Nativity Series Part 4 of 6

The nativity blog series is an invitation to “enter into” the manger scene and ponder where you are in relation to Jesus.

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Think back to the day you were born, when you were surrounded by doctors, nurses, and family members. Recall what it was like to see light for the first time, to take your very first breath, to test out your new voice… Oh, you don’t remember? Well, you’re not alone. Even if you have impeccable memory, no one remembers the day they came into the world. We have heard from the people who were there what happened, though, and if you think about it, we had it pretty nice compared to the messy scene Jesus was born into. There was no sterile delivery room. There was no new “It’s a boy” hospital blanket or attending doctor or nurse. He was born into filth, beside smelly animals, and placed in their feedbox… How is that suitable for a king to reside in?

This is not a normal circumstance for anyone in any century, yet it’s overlooked because of how often we hear about it. At Christmas time, you see the manger in the nativity sets, you hear songs about it, and you recall the story about how there was no room in the inn. However, we can’t truly encounter the coming of Jesus unless we put ourselves in the story of the nativity. 

A stable wouldn’t be comfortable for anyone, but imagine the heightened discomfort from the perspective of a pregnant woman and a baby. The Holy Family relied on the hay for comfort on the hard, dirty floor. Hay is not soft; rather, it kind of pokes you when you sit on it. The manger is straight wood. I hope baby Jesus didn’t get a splinter for his birthday gift. It was designed for animals to feed out of it. There were probably food remnants within it. This place housed animals; no doubt that it smelled unpleasant and was definitely not sanitary.

This isn’t exactly the best place for a baby to come into the world. You know how stressed first-time fathers get before their baby is born? Imagine St. Joseph stressing about trying to find any spot to put the baby where He would be protected. It had to be a sturdy place that wasn’t too hard, that wouldn’t hurt Jesus, and that wouldn’t get him sick. Despite all these poor conditions, there was a reason why Jesus was born in the manger — one that St. Joseph had to trust.

God had a plan. God always has a plan. Those are five simple words that can be hard to accept. The person who built the manger had the intention and plan to make it for the animals, but God had a different plan in mind. We might not understand what the plan is or why God is doing something a certain way, but there is a reason for it. Something greater came from God’s plan than the carpenter’s. Think about God’s intentionality behind Jesus being born in a place where He has no choice but to rest on wood and Him leaving this earth in the same way. And Jesus’ birthplace, Bethlehem, literally translates to “House of Bread.” How’s that for a plan for the Bread of Life? This same kind of intention is put into the plans that God has for our own lives. It may not always seem like it’s the best thing for us in the moment, but God knows more about what we need than we do. He can see the whole book, but we can only see the chapter.

Mary and Joseph wouldn’t just place Jesus in a bed of wood without some cushion. So, what else comes to mind when you think of the manger? The only cushion around was the hay, which is better than having nothing, but it’s still not great. Hay is dried grass and plants for animals to feed on. Who really cares about hay? I mean, even the animals don’t seem to care about it — they just munch on it because they have to. People and animals are constantly stepping on it, kicking it, making a mess out of it. That is what baby Jesus laid on top of. He laid on something that was stepped on by everyone.

Ironically, this gross hay was the closest thing to our Savior. Sometimes, we are the hay.

Let that sink in.

It is when we feel “stepped on” that we should be close to Jesus. Every time we feel alone, disregarded, or not good enough, we should provide a place in our hearts for God. The Lord knew Jesus would sleep on the hay. It was only through God, though, that Jesus laying on the hay could even happen. It is only through God that overcoming our own struggles can happen. We are never alone because God is truly always with us. (See Deuteronomy 31:8 and Matthew 28:20.) It is when we are weary and broken that we are closest to Him if we decide to open our hearts to let Jesus in. In Jesus’ adult ministry, he ate with sinners, he touched the diseased, and he loved those who were hard to love; but it was all done for the people who were open to the Lord and for all of the graces that would come from it.

The hay was the closest thing to Jesus, and in turn, it was a support for Him. It comforted His newborn body and protected Him from harm. We, as humans, can’t fully accept God without accepting the pain that Jesus endures. What does this mean? Think of it like a mother’s care for her child. She knows her child better than anyone and watches them grow into who they are. When this child gets bullied, for instance, the mother feels this pain alongside her child because she knows the truth of who her child is. In a similar way, if we understand who God is and His heart, we take on a similar pain. We understand that He doesn’t deserve to suffer alone. The way we can take part in His suffering is by living like Jesus did — by treating people with the same love and kindness, even when the world doesn’t treat us in the same way.

There will always be hard times, but we need to realize that it’ll be even harder if we have to handle it alone and don’t have Jesus. It is through God that we have the hope that something greater is to come from our struggles. We will be made fun of, we will be questioned on what we believe, and we will be challenged. We will experience broken relationships, deaths, injuries, and plenty of other difficulties. Jesus suffered more than we could ever imagine, yet He accepted it out of love for us. The least we can do is suffer in union with Him. In this way, we can give back to God what He gave to us. 

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us and reaching out to us even when we don’t deserve it or when we don’t understand it. You have always been there beside us even when we feel furthest from you.

Fix the brokenness within my heart. Help me to receive your love without hesitation so that I will not be alone. Help me to trust you even when it’s hard, like when life just doesn’t seem to go the right way or make sense. I know that you are walking beside me; help me to remember this in the moments when I am forgotten or abandoned by others. With you, I am never alone.

Amen.