An Original Christmas Series…
Luke 2:1-7
Do you know what a Crèche is?
Crèche is a French word for “crib,” or “manger.” It is primarily to describe the manger that held the baby Jesus on the night of His birth, and in a larger sense is used to refer to scenes of the nativity. Despite the best efforts of the politically correct, and the “Freedom From Religion” Nazis, you can still see crèches around town or in people’s homes.
I have brought one this morning from my family. My mom and dad purchased this crèche for my first Christmas in 1958. Each Christmas, as young children, my younger brothers and I would be given a buck or two to go to the local five-and-dime and buy a new figurine or stable animal for the Nativity display. One of my favorite and most exciting Christmas decorating activities as a child was when we got out the crèche and set it up. It is one of my earliest memories, and one of my most cherished possessions.
But as you look at it, and as we view other depictions of the birth of Jesus Christ, we can very easily observe the crèche, but not see the Lord. In so many ways, at this time of year, we can get so caught up in the decoration that we forget the occasion.
There is a subtle danger in a story we’ve listened to so often, but never heard - a manger we’ve looked at year after year, but never really seen. We need to beware of the DANGER of the MANGER. The hazard comes, especially for those of us raised in the church – when the story becomes so familiar, so routine, that we become callous to the message of the manger! We become immune to the wonder of it all!
Christmas is probably the most difficult time of year for pastors, because everyone comes in, knowing the story as well as he does, and expects him to dazzle them with some new angle on it. As if the truth of it were not dazzling enough!
The Danger of the Manger is that we can get lost in the images of Christmas, and miss the face of Christ. And it’s a danger that causes us to forget what the manger is really all about. There is a new film released just this weekend entitled “The Nativity Story,” which, from the reviews I have read, does a great job of capturing the reality of Jesus birth conditions. I look forward to seeing the film. We tend to think of it as quaint, somewhat rustic stable, warm, cozy, and even homey. Just look at this scene! Mary is beautiful and radiant; Jesus has his little head couched in dazzling white linens, with his little halo in place. Joseph is solemn and stately in his repose.
But the reality of the scene, as shown through the Bible, ought to disturb us and cause us to think long and hard about all that it means. Are we so familiar with Christ-mas that we miss-Christ? This is the most remarkable event in the history of the world! “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
Will you take a look with me, with fresh eyes, at the original Christmas Crèche?
Read Luke 2.1-7
The centerpiece of the story is a manger. In every depiction of the nativity, the attention is focused on one place – the manger. The Greek word translated “manger” here was interchangeable in 1st century writings. It could mean an enclosure for keeping animals, or it could refer to a feeding trough. Most scholars who have studied the Bethlehem area and its history believe that the events we have just read probably occurred in a cave that a local individual used to keep his animals, and that Jesus was most likely laid in a carved stone feeding trough.
The crèche tells us a lot about God – In telling us How He Came, the crèche reveals much to us about His nature, and His amazing love for us.
Imagine if the mayor of Mayville picked up the phone this week at his office and the person on the other end of the line was the White House Switchboard operator telling me that President Bush as coming to town next month for a town hall meeting in Midwest. We laugh at the possibility – “Mayville? You’ve got to be kidding!” But just imagine all the work that would be done to prepare for the arrival of the President of the United States. And he’s just a man – a human being with human failings and human weaknesses. But there would certainly be all sorts of preparations made to receive “the most powerful man on earth.”
If we were asked to plan and direct Christ’s coming to earth, it’s doubtful that any of us would have chosen Bethlehem, 2000 years ago. A small, insignificant rural town, impoverished and oppressed under foreign occupation – not a very likely place for the God of the universe to take on flesh and enter human history.
But even if that little town of Bethlehem were chosen – certainly the accommodations would have been better than a cave - with smelly, dirty animals all around - to a poor, young girl and her dazed and confused young husband.
Martin Luther observed, "The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding." Yet we have become so used to the thought of God entering our world that we have become calloused to the wonder of it! The God of the ages, who is too glorious to look upon, the God whom Moses and Isaiah fell down on their faces before, made entrance into this world for Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men and a collection of animals to see in the flesh!
God, the Eternal One, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, all-righteous, all-holy and glorious God made His grand entrance into our world in a dark cave, surrounded by livestock, and was laid in a feeding trough!
If we ponder it seriously, the crèche is a disturbing scene. It raises all sorts of questions that should tug at our hearts and minds. If God had chosen to reveal Himself to the world, and take on flesh – wouldn’t He have done so in a more dramatic, powerful and public manner? Why a manger? Why poverty? Why obscurity?
I think that the answer to those questions are the key to understanding the meaning of the manger. The crèche does not only show us how Jesus was born. Far more importantly, the crèche shows us Why He came.
The Crèche: Why He Came
Why did Jesus come? Why did he come in this way? Why at this particular time?
The Bible is filled with passages that explain it to us. Here are a few:
In Genesis 3:15, in the Garden of Eden, when sin first entered the world, God made a promise of one who would destroy the penalty of sin. On day, God promised, a child would be born to the descendents of Adam and Eve, “He will crush your head,” God said to Satan, “but you will strike His heel.”
In Isaiah 7.14, we read, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (which means, "God with us.")
The angel told Joseph, in Matthew 1:21, “You are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
Paul wrote, in Galatians 4.4-5: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
Every detail of Christ’s birth, every event surrounding His life, death and resurrection for our redemption was planned before the foundation of the world! And those details included the crèche! It was not a last minute glitch that caused Jesus to be born in a cave. It was not an accidental pregnancy or coincidental occurrence – it was part of God’s eternal plan – so why a manger?
The reality of the manger reminds us that there is something wrong with this world, so we try to ignore its reality. The image of a young girl, giving birth to a child in a filthy cave used to house animals is repulsive to us, so we soften it to make ourselves feel better about ourselves and our situation.
We’d all love to see the world like we see this crèche – warm, cozy, comfortable, homey – even when we read that it was a cold, dark stable. We chose to ignore the reality that there are poor, lonely, uncomfortable, rejected, victimized people in this world because of sin. There are people who are afraid, hungry, and needy. We choose to ignore the repulsiveness of our own filth and poverty before God.
But God did not come to the world because it was warm and fuzzy and happy and content. He came to the world because it was lost and confused, wounded and broken, in need of redemption and salvation!
You may have heard this before, but it bears repeating:
"If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, He would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been wisdom, He would have sent us a philosopher. If our greatest need had been pleasure, He would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so He sent us a Savior!”
Each time we view a manger scene we should be reminded of our poverty, our brokenness, our sinfulness - and God’s love and grace and righteousness. When He chose to enter human history, could have chosen any method for doing so: He could have announced His arrival to Kings but kings would have been threatened by his presence. He could have announced His arrival to the rich, but the rich weren’t really interested in eternal things. So instead He chose to announce His arrival to a young girl and a humble carpenter – He chose to have His arrival take place in a humble stable to impoverished people. Because their reality is so much like our own.
God chose to enter this world in a way that even a common shepherd could understand - or a child, a tax collector, a fisherman, a prostitute, a self-righteous Pharisee, or even me.
God humbled Himself, and was born in a cold cave, laid in a feeding trough, surrounded by poverty, oppression and filth so that you and I would realize there was nothing God wouldn’t do to bring us back into relationship with Him, no price He was unwilling to pay. He took on flesh, and lived among men. His cruel, harsh beginnings were only a hint of the cruelty and harshness of his death. Yet this was His plan, from the beginning of time, to rescue us from our own cruel and harsh reality.
This isn’t the stuff of Christmas cards where the manger and its inhabitants are embossed in gold on velvet. This isn’t clean white linen and cattle that don’t stink and babies that don’t cry. No, the crèche is reality - the Creator of the Universe entering our world, lying in a feed trough, so that any one of us can come and worship Him.
Can you view another manger and not stop to think about it? I hope not, for there lies the danger in the manger. I pray that this Christmas season, every time we see a crèche, we will see God in the flesh, recognize our need of Him, and be amazed at His love for us.
My question is not, "Do you know this story?" My question is, "Do you know this Savior?" I pray that you do.