Advent Devotional Week 2

The Manger that Changed Everything

December 9, 2012

Luke 2:5-7

He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

The King of Kings and Lord of Lords was born in a manger.  A manger is not beautiful.  It is not special.  A manger is where newborn sheep are placed so they do not hurt themselves.  It is also used to feed other livestock.  A manger is not a place you would choose to put your newborn child if any other choices were available.  Yet this is where Mary and Joseph find themselves.  This is the will of the Lord.

So why the manger?  Why not a nice room someplace?  We are given the information that there was “no room for them in the inn”.  This isn't like a “no vacancy” sign on a hotel window.  It meant that Mary and Joseph had no family or friends to go to in Joseph’s hometown.  It meant that even strangers who set themselves up to welcome guests would have nothing to do with them.  In the culture of the day refusing hospitality to a guest was a serious issue.  It didn't happen often.  Room was made.  In this case, the innkeeper extended only the bare minimum of hospitality to an expecting mother.  Mary and Joseph had been rejected at a time of high need in a place where welcome should have been found.  This was the will of the Lord.

In the birth of Jesus we see the state of the world.  It devalued the one who had come to save it.  It rejected those it could have helped.  It was ignorant of the amazing reality of God’s coming.  In many places and for many people the world is still this way.  But it doesn't have to be this way for us.  The King has come.  Because there is a manger, there is salvation. A new reality. A greater life.  This birth changed everything. It should change us. Will you allow it?