As we arrive at the stable so many centuries ago on a cold, still and star-lit night, what do we find? To be sure we find the baby Jesus, God’s greatest gift to His creation. But we also find the other characters God personally selected to fill out the story of His great gift to us. And who might they be, and what might we learn from them? It is Mary, the mother of the baby, Joseph, the husband of Mary, the shepherds from nearby fields who heard the message of the birth from God’s angels and of course angels. Let’s look at each of them one at a time.
We should not be surprised to see the angels. I suspect there had been unbelievable activity in Heaven for an eternally long, or short, period of time getting ready for the birth of this baby. God promised it and prophets told of it for hundreds of years. And then nothing for 400 years. The people groaned and called out and now it was going top happen. Maybe God used the time in preparation. At any rate the angels would get to announce the birth first to shepherds and then to many and they would guard and keep watch over the tiny baby. No, we are not surprised to see angels. But the others?- what a motley bunch!
The shepherds are dirty, reek of sheep, have no money to contribute to the Temple, are totally uneducated and are devoid of theological training. What is God thinking? The first Noel was sung to who? Shepherds? Really!
I believe the shepherds are God’s strongest message to us from the manger. When the Pope comes to the United States, does he come to your home or mine? If our bishop came to Madison, do you think he would stay with you or me? With the pre-eminent position of the shepherds God is screaming at us at the top of his lungs, “I sent my son for the working stiffs, for the outcasts of society, for the working single parent, for homeless men and women- for all those the world thinks are insignificant”.. The Son of God came to all people, but especially for the sick, the lowly, the most overlooked, the least appreciated and the neediest. None are beneath His Love. He came for you and me!
Joseph is a simple carpenter trying to get married to a sweet young Jewish teenager and start a family. He doesn’t have much of a clue about much of what is going on. But he is a nice man and instead of asking to have Mary stoned to death (which was an option open to him under Jewish Law), he plans to slip out the back door and let her deal with the gossips. But an angel comes and tells him to hang in there, it is God’s doing and God has it in hand. And at this point Joseph becomes a role model of faith, a giant in God’s family, because he obeys God even without understanding. I doubt seriously that he understood being overcome by the Holy Ghost and certainly not incarnation. Two thousand years later I’m not sure I understand either, but like Joseph and because of Joseph, I am willing to let it remain a divine mystery and trust God. Joseph shows us how to trust God while struggling to understand God.
And now we come to Mary, the most revered woman in the history of the world. Here in the stable we see a teeny-bopper, a very young teenager, a nobody. Among 100 other girls her age in Judea there is nothing about her that makes her stand out. She is average in every way and ought to be out playing jacks or dolls with her friends rather than giving birth to the savior of the world. That is how the world sees her. But God sees a humble spirit always ready to give God the glory, a trusting and obedient spirit who will serve God against all odds and a faithful spirit ready to walk into the valley of the shadow of death if it is God’s will for her life.
Well. maybe not such a motley group after all.
The shepherds- the prototype of the sort of people the baby
came into the world to save; people like you and like me
Joseph- the role model for those of us who try our best to obey
God even as we struggle to understand what God
wants from us
Mary- the role model for those of us who struggle to put aside
our egos and humbly serve God giving Him the glory in
all things.