Hebrews 4:15 - Baby Messes

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, has several Renaissance paintings by Sandro Botticelli -- works like "The Birth of Venus" and "Primavera." He also did religious motifs like, "Madonna of the Pomegranate" so-called because the infant Jesus is simply holding a pomegranate. 

Pomegranates symbolize various things: fertility, royalty, etc. In Christian paintings, the seeds might symbolize the multiple sufferings of Christ, and the red juice represents His crucifixion.[1] But one painting uses the fruit in more than symbolic form.

Viewing Botticelli's "Madonna of the Rose Garden," I hardly noticed the roses in the background. What caught my eye was Baby Jesus actually eating a pomegranate. His left hand is digging seeds out of the fruit. Like a typical toddler, he's distracted from what he is eating. He has locked eyes with his mother who patiently gazes back at him. All the while, juice is dripping from the chubby fingers of his right hand, lifted to the vicinity of his mouth. And there's no high-chair tray to catch the sticky mess.

The Nicene Creed says that:
"For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human." [2] 

Pomegranates are messy. Life is messy.
From the start, Jesus became part of our very human life.

"This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin." (Hebrews 4:15, New Living Translation, 2015)

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that even before Your hands touched a diseased leper and mixed mud for blind eyes, You didn't shy away from this mess called "life on earth." You know the messes we make, that others make, and ones that are just a part of life. We lean on Your prayers for us, You our Mercy, our Comfort and our Hope (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25). Amen

[1] http://www.sandro-botticelli.org/madonna-of-the-pomegranate/
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/food/hd_food.htm
[2] https://www.crcna.org/welcome/beliefs/creeds/nicene-creed