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Why is the Infant Jesus Naked?
29.12.2013
Why is the Infant Jesus Naked?
This is the question that has been asked this Christmas by a large number of visitors to our Church who saw the statue naked. It seems appropriate to say a few words.
One of the reasons that led us to displaying the Infant Jesus at Christmas naked was pastoral. We wanted people to be able “to see“ the statue of the Child Jesus as it was made, in its pure beauty. Many people consider this statue to be a doll that is dressed in various robes. Some people really come to see just the robes. Those who were looking for the white, laced, or red robes did not find them at Christmas this year and so asked us the question above. …The fact that we are looking at a gracious statue that reflects the central truth of our faith – that God became human and came to this world as a child – that the statue has a history and stories connected with many people and families – these are not the most important things. One of the reasons was to show the the statue in its innocence and simplicity and also in its beauty.
This was one of the reasons we showed the statue in its original beauty. Almost nobody knows the statue in this way. People had never seen it naked because it had always been wrapped in clothes.
A much more significant reason for displaying the statue naked was a theological one. Jesus as the Son of God took upon himself a human body, he became human, he was born in the stable in Bethlehem. St. Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians:”he humbled himself…”(Phil 2). The life of Jesus Christ is a message to us that God wants to give himself to His people. This Holy self-giving begins to take form before our eyes at Christmas. There is nothing easier to understand about God’s love of man than a naked child in a Bethlehem stable.
We also underlined the fact that next to our statue of the Child Jesus on the altar there are two large statues of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. The entire architecture of the altar is a work of genius. We can follow two lines – vertical and horizontal – which cross each other. The vertical line, which runs from the top down has the symbol of Holy spirit at the very top, then God the Farther, under Him Jesus as a child and this axis goes all the way to us. He took upon himself human appearance , he become similar to us. We have to learn to take upon us God’s appearance and live like his disciples.
The horizontal axis follows Jesus’ human life. The Virgin Mary is on the left, St. Joseph on on the right. The message of the author of the altar is clear: Jesus Christ is God and a human being, and our human life connects our earthly horizontal axis with God’s vertical one.
I wish you a blessed year.