Luke 2: 8-14
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
December 16, 2018
Third Sunday of Advent
However, each of the bit parts in the biblical Christmas story are silent. And yet each one adds something pivotal to the anticipation of the Christ Child.
Our focal point from Luke’s story today reveals quite a nostalgic scene within the Christmas story. Hear Luke tell it in Luke 2: 8-14…
In that region [of Bethlehem] there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!’ - Luke 2: 8-14
I love the way one of my colleagues in ministry experienced this scene through a live nativity. This is her story:
A previous church I served had a long tradition of creating a Live Nativity. Over time, it became quite professional and thousands of people would attend each year. The costumes were realistic, the sets authentic and believable. They even had a beautiful lighted star that came on magically at just the right moment to illumine the visitors’ way through the darkness of night to the stable where they would discover the holy family complete with a live newborn baby.
One year as I was walking through, I was standing at the sheep pen where the “shepherds were watching their sheep by night.” On cue, a heavenly host appeared in the night sky above. It was really just some of the church ladies on the roof dressed in white robes with a smoke machine and an eerie blue light behind them. But a little girl about 4 was standing beside me and when that light illumined those ladies on the roof, she gasped in delight, “It’s my very first real live angel!” It was perfect, truly magical.
And then a star began to shine over a stable several yards away and the shepherds helped us follow to a rough-hewn stable. When we got there, the Shepherds knelt, and I felt like kneeling too. It was freezing, but somehow, I felt warm… seeing that young teenaged Mary hovering over the manger, proud Joseph at her side. Gazing in wonder at the real live baby sleeping peacefully on the bed of hay….it was surreal….and then out of thin air, came stains of music…..”Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright.”
Only Bessie the donkey wasn’t exactly feeling it. She was a bit antsy, snorting and pacing in the stall. And then, backing up and lifting her tail right next to the baby Jesus, Bessie deposited a steaming hot pile of fresh manure.
Mary and Joseph looked appalled as a rank smell filled the stable, and the youngest Shepherds began to snicker. But I thought to myself, “YES. This is it. Welcome to our world, Baby Jesus.” This is the way it really was. A dark, dirty stable. A pile of hot manure. This is how you really came…to a place dark and dirty, not at all perfect.
No one expected Bessie the donkey to let it go right beside baby Jesus. And likewise, no one in the ancient world expected for this Holy Child, the Son of the Most High God, the Prince of Peace to be born in a manger.
For you and me the sign of the manger is a nostalgic one; we think of live nativities and Christmas pageants gone by, but it was actually rather scandalous for Luke’s readers.
Last week we looked at the bit part of the inn. Luke’s readers would have understood that word “inn” as a guest room in a private Palestinian home. More than likely Joseph knocked on the door of distant relatives with multiple generations living there. They made do and welcomed the Holy Couple in God’s hospitality, even though there was no proper guest room.
A common peasant Palestinian home was a split level with one large room for living and sleeping and a guest room [1]. There was a slightly lower level inside the home that served as a first century garage to park the donkey and ox in each night, so they would not get stolen. It was in that garage that you would find one or two mangers.
In these ancient homes a manger was a feeding trough for the animals. It was commonly either a hollowed depression in the floor with hay [2] or an immovable feeding trough “hallowed in stone [3]”.
The first ones to hear the news of Jesus’ birth were the shepherds. Society held them in the lowest regards. While many shepherds were trying to make an honest living doing the dirty work no one else wanted to do, others had a rap sheet and could find no other work.
And yet this sign of the manger was indeed a sign of grace to the first ones to sneak a peek at baby Jesus. You see, the manger was the throne of God’s upside-down kingdom. And the first ones to attend to the Prince of Peace were not royalty but the lowly underdogs of humanity whom God’s heart beats for.
My commentary states, “The Christmas story is a scandal that God came into human history completely helpless, as a newborn, and was laid in a feeding trough…far from the seat of earthly power. By entering human history this way, Immanuel – God-With-Us, identified with the powerless, the oppressed, the poor and the homeless” [4].
The bit part of the manger adds something pivotal to the birth of the Christ Child. The manger is a symbol of JOY. And that JOY in the biblical Greek is always about gaining a deeper awareness of God’s grace in the ordinary places of life. The manger cradles the JOY of God’s promise of new life for humanity. It brings good news of JOY because God’s holiness abides in the unholiness of humanity. God is at work to reorder and redeem God’s people.
After being told in Luke’s Gospel that she would carry the womb of God’s grace, Mary sung the most magnificent song – the Magnificat. She proclaimed surely Gods’ mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. For this Holy Child lifts up the lowly, fills the hungry with good things, sends the rich away empty, scatters the proud, and brings down the powerful from their earthly thrones (Luke 1: 50-53).
Some scholars see the grace of the manger as a foreshadowing of how the Christ Child will fulfill God’s purposes of salvation. God took on the vulnerability of humanity being in being born as a helpless baby. That sweet little Jesus boy was wrapped in bands of cloth and placed in a manger because there was no guest room.
But after 33 years of growing into God’s wisdom, our Lord and Savior fulfilled God’s plan for salvation. Christ took the vulnerability, the suffering, and the weight of our human sin on the cross. Christ’s body was then wrapped in linen cloth, placed in a rock hewn tomb where no one had laid before [5].
From his birth to his death, although Jesus was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited. He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2: 6-8).
This Advent season I charge you to keep the cross in the manger. And as you do may the manger bring you a renewed sense of JOY. For it proclaims God’s grace has not forgotten the brokenness of the world nor the brokenness of our hearts.
God chooses to live in solidarity with the downtrodden and the poor in spirit.
God is with those who mourn and those who are weak in mind, body, and spirit.
God draws near to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
God’s favor claims those who have lost all hope and have no peace.
As we mark off the days till Christmas Day, let us wait and watch for God’s upside-down kingdom to break in with the HOPE, PEACE, and JOY that only Jesus Christ provides.
In the name of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.
Sources Referenced:
[1] Ken Bailey, “The Manger and the Inn: A Middle Eastern View of the Birth Story of Jesus,” The Presbyterian Outlook, Dec 21, 2006.
[2]Ian Paul Psephizo, “Once More: Jesus Was not Born in a Stable,” Dec 3, 2018.
[3]Kenneth Bailey, “The Manger and the Inn,” The Shiloh Excavations, Nov 8, 2008
[4] New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, “Volume VIII: Luke and John (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015), p. 51.
[5] Luke Timothy Johnson, Sacra Pagina “The Gospel of Luke” (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1991), p.53.
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