The Unbelievable has Happened. Here is Unbelievable Proof
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them,
”Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:7–12 ESV Read More
There has been historical controversy about the inn, the stable, the cave, the manger, etc. for years. Typically Time Magazine’s issue that is closest to Christmas unleashes a bunch of questions that the historical and archeological community has already settled but haven’t hit pop culture. A lot of great spiritual breakthroughs can happen when we put aside the little bits of controversy and appreciate what is happening.
Joseph and Mary are making do with what they have. We don’t get a lot of details about what was up with the inn, or how the birth went. That fits with Middle-Eastern taboos of giving details about childbirth. Those things are on a need to know basis and Luke didn’t think we needed to know about it. The point is that it is weird and out of the ordinary to put a baby in a manger. Nobody would ever do that and it would be really strange to see that happen.
When the shepherds were out in the fields, they were keeping watch as their sheep were giving birth to lambs. That was the only time in the yearly cycle of shepherding that you needed to watch them overnight. Sheep could sit in a pen or an area of your house, but when they were lambing, you needed to be outside and near your sheep. (That might be one reason why there was a manger open in the city because all of the sheep were out in the fields!)
The other thing to consider is that the only source of light was the moon and a fire. You couldn’t just flip a switch and turn on some lights. You could barely get a fire started very quickly! When the angel shows up and the ‘glory of the Lord’ shines around them, it was like a streetlight in the fog at night. Light is all over the place, and it’s hard to tell where it is coming from. Today we would think it was a UFO. In their pre-technological times, they knew it was some kind of spirit.
The angel and its words were so amazing that the shepherds would leave (or bring!) their sheep and see what was going on right away. Like a crowd gathers around a police scene or an amazing street performer, they flocked into Bethlehem to see this ‘baby lying in a manger’ that the angel claimed was proof that a savior was born.
You can see some old shepherds, familiar with the lifetime weight of sin, falling on their knees and weeping with joy “Oh my God it’s true! A Savior! Son of David!”
You can see Mary, at first embarrassed that she’s put a baby in a feed trough, now hearing the shepherds tell their story of what they saw out in the wilderness. What was her embarrassment and discomfort became the testimony of angels
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t textbook, but it was the way that God would fulfill the Emmanuel promise. It is the way that God would be with mankind and walk in flesh and blood.
”I’m so glad that Jesus was born in a stable. Because my soul is so much like a stable. It is poor and in unsatisfactory condition … Yet I believe that if Jesus can be born in a stable, maybe he can also be born in me.” -Dorothy Day
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