A Manger God
“While they were there,
the time came for her to have her child,
and she gave birth to her firstborn son.
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”Luke 2:6-7
Merry Christmas to you! The angels proclaim “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests!” Our God has come to bring us peace, may we do our best to receive it and to pass it along to others. Although the angels pronounced such a grand blessing, the manner in which our “God in the highest” was in fact the lowest and humblest of all — He was born in a stable and laid in a manger.
Can you imagine that? Of all the ways He could have made Himself known to us, the all-powerful, eternal God chose to do so by becoming one of us, and in the lowest and humblest of states, without even a proper room or crib at His birth — all to show how much He loves us, how He shares in our poverty, and to draw us to Himself, allowing us to share in His very nature. May we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity. Those words the priest utters and prays in silence at every Mass as he prepares the offering of bread and wine. God became man and was born of a woman in a manger so that we might come to share in His divinity, participate in His divine life, and hope for eternal life.
On that very first Christmas night, there was no vacant room for Joseph and Mary to rest and bring Jesus into this world. But even when the world did not seemingly want Him or welcome Him, God chose to enter it anyways to save humanity from itself. Jesus entered into a place that did not want Him and where from the moment His existence was made known His life was sought after, yet God didn’t think twice about it. We are worth it in His eyes. We are loved so much that even when His life was sought after, He willingly entered into this world so that our lives might be saved. Will there be room in our hearts for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph this Christmas?
Click here to listen/watch my Christmas reflection.
