Beware of Cute

This is the time of year when we need to be on high alert for cute.

We love cuteness. This is a cute-driven culture. And this season of year
turns everything it touches into glitz and cuteness.

But the story of Jesus’ birth wasn’t cute.

The Annunciation wasn’t cute.
The virgin birth wasn’t cute.
The Magnificat wasn’t cute.
The little town of Bethlehem wasn’t cute.
The killing of the innocents wasn’t cute.
The nativity genealogy puts Mary in the lineage of Tamar, Rahab,
Bathsheeba, and Ruth (yes, the one who snuck in to the rich Boaz’s tent at
night while he was sleeping to seduce him). Jesus’ genealogy is not cute.

Golgatha wasn’t cute.

“Crux” in Latin means cross. The crux of Christianity is the cross. And
the cross isn’t cute.

The old Christian calendar had ways of resisting this cultural drift into
cuteness. On 26 December, the church celebrated the martyrdom of Saint
Stephen. On 28 December the death of the infants whom Herod killed was
remembered. In other words, the Christmas story was part of a larger story
that dealt with injustice, suffering and even death.