Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks.

Where we connect the Bible to your life,

in the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Patrick Miller.

With Christmas being just two days ago, chances are you have some or all of your Christmas decorations still up. Even if you don't, I'd be willing to guess that for the last month you've been

bombarded with images of Mary, the mother of Jesus, holding her newborn baby

and swaddling surrounded by animals, angels, Joseph, and the Shepherds.

It's a classic image of the notivity scene.

And it comes in stark contrast with the image that we see of Mary today

in John Chapter 9.

In the middle of this chapter, we are confronted with a picture of Mary, this time standing, surrounded by close friends, her son's disciples and a Roman soldier, as she watches her son, who was once a baby she held in her arms

die crucified on a cross. It's a shocking image. It's not the image we normally

conjure up about Jesus at this time of year.

We like to think about the cuddly baby, about the God who became a human to dwell among us people

and love them.

But I think for that exact reason reason this is the perfect time to be

confronted with the second image of Jesus and Mary, of Jesus dying on the

cross with his mother watching. During the Christmas season, we celebrate the fact that Jesus truly is the best gift that we've ever been given and that's true, but hidden behind the truth is the reality that how Jesus rescues his people, the thing that makes is that he didn't stay in the manger he grew up he'll

the thing that makes Jesus the greatest gift we've ever received

is that he didn't stay in the manger he grew up

he ministered to the lost. He healed the broken and all along the way he was making his way to the cross.

But how did we get here? How did the baby in the manger end up a man dying on a cross?

...