Good morning. Today is the day in our study, that day that we see Jesus coming into the world! In a way I am very intimidated to even do these next few days of study, because it seems that nothing I would be able to say in human words would ever convey the depth, the significance, of what happened in those days in history. I just pray that all of our hearts are opened the next few days in a way we haven’t known before during this season. It is something the Holy Spirit himself will have to reveal in each one of us as we go through these next few days, as it always should be.
Yesterday, we learned about the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, about the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, David’s birthplace, the “house of bread”, and about how miserable the three-day journey must have been for Mary in the late stages of her pregnancy. About it being the cold rainy season when they were on their way to Bethlehem.
So, they have arrived in Bethlehem. The time taken for the journey had taken its toll. The inns were full as other descendents of those from Bethlehem had also been arriving to register for the census. And while in Bethlehem, the time arrived for this young teenage girl...
6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.
As they looked for a place to stay, Mary was likely already having contractions from the difficulty of the trip. I wonder if she was afraid. She was a young teenage girl in a strange place, and felt the labor pains beginning. She was exhausted after her long, cold journey. When a Jewish woman/girl gave birth, they were attended and helped by a midwife, and by other women, mothers, sisters, etc. But for Mary, no woman would be there to assist her, no mother, no familiar faces of women, no midwife, no one who had ever done this before, and it looked like there was going to be no place to find to stay. Here she was in this town full of strangers with her betrothed Joseph, who had never even seen her unclothed and soon he would have to be the one to deliver her child.
Without fanfare, the Bible doesn’t really give us much picture surrounding those hours in time. All we can gather is that they ended up taking refuge in a stable because there wasn’t any more lodging available. The stable was probably a cave in the rock behind one of the inns, the place where the travelers kept their horses and animals. Where horse manure scented the air, and the absence of a clean environment for a baby was quite obvious. What was going through Mary’s head right then? In her exhaustion, was she just glad to have a place to go to rest, where the winds and rain would not cut through her and she could get dry and maybe build a little fire? Caves are notoriously cold, hovering around 50 degrees, but at least it was dry and warmer than the winds and rain outside. Was she fearful and filled with some sense of panic of the unknown that was about to happen so far away from home and from family?
I believe that Joseph, the Godly man that he is, had early on in this situation, taken it upon himself to protect Mary and care for her as best he could. To follow God’s leading and be obedient and faithful to be Mary’s husband and soon Jesus’ father. I’m sure on their long journey to Bethlehem, they had time to talk and get to know each other much better. I’m sure he built a fire at night to keep her warm as exhaustion gave way to sleep on their journey each night. He felt a responsibility to keep her fed and as warm and as comfortable as possible. And I’m sure as a man, he felt like he was inadequate to the God-sized task that had been set before him.
So this night, as they settled into a cave, did Joseph feel inadequate? Did he feel like a failure for her being here in this nasty place to give birth? Did he feel guilty as she shivered from the cold and rain, as well as from the labor pains? He may have had those thoughts running through his mind, but another thought soon came to the forefront of his mind. “I must deliver this child! Men don’t know how to deliver babies! We’re not even allowed in the room. Just the women are. God I don’t know how to do this. What if I’m not adequate for this either? Do I need to get some hot water? Or boil some? I don’t even know if I can find a spot for her to lay down that isn’t contaminated with horse dung. I can’t believe the timing! I can’t believe that Caesar made us travel here to register and be taxed! How in the world will this ever work out? God I don’t know if I can do this.”
But God’s timing, as well as necessity and responsibility, took over and Joseph did what must be done. He delivered a baby that night. The woman he loved was giving birth to a child that wasn’t his and he alone was there with her. He watched the tiny head crown and saw the little tufts of hair. What an amazing thing! He never dreamed it could be such an amazing thing to watch. And then....Joseph's hands caught this wriggling little tiny, red, wrinkly baby as he made his way into our dark, dirty world. Joseph was the first to touch Jesus. The first to hold him. The one that cut the cord between him and his mother. He saw what men did not ever see – a woman giving birth. And he saw what many through the ages would never see, that this was the birth of the Son of God. What an awesome act of grace that God first handed Jesus to Joseph. The God of the Universe handed his son into the frail, human hands of Joseph, the man chosen to be his step-father, or more appropriately, his father. I believe bonding happened that moment as Joseph took Jesus in his arms, as he gasped his first breath of air, as he cried loudly to rid his tiny lungs of any fluid or mucus, as he wiped him as clean as possible and brought him to Mary. In the presence of a miracle, in the presence of the Son of God, awe overtook him and amidst the smell and the dirt and the sounds of the animals, it all faded away and he just saw Jesus.
When Mary saw him for the first time, in the same way, everything around her faded. All she saw was her baby, all she saw was Jesus. She looked at his fingers, his toes, his nearly microscopic fingernails, she traced the outline of his tiny little ears, and as he slowly calmed from his first vigorous cries, she watched him calm and quieten, and begin to look around quizzically with squinted eyes slowly blinking, taking in his first sights. I was able to be in the room when my granddaughter was born, and I still remember how she looked around with her swollen little eyes right after she was born. Such a tiny little innocent person in such a big, bright, cold world. In between the cries, she would squint, like we do in the morning when the first light hits our eyes and blink and try to focus, try to figure out where we are. Then she would return to wailing.
Then Mary, as was their custom, wrapped her baby in strips of cloth. She swaddled him tightly, to simulate the warmth and tight wrapping of the womb, and he calmed. This felt more familiar to him. She held him close to her in this cold place and he could once again hear the heartbeat he had heard for 9 months. He quieted and lay peacefully in her arms. And Mary and Joseph just sat there in awe staring at him. Faith was again made sight. Although no one around Bethlehem realized it, everything the world had ever known had forever changed in those few moments.
God was now with us. Like us. One of us. Emmanuel...
Just for today, kneel at the manger. So what if you have to smell the smells and endure the dirt? Place yourself there. Feel the shivering cold. Look at a tiny, innocent, dependent, crying, wriggling, helpless newborn. Then look at the only reason he is lying there - for you. Because God wanted to be "with you". How could you not love this precious child? He is your gift.
Before you close this out for the day, please take three more minutes and watch this video:
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2034355
Teresa
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