What Ricky Bobby Can Teach Us About Christmas

"Dear baby Jesus! Dear sweet baby Jesus!" I know generally most people wouldn't consider Talladega Nights to be one of the great holiday film staples of our age. However, I think there is a lesson in there somewhere. And yes this will be short (I mean there is only so far a religious post that centers around a Will Ferrell film can go, right?).

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's totally fine. Allow me to clarify. In the film, the main character, Ricky Bobby, begins to pray for the meal that they are about to eat as a family. Rather than addressing his prayer to Jesus, he specifically prays to baby Jesus. In fact his Father-in-law who tends to be the voice of reason actually calls him on this. Eventually he finally yells, "He was a grown man!"

I love this scene. It is far and away the funniest scene of the movie, a movie that really was just okay. But this scene also speaks a lot about people's mindsets around Christmas. Christmas tends to revolve around baby Jesus. Well, baby Jesus and Santa Claus, but we can leave that for another time. and honestly, I understand the focus on baby Jesus. After all, Christmas is all about the coming of Christ, and he did come as a baby. So there is that. You can't avoid baby Jesus.

The problem isn't with baby Jesus. The problem is with stopping at baby Jesus. "He was a grown man!" That is why baby Jesus matters. Is it significant that God chose to come to earth in the most vulnerable way possible? Of course it is. I'm not trying to undermine that, but the reason that the coming of Jesus was so significant is because that little baby grew into a man. A man that turned water into wine. A man that healed the broken. A man that fed the hungry. A man that brought the dead to life. A man that rose himself back to life! That is why baby Jesus is so incredible. Because the vulnerable child would become the Lord of all creation.

So yes remember the coming of Christ this Christmas. Remember the fact that God didn't come into this world with a million angels and chariots of fire, but as an infant. Remember the proclamation of the shepherds, the magi from the east, and the incredibly odd assortment of animals that seemed to help Mary and Joseph in a Cinderella-esque way during the delivery (I don't know if this is true. I'm mostly basing that on Nativity scenes).

Remember all of it, but most of all remember Christ the man that came into this world to bring life to the dead. 

And that is what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.......or Ricky Bobby.