Why Was He Born At All?

​When I moved my family from Bourke to Broken Hill in 1988, we found ourselves plunged into a very different slice of Inland Australia. Gritty, grassless and gravelly, it bred people of a different kind – like artist Pro Hart, considered ‘the father of the Australian Outback painting movement.’ This rough-and-tumble ‘Michelangelo of the scrub’, splashed his novel artwork on the Rolls Royce he drove down Sulphide St and on the covers of the New Testaments he freely handed to stranger and friend, with equal relish.

It was 1981 when Pro (‘Professor’ was the nickname his mates gave him), brought the squint of a bushman who lived under glaring sun, to painting the Jesus yarn with his vigorous brush strokes. He teamed up with another maverick, passionate about communicating the gospel in an authentic Aussie voice – Adelaide biblical scholar Norman Habel - to shift the narrative of Jesus’ birth Down-Under. This unlikely pair came up with a raw retelling of the ancient story that stripped off the tinsel. In their own words, “Instead of an English Christmas…the incarnation is interpreted as a reality for Australians to explore in terms of their own traditions.”

​So naturally, it’s the shed behind a remote bush pub that transforms into Mary’s maternity wing and a down-to-earth publican who recalls the remarkable night that caused the rowdy stockmen in the bar to burst into a spontaneous chorus of ‘Why was he born so beautiful?’ The two skilful storytellers combine their arts to front Australians with the timeless question, ‘Why was he born at all?’
 
If you can’t answer that question up front, then take an hour this Christmas to make an honest reading of one of the four eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life written by Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. I reckon it could be the best gift you’ve ever been given.
 
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