In the Midst of the Mess
I got thinking about the manger in which Jesus was born as it was on stage this past week. Kris reminded us that it was an ordinary feed trough for cows and sheep and donkeys.
The angel said to the shepherds, “Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news, great joy which will be for all people everywhere. Today in the town of David a Savior is born and this Savior is the Messiah. He’s the King, he’s the Lord, he’s the one this sorry dark world has been waiting for all these centuries.” (Luke 2:10-11)
And then the angel says, “Here’s the sign, here’s the tip-off that will enable you to recognize the real deal when you get to him.” (12a) And if you’re a shepherd, you most likely expect this sign’s going to be pretty impressive. If this is a royal child, you’re expecting the angel to say, “You’ll recognize the baby because you’ll find him wrapped in silk, lying in a golden crib and living in a fabulous palace because that’s how kings do it in this world.”
But the angel doesn’t say anything like that. The angel says, “You’ll find this baby born in a barn, wrapped in rags, laid in a feed trough.” (12b)
It’s ironic because today whenever you see a nativity scene in somebody’s home or in a shopping center, it always looks so neat. People in the nativity scene look all cleaned up and spiffy! Their robes look all ironed and everything.
But in the actual barn where Jesus was born, it wasn’t that way. Because a barn’s a messy place. Nobody went through the barn and scoured it ahead of time. It looked and smelled the way barns always looked and smelled. It was not a nice place to have a child. The baby got laid in a manger – not a high-end product in the crib line! A manger is a feed trough!
The angels say the fact that Jesus ended up here is not an accident. This is a tip-off; this is a dead giveaway that this is Jesus – no ordinary king. Here’s the clue: you can recognize him because he will show up in the messiest place you can imagine. No power. No money. No fanfare. No applause. No newspapers. No headlines. Born in a barn, wrapped up in rags, surrounded by animals, entrusted to this poverty-stricken young couple.
The king of the universe, the Alpha and the Omega enters into human history in a little bundle, wrapped in obscurity and poverty and humility. Because there’s no place he won’t go, because there’s no thing he won’t do, because there are no depths he will not descend in order to bring His love and grace and presence to anybody who will have him.
This really is Good News, because I’m a messy person living in a messy world! But our God isn’t afraid of a mess!
