I was thinking the other day that the manger that Jesus was laid in was dirty compared to our standards today. It is estimated that Jesus was most likely born in March or April. We are not entirely sure what kind of room he was born in, but the fact that there was a manger (feeding trough) gives us some idea that it was where the animals were kept.
So, what was in the stable Jesus was most likely born in? If there were donkeys, cattle, sheep, or chickens, there was also the smell of manure and urine, cattle-biting lice, a whole bunch of annoying species of flies common in the middle east known as the Bazaar Rly (known to spread trachoma – an irritating eye disease). Do not forget the common Stable Fly that would have been feeding on the blood of the livestock surrounding Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. By the way… the Stable Flies Mary and Joseph shooed away from Jesus may have carried anthrax. My guess is, there were most likely rats and mice along with all the diseases they carry.
The manger was a feeding trough and before they prepared it to lay Jesus in, there was no Clorox to disinfect it from it being used for animals to eat from, drool into, and maybe even sneeze out an occasional maggot that crawled up into the snouts of certain animals to live in their throats. I am sure Joseph did his best to clean out the manger, but then you have the bedding to consider, which would have been straw infested with straw itch mites. So… the first group of people invited to see the Christ-Child are dirty shepherds?
My point is simply this: The One born King of the Jews made His grand entrance into our world through the mess of a stable. But why that way? It was of Jesus that the ancient prophets declared:
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel.” (Isa. 7:14)
“For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us… and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9:6)
“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His times of coming forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” (Mic. 5:2)
Why a stable? Before I answer that question, I want us to reflect on Hebrews 1:1-3 briefly. In only three verses, we are given nine reasons for why there is a good reason for the shepherds, a stable, and a manger.
- Jesus is the Only Way to Know God. The best and greatest revelation of who God is according to the author of Hebrews, is Jesus. According to the prophet Micah, Jesus did not become the Son of God at Mary’s miraculous conception as a virgin or at His birth; no Jesus was always God the Son long before His birth, for “His times of coming forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Mic. 5:2).
What did happen when Mary was told that she would have a child, is that Jesus took on human flesh, and He did so to live a life while remaining fully divine and fully human, and the life He lived was the life we could not live for the purpose of dying a death he did not deserve on a cross for the sins of mankind. Jesus said of Himself: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
- Jesus is the heir of all things. The One laid in the manger, was and remains the heir of all things. All of creation belongs to Him; it was His from the beginning, but it is especially His now! The Bible says that all of us are sinners from the moment of conception in that we are all born sinful. When Jesus took on human flesh by way of the miraculous conception that did not include a human biological father, he was born without a nature to sin. Jesus was fully God while remaining fully human.
For sinful humanity and a cursed creation to be liberated from sin, a kinsmen redeemer was needed. If a family member lost their inheritance and property for any reason, a kinsmen redeemer was needed who met three requirements: He must be related to the person who suffered lost, he must have the ability to purchase back what was lost, and he must be willing to make the sacrifice necessary to restore what was lost. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned against God, the curse of sin has been passed down from one generation to the next. The child that was laid in a manger is the kinsmen redeemer qualified to restore what was lost through Adam’s sin.
- Jesus is the Creator of the world. Jesus not only existed before His birth on the first Christmas, but we are also told that it was through Him that God made the world. The Bible says of Jesus: “…for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16). The one who was laid in the manger, was responsible for the material that human hands used to fashion it, which also shows us that only is Jesus a qualified redeemer, but He is also an able redeemer.
- Jesus radiates the glory of God. Jesus does not reflect the image of God like the moon reflects the Sun’s light. No, Jesus radiates the glory of God like the Sun radiates light. Jesus was not created by God but is God. There was never a time when Jesus was created because there was never a time when He was not the Son. The God of the Bible is unlike any other god that people have created to worship, for the God we learn of in the Bible is Yahweh as One God in three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit.
- Jesus is exact representation of God’s nature. I have two sons; they share my DNA but they are not me nor are they the exact representation of me. There is a Son who shares the exact representation of God’s nature, and that Son is Jesus, for the God the Son and the God the Father are of the same divine essence; this is how Jesus is the climax of God’s revelation of Himself to lost humanity. When one of his disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” To which Jesus answered: “The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?” (John 14:8-9).
When Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds saw the face of Jesus, the saw the face of God.
- Jesus is the sustainer of creation. The mystery of the incarnation and miracle of Christmas is that the one who was laid in a manger, is the One who sustains and keeps creation, “…by the word of His power.” What the author of Hebrews is trying to say here is that the Son of God is not only responsible for creation, but actively preserves creation! This is why Jesus could walk on water, cure diseases, raise the dead, and quiet storms with the word of His mouth.
- Jesus is a qualified and willing redeemer. The One who was laid in the manger was born to make purification of sins, and the way that he did it was through a cross of wood for sins we committed and are guilty of. This is why, when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)! Hundreds of years before Christmas happened, the prophet Isaiah wrote of Jesus: “But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; the punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). The Christ-Child was born to become a curse for us so that we could be pardoned, redeemed, and made the children of God (Gal. 3:13-14); or as the Bible states: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
- Jesus is the only one who can save. After Jesus died upon the cross for our sins for our redemption, we are told that Jesus, “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” What this means is that because of who He is and why He took on human flesh, after He died, Jesus rose from the grave because how can death keep the Author of Life? After Jesus rose, He ascended to heaven, and He sat down! He sat down because his sacrifice for sin only had to be offered once and for all! This is why Jesus said of Himself: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Besides Jesus, “…there is salvation found in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts. 4:12).
- Jesus is to be worshiped because of who He is. The child born on the first Christmas and laid in a dirty manger surrounded by dirty creatures, of which Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, and every other human is the dirtiest; He was born to save sinners. Of Jesus the scriptures testify: “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth…” (Phil. 2:8–10).
The question for you my dear friend, is what will you do with Jesus today, on this Christmas Eve?
The reality of Christmas is simply this: Jesus was really born. Jesus really did live, Jesus really did die on a Roman cross, and Jesus really did rise from the grave. J.R. Tolken, who wrote The Lord of the Rings, once said of the story of Jesus: “The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind, which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories…. But this story is supreme, and it is true. Art has been verified. God is the Lord, of angels, and of men—and of elves. Legend and History have met and fused.”[1]
The reason Jesus made His grand entrance into our world through the mess of a stable is because He was born to enter into the mess of sin-cursed humanity. The message of the manger is simply this: “If you were a hundred times worse than you are, your sins would be no match for His mercy.”[2] Jesus came to save us!
