born in a manger

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. (Luke 2:6-7)

Some more thoughts on that stable.

Hotel rooms were well known in that day, as they have been in other cultures, as b3ing flea-bitten, louse-ridden dens of thieves.

It was a favor to Joseph and Mary that they got to stay in a stable instead of a hotel room.

The stable was warm, there was plenty of straw to sleep on, the animals provided warmth. Contrary to the song, the manger was probably not cold, nor was the child shivering.

And more than likely, there were more than just Mary and Joseph there. Since everybody had to come home to register, there were a lot of  people in town, all looking for a place to sleep. And since there was no birth control, probably several women were pregnant. Add to that the fact that people traveled in groups for protection from thieves. There were probably a lot of people with them, a regular caravan.

Chances are high that Mary and Joseph shared this manger with other families and other babies were born that night.

That is the point of this humble birth. Jesus, the book of Hebrews says, was just like us. 1 Peter 2:22 says his lone point of difference was he committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.

That was his difference. His Father, after all, was God. He had both humanity and divinity in him. Colossians 2:9 said: For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. Yet he was also human, born to a human mother and laid in a manger.

If it were otherwise, if he were totally divine and the birth was just a sham, then the life was just a sham, as was the death. And the book of Hebrews, when it says, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin (4:14), and Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered (5:8) is worthless, a meaningless shadow play devoid of any real humanity.

Instead, God the Father wanted to touch humanity and participate in the experience. He wanted humanity to know that he understood what they were going through. So he sent God the Word to become manifest in the flesh (John 1:14) and be with us, live as we lived, be born as we are born, die as we die, yet do something we could not do – come back to life.

And in that coming back to life, he gave us also that ability to come back to life from our own death, to be with him in perfection, to approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16).

That is why he was born. Again, what a strange way to save the world.