Communion With the Christ:: Christmas: A Place Fit for Animals

Have You Ever Considered Why Jesus Was Born In A Barn,

A Place Fit Only For Animals?

When the Great God sent his Son Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, God did not send him into a place of comfort and opulence. Jesus was not delivered into the stream of human history in great a palace with attendants on hand or to the blowing of royal trumpets to herald Jesus' entrance into humanities world. Instead, Jesus came into a place that smelled of dung and old straw, and animals. An out of the way place and unexpected place, yet this is where the Son of God met humanity; in a barn a stable, a place fit only for animals!

Jesus could have come in better surroundings but did not.

"And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn" : Lk:2:6-7

What does this tell us about the God who speaks to us all through the pages of the Holy Bible? Think about what is He saying to us?..Jesus does not just tell us about God , Jesus shows us about God. Why come here in such a place? A stable?

Our Condition

This place, the stable of Bethlehem in-which Jesus meets us in, is the condition of us all, that is, all our lives without him is a place fit only for animals. That is what sin is, a dirty place that smells of dung. But none the less, Jesus meets us there in such a place(s). A place(s) wherein we thought we might never find him.

Consider, that the God who created all things, loved and wanted you, all of us, so much that he came to such a place as this a dirty stable which stank.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. Jhn: 1:1;14

Jesus came to us, he did not stand afar off aloft in the of Heavens isolated from humanity in a pure and Holy environment; no, Jesus came to us in the midst of all our brokenness and weakness, and sin. Jesus came to be with us so we might be with him. He became one of us in the Incarnation. Jesus is God in the flesh.

Relationship

" Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased." Heb: 10:5-6

When Jesus took on our humanity, he did not come to bring a "religion”, that is, "sacrifice and offering".

Our God wanted a relationship with each and all of us, that is why he came to retrieve and assume our humanity into himself. Jesus' humanity makes a relationship possible.

Jesus' humanity is every bit as important as his deity.

Jesus Understands Us

Hebrews 5, speaks of the need for the High Priest of Israel being one who is "from among the people",

This was so that priest could understand the people whom he represented before God. How much more is Jesus able understand each and all of us.

"During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered" Heb:5:7-8

The Prophet Isaiah looked ahead to Jesus at his coming and wrote of the experience that He would have here in the stable of this world as one of us

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." Isa: 53:3

When we encounter the problems of life, when life stinks like a filthy stable, we can know that Jesus shares these problems with us. And there in the midst of them Jesus is there to meet us.

We may have never thought we could encounter Jesus in such places, but there he is right there in that place that smells of dung right with us.

Yet, we have assurances that Jesus knows what we face. Jesus has been here Himself where we are.

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Heb: 4:14-16

Jesus understands our temptations which would lead us into the dark dung strewed places of the stable of our lives, yet, our Lord did what none of us could have done, Jesus remained sinless, untainted by it yet knows it fully, tempted but no sin.

Jesus meets us in the dark places of our being and there calls us to Himself and assures us of His divine love for us all, even when that love is reciprocated. Our God, the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will not abandon us in that place(s) fit only for animals.

Because of Jesus, entering into the dung strewed stable of humanities existence we will not always dwell in such a place, Jesus has come to us that we might come to him and live with our God in perfect fellowship for all eternity this is why Jesus was born in a filthy stable and why Christmas is a celebration that Jesus has come to place fit only for animals.

Benediction: May all rejoice that our Lord has sent is Holy Son, Jesus Christ who meets us in places we may never have imagined, all that we might have fellowship with our God, today, tomorrow and forevermore . Amen