At the Stable Once Again

This would not be considered your “typical” Christmas story, but if you can bear with me, I assure you I will tie it all in before I’m done.

They must have looked like an unassuming family to most everyone else.  Their immigrant background and their less-than-perfect command of English probably made many think they were uneducated, despite the fact that both were trained professionals.  Still, none would have suspected their life was about to change so drastically on that day now several decades past.  No one would have foreseen a wicked, premeditated act that would snatch one of their children from them and leave their world, effectively, standing still for oh so long.  

The subsequent years brought false reports of a girl who might be the one taken - but they never turned out to provide the happy ending.  Still, even through difficult family times, Ed and Liz never truly gave up hope.  And, at the center of that hope, was a faith that God still knew them and would not abandon them to all that had happened.  That faith was fulfilled a few short years ago when mother, father, and daughter were reunited - never having been far from each other geographically for so many years.  In the end, the “rescue” continues as family ties that despair could not break are strengthened and rebuilt.

Over 2,000 years ago, a young peasant couple on the brink of marriage received some startling news as well.  She was found to be pregnant before the marriage had been consummated.  This was a terrible scandal for the small town and both families, as one might imagine.  Yet, the couple maintained hope because of their faith in a couple of rather strange and spectacular messages.  So, when the order came around that a census (and tax) was to be enacted, Joseph and Mary went to the ancestral home of Bethlehem along with so many others who could trace their lineage back to King David.  That tiny town just on the outskirts of Jerusalem was overflowing with a mass of humanity who were very likely tired, hungry, ill-tempered, and looking for a place to sleep.

It seems so odd to me that this supposed “no account” couple, pregnant out of wedlock and without a proper room for the night, are the human parents of the Messiah.  Odder still is the fact that the first announcement outside the family was to simple shepherds on a nearby hill.  But then again, God’s heart always is pitched toward those who realize their own spiritual poverty, isn’t it?  So, perhaps, we should expect to see these common people at that stable, peering into a hay trough at the newborn King of kings.

Brennan Manning frames it this way:

“The Bethlehem mystery will ever be a scandal to aspiring disciples who seek a triumphant Savior and a prosperity Gospel.  The infant Jesus was born in unimpressive circumstances, no one can say exactly where.  His parents were of no social significance whatsoever, and his chosen welcoming committee were all turkeys, losers, and dirt-poor shepherds.  but in this weakness and poverty the shipwrecked at the stable would come to know the love of God.”

And so, this Christmas, as I linger a bit longer at the manger, I am happy to count myself as one of the “shipwrecked”.  I’m in good company with those shepherds, the humble couple who would raise a Savior, and with people like Liz and Ed.  When I’ve seen my own poverty for what it truly is, then I know how great a Rescue God provided for me from such obscure beginnings.

I leave you with this song and trust that you will find strength and hope in the One who was given to us so long ago.  I hope you can come to Him again at the stable and rejoice with the rest of the shipwrecked.