Oh, wonder of wonders! Manger of Bethlehem, miracles have poured into you. – CH Spurgeon.
A Mighty God to Save Us – A Vast Joke Series – Part 2
Go to PART 1
I wonder if you can answer the questions below:
– What animals were present at Jesus birth?
– Who saw the star in the east?
– How did Mary and Joseph get to Bethlehem?
– How many Wise Men came to see Jesus?
– Where did the Wise Men find Jesus?
– What does the Bible say that the Inn Keeper said to Mary and Joseph?
We have such formed images of the birth of Christ that we rarely pay attention to the details. We picture the stable and the Manger and the Wise Men and the Inn Keeper and the sheep and the goats and the gifts, and the hay… but is the story in these things?
When you become so familiar with something, it can actually lead to unfamiliarity, like our mental images of the birth of Christ.
Aesop concluded his fable “The Lion and the Fox,” by saying: “Familiarity breeds contempt.”
I want to dive into those familiar stories with fresh eyes.
I want to look for the extraordinary, the things I may have missed whether by culture, context, or familiarity. I want to find the wonder. I'm prepared to see something I haven’t seen before and be knocked off my feet by the story of Mary, Joseph, and their son, Jesus.
The hope of Christ isn’t in the Angels and the Wise Men and the Star… it’s in that tiny human baby. Human Jesus.
Look beyond the familiar. And not just in the story of Jesus, but in the world around you. Ask yourself: why do I give gifts, why do I share meals with family and friends, what's the miracle and joy to be found at this time. And is there more to it than what I am familiar with?
On the 19th of September 1858, at the Music Hall in Royal Surrey Gardens, Charles Spurgeon preached to his listeners:
“Oh, wonder of wonders! Manger of Bethlehem, miracles have poured into you. This is a sight that surpasses all others. Talk of the sun, moon, and stars; consider the heavens, the work of God’s fingers, the moon and the stars that he has ordained; but all the wonders of the universe shrink into nothing, when we come to the mystery of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ…
There have been sights matchless and wonderful, at which we might look for years, and yet turn away and say, “I cannot understand this…” But all things are as nothing, compared with the incarnation of the Son of God. The Angels never cease to tell the astonishing story, and to tell it with increasing astonishment too, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born of the Virgin Mary, and became a man. Is he not rightly called Wonderful?
Infinite, and an infant — eternal, and yet born of a woman — Almighty, and yet hanging on a woman's breast — supporting the universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother's arms — king of angels, and yet the reputed son of Joseph — heir of all things and yet the carpenter's despised son. Wonderful are you, Oh Jesus, and shall your name be forever.”
The joke seems to be on us. We desire a mighty God to save us, and yet the Divine appears to us in the most vulnerable, yet holy form: a newborn. The incarnation is where hope for humanity begins to take form. I wonder what other saving graces we might find in places of such vulnerability?
OH, and here are the answers to the questions above:
– It doesn’t say
– No one. It doesn’t say.
– It doesn’t say.
– It doesn’t say.
– In a house (not a STABLE?)
– There’s no mention of an Inn Keeper in the stories of Jesus birth.
Be careful about what you think you know.
Written by Lizzy Milani
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