Ironically, the beautiful design and finish of this nativity set is the very thing I hate about it. In fact, I would likely not keep it if it were not for the fact that it was broken!
Royal Doulton have tried to beautify and sanitise a scene that was anything but clean, beautiful or elegant. The figures, the characters and even the finish is so immaculately perfect, it really is jarring.
Ironically, two broken and missing hands redeem the piece for me! Due to damage in transit, the set cost us nothing, another reminder of how God provides…
But the broken hands speak loudly and remind us that we are not perfect, we all have faults before God. They also represent the truth that we have *nothing* to offer God… Nothing at all!
It is only His love, His good-ness, His perfect sacrifice on the cross that imparts anything of worth to us. Amazing Grace!
One of the Magi’s hands is missing: these distinguished and mystical travellers are often glorified, but the reality is, they were fallible humans and very likely far from Godly, just like us.
And what about Mary? To some it may seem sacrilegious that the mother of Jesus is also shown in less than perfect state – damaged – missing a hand. Often admired and even worshipped, we need to understand that Mary wasn’t perfect either. She, like the rest of us), only had any ‘good’ thanks to the God who had authored her into His story. She, (like the rest of us), needs the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, the King of Kings.
Despite the fact that we are sinful, incomplete, evil and full of failure, God can redeem and then starts to transform us. And so it may be with this set too: maybe we will find the broken hands one day and glue them back on.
You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Ephesians 2:2-10 (NLT)
