AS we approach Christmas and the celebration of the birth of Jesus, I invite you to join me in reflecting on the significance of the location of the Christmas event: the manger in the stable — the place chosen by God for the birth of the Christ-child.
The manger
Despite all the preparations in Nazareth, Jesus was born in a stable and laid not in a crib but in an animal trough. This is how God chose to incarnate God’s Word in the world. Alone and vulnerable, with no-one but His earthly parents and the animals.
While we sing songs of “Silent Night, Holy Night,” the birth would have been anything but silent — the screams and cries accompanying the birthing process, the noises of animals.
The animals in the stable, bearing witness to the incarnation of God, is a powerful message in itself for us. We are reminded that the incarnation is the result of not only God’s love for humankind but for the whole world (John 3:16).
Creation bore witness to the birth of the Redeemer of the world. As we reflect on the current ecological crisis, we are reminded that the salvation offered through Christ is not just for us but all creation. Jesus’ birth is a witness to us in our call to be good stewards of God’s creation.
Mary the mother of Jesus
As Mary lay in the stable, surrounded by the sounds and smells of the animals, she must have thought about how very different this situation was to what she expected to give birth in. Far removed from the watchful eye of the women of her family, she was in a rough situation. Her journey would have been rougher still, taking the more difficult quicker route through the hostile territory of Samaria. Yet that journey retraced the footsteps of the partriarchs and followed the historical path of Israel itself.
Long before He would walk the same path, Jesus was carried in His mother’s womb along the way of God’s plan of salvation.
Mary, must have looked around and imagined the situation she would have wanted for this time — surrounded by caring, loving family and a clean room — instead of this messy and noisy situation. Yet she would have also recalled the promise of the angel and remembered that God was with her in all her difficulties.
Her birthing pains would have been both emotional and physical, even if the midwives of Bethlehem may have been there — strangers tending to her. Later her son would reflect on the need to care for the stranger and vulnerable for those who followed His Way.
Joseph
In Joseph we find a challenge for the men in the Church. Apart from the challenges he faced earlier when finding out about Mary’s situation, in Bethlehem, Joseph is the silent companion to Mary. There are no words of Joseph recorded at all in the Bible. Yet Joseph is an ever present helper by the side of his wife.
He exemplifies the need for a husband’s presence by his wife in her times of difficulties. Being a time of holidays, some husbands are missing from home, as are some wives.
Not only are they absent from each other, they are absent from the family. Joseph’s presence reminds us of our need for our presence with our family during this special time. In terms of relationship between husband and wife, Joseph and Mary challenge us to reflect on how we relate to each other.
The shepherds
The shepherds were among the lowest in Jewish religious society. Their work made them “unclean” by the religious standards of the day. Often they were seen as a nuisance by those whose fields they took their sheep through. They were often dirty, spending their days and nights out with their flock. Often they lived in rough shelters. In 1992 my wife and I were travelling the Holy Land and near Bethlehem we saw some modern-day shepherds — still out with their flock, living rough. They had converted an old shipping container into a makeshift home near the fields where their sheep were.
Perhaps they were viewed by their contemporaries in the same way in which some of us view “squatters” who live in informal settlements.
Yet they were chosen by God as the nurturers of His own vulnerable little Lamb.
As protectors of their flock, they are an example of good stewards of creation. It is these humble poor that were called by the angels to bear witness the manifestation of God on earth. As we approach Christmas, the shepherds remind us to do so with a sense of humility about who were are.
They were given a foretaste of God’s action in the world. They were given preference.
One can imagine the first smells encountered by Jesus — the smell of the stable, of animals, the smell of the shepherds.
These were the smells not of a sterile environment or perfumed or air-freshened room. Jesus’ first smells were the smells of the reality of life. This humble entrance into the world by the Messiah, challenges us with the humility we are called to encounter God with, the humility in which we are to serve in often dirty situations of life.
The angels
While not present in the stable, it is the angels who appear to the shepherds announcing “good news of great joy which will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10) and proclaiming “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” (Luke 2:14). The word “angelos” means messengers. These messengers brought good news of great joy in the context of God now man. It is good news of the physical experience of God in our difficulties.
It is good news of restored relationships, of peace as a real possibility, of healing and of justice.
A common depiction of these messengers with large wings and a halo gives an almost mythological image of some sort of demi-god (half god/half man). Yet the emphasis is not on their heavenly image but their role as messengers. The angels that visited Abraham looked like normal men. God’s messengers have not been limited to the heavenly host but also included ordinary men and women.
In the Christmas story the angels are God’s “communications officers” bringing good news for all.
What kind of good news of great joy are we bringing to the world today?
The Kings/Wise Men
The final element in the nativity or the story of the birth of Jesus is the presence of the wise men or kings “from the east”. Scholars suggest that “the east” refers to Persia, modern-day Iran, or even India. They would have travelled for months after “seeing the sign” to honour this child. Perhaps Jesus was now no longer in the stable but in the house as recorded (Matthew 2:11).
Perhaps the manger had now been replaced by a crib, or at least cleaned up. Regardless, these powerful, rich people — with means, education and professional training — come to present their roqoroqo, to pay tribute to this child-king and find a humble dwelling, ordinary parents and follow, not precede, lowly shepherds. Yet they glorify Him of such humble birth.
They bow low in humility to He who lifts up the lowly.
Our humility is God’s glory
In Galatians 4:4, St. Paul writes of Jesus being incarnated in “the fullness of time”. This incarnation is given witness by not only the whole strata of people but also the strata of creation.
This good will and peace that we yearn for in our lives and in our communities today can only come about if all the agencies of God work together in humility. In Jesus, God brings the new world of the Kingdom. The coming together in humility is the way forward not only for Methodists or Christians alone. It is a way forward for all communities and for our beloved Fiji as much as it is for the world.
In our humility we sing with great joy as the angels did. Yet we are also to sing songs that resonate with the world today.
We are also to listen to the songs of both heaven and nature — of the rest of creation — in the midst of its groaning — songs of hope and peace. We are also to sing new songs.
As the Methodist Church is about to review its hymns, Christmas reminds us and the wider communities of faith that we must sing new songs that reflect on God’s presence in our world today. We are to glorify God here.
May your Christmas be filled with the liberating power of the humbling presence of the Christ in each of our lives.