Welcome to the Daily Article podcast. Today is Friday, December the 23rd, 2022.

I'm Chris Elkins with the Denison Forum, narrating today's article written by Dr. Jim Denison.

Last week, an unknown man wearing a gray-collared, long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans stole the baby Jesus figure

from the nativity scene at Sundance Square in Fort Worth, Texas. Now the police have announced that

they have the figure in their custody and will return it to its rightful place. However, no arrests

in the theft have been made. Police released a video of the man and asked anyone who recognizes him to contact them.

The story raises a plethora of questions in my mind. Why would somebody steal a figure of the baby Jesus?

I cannot imagine that there is much of a market for reselling it. How many nativity scenes are missing one?

Who would want to display such a figure by itself? I also want to know how the police

reacquired the object. If the thief returned it, why do they not know his identity? Did he repent

of his crime and bring it back anonymously? Perhaps not.

The authorities are still pursuing him,

which might indicate that they are less than impressed with what they know of his character.

And why is the theft of such an object a subject for national news?

There are 2.5 million burglaries annually in the U.S.

A home burglary occurs every 15 seconds.

You can buy a baby Jesus figure large enough to use in a nativity display for $49.99 on Amazon.

And yet this story about a figure of Jesus made headlines, perhaps illustrating our God-shaped

emptiness at work.

There's a larger question behind these questions about the theft of the baby Jesus.

Why did Jesus come into the world as a baby?

My response illustrates the relevance of Christmas for every soul, 20 centuries after the

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