Luke 2:8-12
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, (Christ) the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
My Dad loves surprises. In particular, he enjoys surprising people he loves at Christmastime. Once he surprised my Mom so much that she almost missed the surprise altogether! He got her a new bicycle for Christmas, which, in and of itself was probably surprise enough for the mother of three young sons! But the real surprise was where he hid the bike; in the kitchen! While we were all busy opening gifts in the living room he slipped out to the garage and brought the bike into the kitchen and parked it next to the table where my Mom would be sure to see it when we went in to have breakfast.
We finished our gift opening frenzy and moved to the kitchen for family breakfast. We were all excited for my Mom to find her surprise gift! Instead, she walked into the kitchen and started making breakfast, walking right around the bike as if it was just a shoe or dirty sock left on the floor. She didn’t even seem to notice that there was a bicycle in her kitchen. After walking around it several times she suddenly stopped and said, “What’s this bike doing here?” And we all laughed hysterically and haven’t stopped telling the story since!
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Do you see the surprise? It’s easy for us to miss because we are so familiar with the story that we don’t see the bicycle in the kitchen.
First of all, a “manger” wasn’t a cute little basinet designed specifically for a divine child! A “manger” was a feeding trough for barnyard animals. When was the last time you watched cows or horses eat? Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. I don’t know about you but it never occurred to me to put one of my children down for a nap in a feeding trough.
Second, and there is some historical debate about this one, some scholars believe that the custom of wrapping a child in cloths (what the King James Version calls “swaddling clothes”) was actually reserved for the children of royalty.
If we put those two things together we see the surprise! In essence, the angel says, you’re looking for a child dressed like a king but lying in an animal’s feeding trough – you can’t miss him!
The Apostle Paul describes that child this way:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, and that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11)
So, look at the tiny infant with the red, squinched up new-born face; see him wrapped tightly in whatever strips of cloth were available to his mother; see him lying where animals snuffle their food, and fall on your knees before him.
This is your king!
Brian Coffey
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