The Manger

First Lesson: Isaiah 9: 2-7
Second Lesson: Titus 2: 11-14
Gospel Lesson: Luke 2: 1-20

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Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
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The year was 1938, a radio producer was watching what was attempting to be a comedy show[1].  The only problem was the audience wasn’t laughing.  The producer wrote down on a napkin: “People are funny, aren't they?”  The napkin would soon become the basis for a radio program with the same name, which became a hit as soon as it got a new host Art Linkletter.   Linkletter soon got a new show, titled House Party[2].  Linkletter realized that children would subsequently be the stars of any ask the audience segments.  So Linkletter came up with the segment of Kids Say the Darndest Things, which is still airing on T.V. 

Anyone who has spent any time around children knows what comes out of their mouths can often be unpredictable: they might comment on a family member’s weight gain, ugly sweater, or say what they think about the taste of a Christmas fruit cake. 

Anyone who ever taught children the story of Jesus’ birth knows they can ask questions that make the adults in the room nervous: “Did the Baby Jesus wear diapers?” “Did Jesus cry?” “Did Jesus grow cold?”   “Why if Jesus was the Son of God was he born in a smelly barn surrounded by cattle?”

Our Christmas story from Luke’s Gospel gives answers to this question.

Here’s something interesting about our passage.  It is a really big deal that Jesus is born in a manger[3].  In fact it’s mentioned on three separate occasions. 

Let me re-read a few key passages from our lesson. 

“and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them.”-Luke 2:7

Next, “12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”- Luke 2:12

Then, “So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.”-Luke 2:16. 

So why is Jesus being born in a manger such a big deal ?    To begin with, what exactly, is a manger?

A manger is a feed trough for the animals commonly associated with our Christmas story such as donkeys and cattle[4].

So why would Jesus be born in such a place? Why would God not see to it that Jesus was born in only the most first-class of accommodations that Bethlehem could offer? 

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” –Luke 2:10.

Consider the event that led Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem: The Roman Census forcing them to travel far away from their home in Nazareth[5] .   They would soon be forced to flee to Egypt, hoping to save their child’s life from the Roman enabled King Herod.   The tale reminds us God was working through the power of the world’s mightiest empire, leading to a child born in a feeding trough as evidence that God’s ways were such that the child born in the humblest of beginnings shall eventually  be the savior of all the nations of the world.  

Why a manger?  

Christ’s ministry would be one of humbling himself in every way imaginable[6].  God would come down to Earth.  Jesus would be wrapped in swaddling cloths like all other babies born in his day.  These clothe would keep him warm at night and keep him dry from waste.  Jesus, as a child, would get lost from his parents at the Temple in Bethlehem[7]. As a young man, Jesus would work in the family building trades before beginning his ministry. Jesus would indeed cry at human suffering such as when his good friend Lazarus died unexpectedly[8].  The same Romans forcing Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem would eventually oversee Jesus’ arrest, trial, and death.  His closest followers then went home.  A seemingly,  ordinary man was now dead, with no hope of the grave being reversed.  Only the third day would change everything.  The same Jesus born in the darkness of night surrounded by cattle had overcome life’s most certain verdicts of sin, and death.  Reminding us how the same God who was present at Christ’s birth is with us no matter the twists and turns that our lives may bring. 

Soren Kierkegaard is one of the most famous  Danish philosophers of the 19th Century.  Kierkegaard, though, was able to tell a brilliant story about why God did indeed come to be born in a manger[9].

Once upon a time, there was a prince who longed to find a maiden to be his queen[10].  One day, the Prince went out into the local village to run an errand for his father.  On this day, the Prince passed through the absolute poorest part of the village.   While the Prince was looking out the windows of his carriage, he saw what he thought to be the most beautiful woman that he ever had seen.   The Prince kept returning to the same spot of the village, so that he could catch a glimpse of this maiden.  He wanted her hand in marriage, more than anything else in the world.  The Prince had one problem, how could he seek the hand of this maiden[11]?

The Prince could have surely just forced the Maiden into marriage; the Prince knew that power didn’t equal love.  The Prince could show up at her front door and overwhelmed her with royal splendor.  The Prince didn’t want to be loved just for his money.  The Prince, , finally came up with a plan.  The Prince would abandon his royal garments; he would adopt common clothes, and move into the peasant section of the village[12].  The Prince began to live among the people of the village:  he would face their challenges: their tears, their diapers, their cold nights.  He would make friends among ordinary workers such as fishermen.  Over time, the Maiden grew to love him, because this Prince had dared sacrifice everything  he had ever known to come into her world.  They would indeed live happily ever after!

This story illustrates why we celebrate this humble manger. 

Martin Luther, throughout his ministry, placed a great deal of emphasis on how the Christian’s highest calling in this world is to their family.   Martin Luther eventually wrote Christmas Carols for his children as a way of teaching them the faith[13].   In the 19th Century, a Christmas book was published, which had on the cover a drawing of Luther celebrating Christmas with his family. 

The emphasis that Luther placed on celebrating Christmas was soon picked up by German Lutherans in Pennsylvania.  The Germans put together a book of Christmas Carols with one song known as “Luther’s Cradle Hymn.”  

Luther’s Cradle Hymn eventually gets into the hands of a an American composer named James Ramsey Murray in 1887 who published it in a children’s hymnal titled “Dainty Songs for Little Lads and Lasses[14].” The song was intended to be used for Sunday School Christmas pageants throughout the country as a way to teach them the basics of Christ’s birth[15]. Luther’s Cradle Hymn would become quite popular under another name: “Away in a manger, No crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.”

The popular Christmas carol over two verses would describe the Birth of our Savior surrounded by cattle under the stars of the Bethlehem night.  The third verse would consist of a prayer[16].  The prayer was written in a day when children were thought to be closer to death when they slept.  But the prayer reminds us how God watches over all the dear children while they sleep only to awaken into thy tender care of their savior.    How Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem: cold, crying, and wearing diapers all to one day take us to heaven to live with him there.  Amen    
 
 
 


[1] “People Are Funny.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 15.Nov.2019. Web. Dec.10.2019.
[2] “House Party (Radio and TV Show.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 15.July.2019. Web. Dec.10.2019.
[3] Piper, John. “The Meaning of the Manger: Six Lessons Hidden in the Unlikely Crib.” Desiring God Ministries. 30.Nov.2017. Web. Dec.10.2019.
[4] Piper, John. “The Meaning of the Manger: Six Lessons Hidden in the Unlikely Crib.” Desiring God Ministries.
[5] Piper, John. “The Meaning of the Manger: Six Lessons Hidden in the Unlikely Crib.” Desiring God Ministries.
[6] Phillippians 2:8.
[7] Luke 2:41-52.
[8] John 11:35.
[9] Rodgers, Dan. “GOD IN A MANGER.” Sermon Search. Web. Dec.10.2019.
[10] Rodgers, Dan. “GOD IN A MANGER.” Sermon Search.
[11] Rodgers, Dan. “GOD IN A MANGER.” Sermon Search.
[12] Rodgers, Dan. “GOD IN A MANGER.” Sermon Search.
[13] “Away in a Manager.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.10.Dec.2019. Web. Dec.10.2019.
[14] Donovan, Richard Niell. “Hymn Story: Away in a Manger.” Sermon Writer. 2008. Web. Dec.10.2019.
[15] Away in a Manager.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation
[16] Hawn, C. Micheal. “History of Hymns: “Away in a Manger”  United Methodist Church Discipleship Ministries. 7.June.2013. Web. Dec.10.2019.