Episode Notes

Tonight, the Lord of Hosts, Judge of Nations and terror of the wicked- is a small, helpless, vulnerable baby who is crying and wants his mother. The Man of War is a crying baby, and his mother coddles him, wraps him tightly in strips of cloth and holds him close and nurses him. This is the man of war, a plump little baby crying for his mother.

We must feel some tenderness knowing the holy baby Jesus. Tenderness that His mother feels for him. For all the talk of war, and enemies, and hard brutality and destruction- On this night, this festival reveals our God, our man of war as He also is to us, a tender precious, gentle, weak, vulnerable baby.

This sentiment is every bit as central to our faith as that of war and the destruction of the Devils works- more so, because the war will end but the tenderness will only grow and the sweet fragrance that we enjoy in this festival of Christmas will wash away all the residue of the ugly and hard battle of our punishment.