Christmas: the true story

Read first Luke 2:1-20

We are using King James Bible on the account of 400th Anniversary of its publication.

Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem. They went from Nazareth to Bethlehem because their government wanted to make sure that they would pay tax. While they were in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to Jesus, her first born son. In those days they did not have special baby clothes. They wrapped the baby in cloth bands and laid him in a manger. They had to stay in a barn because there was no place else for them to be.

Today parents get ready to receive new babies. They shop for baby’s clothes, toys, and furniture. Before mothers go to hospitals, they see doctors. To give births, they go to hospitals. There were no doctors and no hospitals in Jesus’ time. Babies were born at home. Instead of doctors women who had babies before would come to help. Fathers and family members were sent out. They were not allowed to see babies right away.

Two things were difficult for Mary that day. Firstly, she and Joseph were not in their own home. They were in another city. They had no friends or relations in Bethlehem. Also because there were so many people who came to register to pay tax, there was no room for them at any hotel. They were happy to stay in a barn to be warm and stay out of cold. Bethlehem would get cold at nights because they were very close to a desert. But a barn was not a good place to have a baby. Because they were traveled far from their home in Nazareth, they probably did not have any baby things.

Secondly Mary had to be helped by women in Bethlehem. She probably did not know them at all. Joseph would have been sent out. She would have been alone with strangers.

After Jesus was born, they wrapped Jesus in bands of cloth. There were no stores for baby clothes. There were no furniture store for babies in those days. Baby Jesus would not have his own bed. Often babies would sleep with mother. In a barn, however, Baby Jesus could not sleep with his mother because Mary did not have a bed there. It was likely that she had a mat on a ground to sleep. That may be the reason why Jesus was put in a manger.

After the baby was born, something else was happening out in the fields outside of the city of Bethlehem where shepherds were looking after their sheep. Why shepherds? Because they were not the powerful and rich. They were the lowly—the poor and the weak—for whom God came. Shepherds were out to make sure no one would steal and no animal would attack their sheep.

To them the angel came. Note that there was only one angel at the beginning. The angel spoke, “for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” The angel said that the good news was for everyone, not just kings, priests and important people. The good news was, “to you (that was for everyone) Saviour—the Messiah the Lord—is born.” By saying that, the angel told them about Jesus.

Jesus was the Saviour; Jesus was different from all other babies; Jesus was going to grow and become the one who would save the world: he was not going to save few people and leave others; he was going to be the one who would save everyone in the entire world. He would save the world so that everyone would love God and love one’s neighbours.

He was the Messiah. People were waiting for the one who would come and rescue them from troubles and difficulties. Jesus was going to be the one who would lead his people to the world where God would reign. He was going to show how much God loved everyone.

He was the Lord. For those who would follow him, he would be like their king. He would be the one Christians all over the world would listen and follow. Christians would learn love and be more like him in loving and caring others.

After that, the angel told them that they would find this out when they saw the baby wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. Why was he wrapped in bands of cloth? May be it was because King Solomon talked about somewhere that he was taken care with cloth bands at his birth.

What about the manger? In Isaiah (many many years before Jesus was born), people learned that ox would know its owner and a donkey the manger of its owner, but Israel did not know God. This was a deeply important understanding. You see, the reason Jesus was sent by God was to make sure that God’s people would come to know that God called them as God’s own and that God’s people would know God. The people, however, forgot about God and were not worshipping and serving God the way that God desired. Jesus was sent to be their Saviour, who was Christ the Lord because they did not know that they belonged to God in a very special relationship bound by the promise to Abraham. The leaders, kings and priests, were giving them lies. They were feeding them with false spiritual food.

Now, the shepherds were told to find Jesus in a manger. The manger was a place where animals would find their food. These shepherds who were like the lost people of God were being told to find Jesus, the hope of Israel—the Saviour—in the manger. Farmers would fill mangers with food when they wanted to feed their animals. This was symbolic way of saying that the shepherds or the lost people of God would find their true spiritual food in the manger where Jesus lay. (We could almost imagine a communion scene where Jesus told his disciples, “This is my body that is for you…this is the new covenant in my blood...”)

At that announcement, many angels appeared with the one and sang, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will to all.”

With that, shepherds talked to one another and decided to go to Bethlehem. They went in hurry and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger as the angel described. They shared with everyone what they heard. They found Mary, Joseph and the baby, but the passage also seemed to talk about other people who heard what shepherds had to say.

There were three reactions to the good news of the angel. The first one belonged to the shepherds. They hurried on and began talking to others about what they heard. When they found what they heard, they glorified and praised God. The second belonged to those who heard. They wondered just like the way people pondered about the birth of John the Baptist trying to think about how God would lead the child. The last one was Mary’s. She kept everything in her heart. She from the very beginning was obedient. She listened to the angel who brought the news that she was to become the mother of Jesus. She now kept everything in her heart cherishing. These three reactions would be very similar to how Christians would react today; some glorify and enjoy God in this Christmas time; some wonder and think about how God is leading us today; some cherish what God has done.

Today, we ask everyone to be like shepherds and share the story of how and why Jesus was born. At Christmas we remember this story.