The Christmas Story (Terri)

We are all so familiar with the Christmas story that we just accept it without questioning or meditating upon it. Four years ago, I was sitting in my living room doing my advent devotional and my eyes fixed on the Little Tikes nativity sitting on the coffee table. Suddenly, I began to ask questions of the Lord…why questions. The first one triggered a lot of others. That question was, “Lord, why would you choose to have your son born in a stable?” As quickly as I thought it, the answer came to me (for the first time ever!). I heard the question, “Where would you expect a lamb to be born?” It hit me so hard that I sat up straighter and one thought rapidly followed the other as Holy Spirit showed me the familiar Christmas story in a whole new light.

Why was the census called for at a time that made Mary and Joseph travel so late in her pregnancy. It was a brutal trip even in the best circumstances, but when pregnant to the point of delivery it seems heartless, Quickly I knew that if it had been earlier, Joseph would have been able to secure proper lodging and The Lamb of God would have made his appearance in a home or inn…not in a stable. And if the command had been issued earlier, it is possible the couple could have made it to Bethlehem to register and gone back home for the birth.

Why Bethlehem? There are many reasons but my immediate focus was that Jesus was called the “Bread of Heaven” and needed to come to the world in Bethlehem, which means “house of bread.” But Bethlehem was also the place where the sheep for sacrifice at the temple were born and pastured. Thus it was the shepherds given charge of the sacrificial lambs who saw the heavens open and an angelic choir announcing the arrival of the Perfect Lamb of God. It was the shepherds, who were given the task of inspecting the newborn lambs and declaring them “perfect” and worthy of sacrifice or imperfect and rejecting them. Those shepherds, when they found a perfect lamb at birth, wrapped it in swaddling cloth, to keep it still so it did not walk around on weak legs and fall and bruise itself, thus destroying the perfection. Jesus was wrapped in swaddling cloth to declare He had been inspected by the temple shepherds and was found to be perfect and fit for sacrifice.

Jesus had a feeding trough as a bed because he would lay down his life to feed us all and nourish us spirit, soul and body. The Bread of Heaven would feed us.

This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.

John 6:50…