Mary and Joseph had been travelling for weeks. They had slept on the ground. Got to Bethlehem in a caravan. So all of a sudden, all these people show up at the motel (inn). Mary is preparing to deliver a baby. For those of you who have seen, it's noisy and messy. Didn't the inn keeper give the only private room he had?
Normally, the inn might have a few guests at any time. Even now a days, a motel isn't full during off seasons. But this huge crowd just showed up. Could you imagine being the family asked to share your room with someone delivering a baby? The stable was private. No one else was out there. Poor Mary probably didn't want a crowd of people around watching her deliver a baby.
But a stable's dirty! Well, so was the dirt floor most houses had. And guess what people used to fill mattresses? Straw! After spending weeks sleeping on the ground, a bed of straw probably wasn't so bad. It's easy to clean afterwards - because delivery is messy. Yeah, they used a manger as a crib. Why? Because you don't want the baby sleeping on the ground.
For the day and age, were these accommodations really all that bad? We like to think - ugh, the inn keeper pushed them away. Or was he/she actually trying to help?
Prince or Pauper
Now if you compare Jesus' birth with that of other kings, then yes, His was not what you would expect. His birth was more middle class than royal. It was, well, normal. At least up until God intervened.
The birth of a royal son brought cause for celebration. True, any parent is excited when a child's born. But the first royal son meant an heir. This was the future king. More than just the pride of a parent, it meant continuity of government. The king represented law, order.
I'm thinking of the king's highway in Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy. One of the books talks about how it was well traveled when a king sat in Minas Tirith. The king had patrols that walked the road and kept it safe from robbers and bandits. Without a king, you had to defend yourself and travel with caution.
The king didn't patrol the road himself. He probably didn't even know the people who did it in his name. What the king did was organize all of those people. He set the standard of expected behavior and watched for deviants. We call it law and justice. Having an heir means avoiding a bloody fight over who gets to be king next.
That's the message the angels brought - an heir is born! In those times, the son carried on the family business. He inherited from the father. This is the picture the angels painted calling Jesus the Son of God. Jesus was the heir apparent. And His life was preparation for His inheriting what was God's.
Inheritance
The Bible refers to Satan as ruler of this world and prince of the air. It also describes Jesus as king of all creation, which, last time I checked, included this world. Now look at how each of these went about getting the same thing. Satan took it. He used deceit, manipulation, and pain. He struck back at God because God wouldn't do what Satan wanted. If he didn't get his way, then he would hurt God. Satan wasn't helping Adam and Eve. He was purposefully hurting them to hurt God.
Jesus obeyed. Surrendered His glory, stepped out of eternity and allowed Himself to be limited by space and time. Then, in the end, let Himself die. And His only reason was because God asked Him to. For His obedience, God gave Jesus that authority.
Satan took. Jesus received. Satan bases his kingdom on pain and destruction. Jesus built something new through love, humility, and grace. This is the kingdom that He promised. This is what God was celebrating, what we celebrate, at Christmas. Inheritance. A gift - not from death but a reward for life. To make more life.
Forever
I can't imagine what it was like stepping into time. From looking at "forever" as if it was a picture into being caught in it. Never knowing exactly what was coming because you just can't hold that anymore. Where you have to experience everything one moment at a time.
We're born this way and it seems "normal" to us. Yet it isn't. You know, I have times when I feel a struggle inside but nothing's happened to struggle over. Then it could be hours or days later "the other shoe drops". And I can feel the uncertainty slip away. The uneasiness goes away as everything seems to click into place. What happened caused dis-ease earlier. I wonder if that's how the spiritual works? The spiritual battle takes place before it manifests in the world.
So I say that to point out that even we human beings experience the spiritual. We can know that what is in this world isn't all there is. We spend a lot of time and effort either trying to find that something or avoiding it. This is the struggle that Jesus stepped into.
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