Mary that Jesus declared "I am the resurrection." In calling Lazarus back from his untimely death, Jesus ordered that Lazarus be loosed from the cloths that wrapped him. They were clothes for the newborn and the dead... not the reborn. And herein lies the theme of the swaddling detail of Luke's Nativity: Eternal Life is wrapped up in the illusion of Death.

Luke 23:50-

"Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’' And they remembered His words. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them. But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened."

Since John has identified the theme of the swaddling detail, let us take it's deconstructed inversion and apply it to the end of Luke's gospel. It is placed well within the counterpart to the passion narrative: the resurrection account. Just as in the story of Lazarus we encounter the swaddling imagery of the jewish burial customs. This time it is Jesus himself (who had attested to be the Resurrection) being adorned for his long mortal slumber. Just like the nativity narrative and the the Lazarus narrative, we encounter the characters of prominant women... at least one of these is named Mary. This is the same Mary who could possibly be Lazarus and martha's sister. It is definately the ssme woman who had cared drenched Jesus' feet in sweet smelling ointment ( an act that Jesus attested to as preperation for his burial). These women came to re-wrap Jesus in linen cloth, just like Mary and Martha had done for his dead friend Lazarus wrapped... just like his own mother Mary had wrapped him as a babe. Yet unlike his mother Mary, his disciple Mary had not wrapped him to restrict movement and induce sleep. For she believed that the sleep that Christ now engaged in was "the big sleep." The big sleep that a man does not awake from until the General Resurrection. Unless that man in fact is the Resurrection. When witnesses eventually entered the tomb they found the burial clothes and face wrapping handkerchief that once swadled the corpse discarded and neatly folded where Jesus' body once lay. Jesus loosened himself from the cloths that wrapped him because they were clothes befitting for the newly born and the newly dead... not the reborn. It is in this unswaddled truth that the Apostles found the logical extension of the swaddling's theme: Salvation was wrapped up in the the substitutionary judgment of Christ on our behalf. It is in this revealed foundation that the Church throughout the ages has found its theological extension: peace between God and Man is wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ.

So this post ends with my son being a month old (tomorrow) and my new entertainment being shopping for baby clothes online. And since I am a bougie art afficianado, it helps if these clothes and trinkets expose my kid to the great achievements of Art History. Case in point, I am not shopping for just any baby mobile to hang from my son's crib but rather one that resembles the mobiles created by Alexander Calder (the 20th century modern artist and father of the mobile as an artform). I just see it as a great case of killing two birds with one stone. That being said, even I was shocked to discover that Zazzle.com new parents can buy a swaddling blanket with Giotto's "Lamentation of Christ" printed on it. What parent would want to wrap their child in a swaddling cloth that told the story of a man's death? God would. In fact, God did. That is exactly why Luke included the swaddling detail in his gospel. So after getting over the initial shock of the Giotto swaddling blanket, I have decided that I am going to order one. I do so in hopes that by wrapping my son in the imagery of Christ's narrative will one day inspire him to unpack its meaning and discover that his own story is wrapped up in God's story. After the birth of my son, I am starting to appreciate the theological significance of childbirth. He has opened a new future for my wife and I. My wife speaks of how it is almost as if he has always been with us. Our lives now only makes sense with his inclusion. The son that was created as a byproduct of our love has now become the focal point of our lives. Indeed the love that resided within our hearts and marital vows manifested itself in the body of this child. The beginning of the Gospel tells of the birth of Jesus, Mary's son. However, as we read along we start to notice narrative threads that culminate in the end being the story of the rebirth of Jesus, God's Son. Behold the Son of Man that the Old Testament prophesied is the same Son of God that the New Testament proclaims. He is the only begotten Son that God the Father swaddled in human flesh to redeem the Children of Men. He is the Son of Abraham that was wrapped in the sins of his brethren and offered to God as a sacrifice on mount Calvary. He is the Son of David, the Word that tabernacled with us before being raised as the true Temple in Jerusalem. And since this body of Christ was raised and established as the temple of God then we understand that our (collective) Body (of Christ) is the temple of the Holy Ghost. It is that Holy Spirit that swaddles us as we are presented to God as his new, newborn children. When I watch my own newborn son sleep, I think about the hardship that his mother endured to birth him and the vigilance that I must maintain to protect, nurture and develop him. Yes, there will be sick days, worrying and the occasional chastisement, but there will also be rosy cheeked smiles, inside jokes and infectious laughter. It is all worth it to know that He will always know me as Father and to him "Father" is just a familiar synonym for "Love." Now I know how God feels...the God who reveals Himself as Father.