Reflecting on the phenomenon of Baby Jesus thefts from outdoor nativity scenes, Jennifer Browne challenges us to embrace the liberating joy found in the gift of Jesus, who is always on the move, making his way into all the places in the world where he is needed.
REV. DR. JENNIFER BROWNE
Clergy Assistant to the Bishop/Director of Connectional Ministry, Michigan Conference
I was raised in a small religious tradition: a denomination known as the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). Although there are elements of Christianity in the UUA, it encompasses a wide variety of religious beliefs. The members of the churches I grew up in were predominantly former Christians who now embraced either an interfaith or an agnostic religious perspective, a description that fit my parents.
Despite that context, I somehow came to own a small nativity. It was given to me by an aunt when I was quite young. She may have hoped its presence would covertly influence me, which might have worked!
My simple set has only five figures: Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and two sheep. They are all less than 2 inches tall, glued fast to a little wooden stable with a gold star painted on the back wall.
Since then, I’ve collected many other nativity sets, all with movable figures. It’s much more fun to be able to move the figures around, especially for children. Sometimes, kids don’t limit themselves to the provided crèche figures, and they add their own. I knew a family whose Baby Jesus was worshiped not only by Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and wise men but also by one of those small, green, plastic army soldiers. They got so used to him that the set wasn’t complete without him.
But the danger of movable crèche figures is that it’s easy to lose someone. Even large-sized nativity scenes can lose a member. Every year at this time, media sources report on what appears to be an annual phenomenon: the theft of Baby Jesus from outdoor nativity sets. Year after year, in town after town, from church corners to front yards, someone will think it sport to steal Baby Jesus out of his manger. It’s become so common that Wikipedia even has a category for it: Baby Jesus theft.
The consequence of all this Baby Jesus theft from outdoor nativity scenes across the United States is the use of bolts, cameras, and tethers, all designed to keep Baby Jesus in his place. On church lawns and in downtown parks, nativity figurines are fastened securely to the ground. Some places have gone so far as to equip figurines with GPS devices. Of course, tracking devices only help after the fact. In downtown Chicago’s Daley Plaza, the nearly life-sized nativity set includes a Baby Jesus chained to the ground, ensuring he will go nowhere.
This seems contrary to the whole point. Jesus simply can’t be kept in one place! He refuses to stay put. He will not be confined to our Christmas decorations or restricted by our limited human sensibilities.
The Incarnation we celebrate at Christmas is the refusal of God’s divine nature to remain separate from humanity. Jesus is the meeting place of divinity and humanity. His very nature breaks the boundaries of each in a fully unique, completely new way. His ministry broke all sorts of cultural and geographic boundaries, and his resurrection broke the chains of sin and death — not just for him, but for all of us.
Some of those large figures are expensive, and I don’t blame owners for trying to protect their property. But the real Jesus can’t be kept in his manger using chains. And if this isn’t the source of unending joy, I don’t know what is!
What joy! We are not destined to be victims of our sin or that of others. How amazing! We are not limited by our weaknesses or the preconceptions others place upon us. What a miraculous gift Jesus is, not just for us but for the whole world. God, in human form, broke down all the dividing walls that would confine us to small, partial, incomplete lives.
If someone wants to take Jesus away, I say let them! That’s what Jesus was meant to do anyway.
In 2018, Kurt Busiek, the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Parkersburg, West Virginia, said that church security cameras probably caught the person who stole Jesus, a manger, and a donkey from outside his church on consecutive days. However, Pastor Busiek did not file a police report. Instead, he decided to embrace the situation. With help from his members, he restocked the nativity scene with donated items.
“My thought is, ‘Hey, if they steal that one, we’ll keep putting it out,’” Pastor Busiek said in an interview with The New York Times. “I can’t think of a better way to get the message of Christmas out than for people to keep taking Jesus home.”
Friends, I hope you will hear this message of joy: Christ’s birth into our world is for you, bringing you the love of God, which is never limited by time, place, or circumstance. I hope you will receive this gift of joy: Christ is present here and now for you. He is the source of deep joy that exists out of proportion to our circumstances. With him, we can persist in seeing new possibilities and delight in living new lives.
We need no GPS to locate Jesus. We can’t chain him to the ground, nor can we keep him in the manger, just as we could not keep him nailed to the cross. He breaks free from all those attempts to protect — or limit — him. He makes his way into all the places in the world where he is needed, including your life and heart.
And for anyone out there who might be thinking about stealing baby Jesus: Well, there’s no need. Jesus is already yours.
Last Updated on January 6, 2025