By Robert Clements
Look for the Lowly Manger..!
Today, being the Christmas month, I’d like to write on two manger topics
Jenny smirked bitterly as she saw boys and girls all over town making cribs to put a small baby doll, they called Jesus, into it. “What good can that baby do?” she thought bitterly. “It’s time we stopped these silly traditions!”
It was a chilly evening in the city. It had suddenly rained, and the slight drizzle gently fell onto the bustling streets, casting a gloom over the crowd. Jenny had been struggling with feelings of emptiness and purposelessness for months. Despite her outward success and popularity as a comedian, she felt lost and alone. As she walked in the drizzle, Jenny stumbled upon a small, quaint church tucked away in a quiet alley. The warm glow of the candles and the soft carols drifting from within beckoned her to enter.
Inside, Jenny found a peaceful sanctuary. The priest, a kind-eyed man with a warm smile, greeted her and invited her to join the service.
Since it was raining outside, and the church appeared a good place for shelter, she decided to stay.
As Jenny listened to the story of Jesus’ birth, she felt a strange sense of connection. The words of the priest spoke directly to her heart, echoing her deepest longings and fears. The priest spoke of the darkness that had descended upon humanity, of the sin and shame that had separated us from God.
“Then the baby in the cradle grew up!” said the priest, “His light pierced the darkness, and gave us the gift of salvation that has been offered to all humanity through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of that baby who we all know as Jesus.”
As Jenny listened, she felt the weight of her despair slowly lifting. She realized that she had been trying to fill the void in her heart with fleeting pleasures and accomplishments, but that true fulfillment could only be found in a relationship with the same grown-up baby.
The priest’s words painted a vivid picture of the love and redemption that God had offered to humanity. Jenny felt her heart stirring, responding to the call of the Gospel. As the service came to a close, she felt a sense of peace and hope that she had not felt in years.
She approached the priest, tears streaming down her face, and asked him to pray with her. As they prayed, Jenny felt the presence of God enveloping her, filling her with a sense of love, forgiveness, and redemption.
At that moment, Jenny received the gift of salvation, and her life was forever changed. The darkness that had once consumed her was replaced by the light of God’s love, and she knew that she would never be alone again. As she went out, she smiled at the boys and girls making mangers and cribs for the baby!
Jenny’s experience was simple yet profound, but there’s another thought around the crib and manger I’d like to mention: As we approach Christmas, most carols, hymns or readings speak about Jesus being born in a manger, right?
But where is that manger in Bethlehem?
Sadly, no lone manger exists by itself there, because a huge basilica has been built at the very place where the greatest message of humility was expounded to the world, that God did not need to be born in a palace, or a huge building, but the King of Kings showed that the trappings of glitter and dazzle was totally foreign to Him.
In everything Jesus did, from the picking of ordinary fishermen as disciples, to being born to a humble carpenter, in washing the feet of disciples, being put to death like a criminal, all beginning with His birth in a manger, Jesus was telling the world something…
Something we have lost as we started building huge cathedrals, lofty steeples, spires built to impress the uneducated poor of those days; that this God was so big, He needed huge columns and impressive ceilings. And the bigger the better. Those cathedrals, palaces, and intimidating buildings were meant to scare people into awe and terrify them into submission.
And thus, the whole message of Jesus’ humble birth was lost.
It’s not the fright of God’s mighty power that needs to make you His follower, but it’s the simple use of His power within us that should make us run to Him, like the shepherds did, and the wisemen too. Through that humble birth, man realises God’s availability, God’s keenness to be approached, and God’s total willingness to be harnessed.
As I see political leaders moving around in monstrous cars, wearing extravagantly expensive clothes, there’s one thing that comes to my mind; they feel so insecure in themselves that they need to have such gigantic, external props to lean on.
In fact, the bigger the size of the chair they sit on, the bigger the Audi or Mercedes, and larger their mansion, reveal in ratio, how large their insecurity is!
Our Jesus was born in a humble, dirty, smelly manger, but not for an instance was His greatness, or His power lessened. In fact, those who dwelt in palaces were afraid of His birth and His life. King Herod was so afraid of the ‘manger baby’ that, cowardly that he was, he ordered all children born below a particular age to be killed. The high priests and Pharisees were equally frightened and saw to it that an innocent Man was crucified.
Today, though it is still the beginning of the Christmas month, do realise that someone born in a filthy stable has a following of one third of the world, or two billion people calling themselves Christians!
From today, in our making of friends, selecting leaders, and even voting, let us look for the manger in people and reject outright pomp, showing off and pageantry.
Let’s begin this month like Jenny did, from a lowly crib in a manger in Bethlehem..!
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