Laid in a Manger
By Peggy Kleckner
“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
Luke 2:6-7
Maybe you have had a nativity scene out during this Christmas season. If so, perhaps this verse makes you think of it. Wonderful scene of our Savior’s birth, wooden barn, feeding trough, hay, maybe cows or sheep. Recently, one of our pastors made us question that view. He told us that “barn” was most likely a cave and that wooden feeding trough most likely made of stone!
A barn and wooden feeding trough was a stark enough contrast for the glory of the King of Kings’ birth! I imagine a barn to be a dark, damp, cold, ill-smelling place…and yet a place of life and expansive space. Whereas a cave, on the other hand, seems to me to be a side entrance to a pit. A pit that is not only dark, damp and cold…but also scary and undefined.
Christ came as a great light into the darkness of the world. So, too, He comes to dwell in the darkness of my humanity. Whatever pit or cave I find myself in, He is willing to come and meet me there. He has been wrapped as a gift and laid in the stone manger of my hard heart amidst the dark pit of my physical existence. Into my darkness comes a great light and the darkness cannot extinguish it.
What grace extended! That He would come for me, that He would choose to live in me. That the King of Kings should take up residence in the dark, dirty, often-undefined place called my heart is overwhelming. Just as He came to change the world from the humble beginning place of a manger, so too He comes into my heart as the beginning place of changing me.
My pit or cave seems a lot less scary with the light of His love illuminating it. His outstretched, steady and strong hand gives me renewed strength to meet each new day.
Christ may have come into the world as a baby, but He came to do mighty things beyond our imagining. So too, He comes into my life to do mighty things in me and, ultimately, through me.
That hard rock of my heart? It’s become a living stone - - a true heart - - used in the building of His everlasting kingdom.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Have you received Christ into your heart as Savior and Light?2. Have you also acknowledged Him as LORD of your life, the One who leads you?
FURTHER READING:
Ezekiel 36:26; Psalm 18:28-29; John 8:12; 1 Peter 2:4-9Peggy is a wife and mother of four adult children - - two sons and two stepsons, and is an active encourager at Oakwood Church in Delafield. She serves as the Coordinator of Fresh Start.
