Reading 41
Born in a feeding trough
The reading
Luke 2:1-20
Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to enroll themselves, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to David's city, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David; to enroll himself with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him as wife, being pregnant.
While they were there, the day had come for her to give birth. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn.
There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said to them, "Don't be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people. For there is born to you today, in David's city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough."
Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men."
When the angels went away from them into the sky, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." They came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in the feeding trough. When they saw it, they publicized widely the saying which was spoken to them about this child. All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them.
The companions
Psalm 96:1-6
Sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD! Bless his name! Proclaim his salvation from day to day! Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised! He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Isaiah 9:2-7 (selected)
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined. For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David's throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of Armies will perform this.
A word for the week
A feeding trough. Stop on those three words, because a great deal of what we believe is folded into them. The maker of everything, the awareness underneath all that exists, entered the world and was laid in the box where animals feed. Not a palace. Not even a bed. A trough, because there was no room anywhere else, and someone had to put the baby down somewhere.
We have heard the story so often that we have sanded it smooth. Christmas cards have made the stable warm and golden. Strip that off and look at what actually happened. A young couple, far from home because a distant emperor wanted a headcount for his taxes, cannot find a room. The woman is full-term. The baby comes anyway, the way babies do, on no one's schedule, and they lay him in the feeding trough because it is what is there. This is how God chose to arrive. If you had been in Bethlehem that night, you would have walked past it. There was nothing to see but a poor family and a newborn in the wrong place.
That is not a flaw in the story. It is the heart of it. God did not come down in power, to the people with power, in the places of power. He came to a nobody family, in a back room, and the first people told were shepherds, about the lowest and least trusted workers there were, out in a field in the middle of the night. The announcement of the most important birth in history was made to the night shift.
Why does God do it this way? Because he is showing us where to look for him. We expect God in the grand and the strong and the impressive; we keep scanning the heights. And he keeps turning up in the low places, in the humble arrival nobody important noticed. If you are waiting for God to come in a way that forces the world to its knees, you have already misread the way he came the first time.
Hold the trough a moment longer, because it teaches one more thing. The trough was not holy. It was a feed box. It did not become God; it was only the place where God was laid, because it happened to be there and it was humble enough. God is like that. He fills the plainest vessels and never asks us to worship the vessel. The wood was not the wonder. The wonder was who was lying in it. Keep that straight and you will not go far wrong: we do not worship the place, ever. We love the one who chose to be laid in it.
So Mary, the story says, kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. That is a good instruction for the rest of us. Do not rush past the trough. Sit with it. The God who chose the feed box and the night shift and the back room is the same God who comes to you, and he will come, if the first time is any guide, lower and quieter and humbler than you are looking for. Look low. That is where he has always been.
At the table
Where are you scanning the heights for God, when he keeps arriving in the low places? Who is the "night shift" in your life, the overlooked ones the good news might reach first?
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (public domain). The divine name is rendered "the LORD" in the companions.