Sermon: Christmas Eve, Luke 2:1-14, December 24, 2022Faith Lutheran Church, Pastor Jonathan Linman

Sermon: Christmas Eve, Luke 2:1-14, December 24, 2022

Faith Lutheran Church, Pastor Jonathan Linman

Stop and think for a moment about the many, many nativity scenes you’ve looked at

over the course of your lifetime. I’m sure it’s a lot. The creche, as it’s often called, is

one of the most popular and endearing and enduring features of Christmas

celebrations. And manger scenes come in all shapes and sizes. Some are great art.

Some are kitsch. Some are even humorous, like the creche I saw for sale once in an art

store several years ago. All the figures were penguins. And in the manger was an

egg…. Irreverent, but funny in its own ways.

But the scene of the nativity, the birth of Jesus, is sacred to Christians and has been

for centuries. St. Francis of Assisi is said to have been the first to portray a live

nativity in the 13 th Century as a means to draw people to worship Christ. You may

well have precious, heirloom versions of the creche in your own homes.

The typical nativity scene has these usual features and bible characters: Mary, Joseph,

and the baby Jesus usually in a wooden manger; then there are the shepherds; and the

wise men from the East bearing their gifts; then, too, the cattle, camels, and sheep, are

often there, too; and perhaps an angel hovering overhead along with some

representation of the Star of Bethlehem; and all of these figures are crowded together

in what is usually portrayed as an open-air barn or stable.

So much of the Christmas story is summed up in nativity scenes. And our associations

with such scenes are usually very cozy, and comforting, and warm, because our sets

are situated as decorations in our warm and cozy homes bedecked for the holidays.

But the historical reality was anything but warm and cozy. On that first Christmas

night, it had to have been cold in the desert after dark, with everyone exposed to the

elements. If indeed animals were there, surely it was smelly, dirty, and noisy. There’s

really precious little that’s warm and cozy about the whole scene if you think about it.

And here’s the thing, beyond the people who showed up for the occasion – the holy

family, the shepherds, and the wise men – nothing in particular about our usual

nativity scenes is specified in the bible stories from Luke or from Matthew, the two

gospels that feature stories about Jesus’ birth. The stable or barn is not in the biblical

witness. It’s implied, because there was no room for them in the inn. It may well have

been a cave. There was probably not a crowd of characters all at the same time. The

shepherds came first. But the wise man may have appeared months after Jesus’ birth.

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Therefore, much that’s commonly featured in our nativity scenes is implied by the

bible stories and is thus the conjecture of our artistic imaginations. But the one thing

that is definitely specified in the story from Luke is the manger. Luke goes to the

trouble of mentioning the manger three times in his version of the story. So, let’s

focus on the manger tonight.

The word that translates manger from the Greek is derived from the word meaning

“to eat.” Which is to say, ancient mangers were feeding troughs for animals, open

boxes or troughs that cattle and horses and camels would eat from. In short, mangers

are vessels, containers for animal feed. They were not meant to hold new born babies!

But let’s consider the manger in terms of our own experiences in our own time. Think

of the manger in connection with the boxes that our Christmas gifts come in, the

boxes we wrap so carefully. On that first Christmas night, the manger as box

contained the gift of the baby Jesus, the Christ child. Think of the swaddling clothes

as the wrapping paper. Maybe the brilliant glow emanating from Jesus’ face could be

fancied as the colorful bows and ribbons that adorn our gifts.

There is something important about how gifts are packaged and wrapped at

Christmastime, isn’t there? Some of us spend a great deal of time and energy on how

gifts are wrapped. My mother beautifully wrapped our gifts. The paper was cut

precisely to fit the size of the box and then folded with precision and taped carefully.

And the gift was adorned with bows that matched the color of the wrapping paper.

Mom’s wrapped Christmas presents were works of art. How a gift is wrapped can add

a great deal to the anticipation of giving and receiving gifts.

But Jesus’ manger was anything but an elegant and beautiful container for the gift that

was and is Jesus. But it was fitting. I think that the Gospel writer Luke focuses on the

manger, mentioning it three times, to make the point that Jesus Christ was born and

came into the world in very humble, earthy, poor circumstances. We see throughout

Luke’s gospel an emphasis on poor and humble people, and Jesus reaching out to

these helpless, suffering crowds in healing, lifegiving ways. How appropriate, then,

that Jesus earthly life would begin in a humble feeding trough, an ordinary beginning

for the one who would focus so much of his extraordinary ministry on vulnerable,

marginal, ordinary people.

Luke’s focus on the manger suggests that the container for the gift is not incidental to

the story’s point, but integral. So, let’s reflect more on the vessels that contain for us

the gift of Christ.

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Of course, we can become too preoccupied with the containers and wrapping for our

gifts in ways that overshadow the gifts themselves. Sometimes the value of the

wrapping exceeds the gift itself.

For example, sometimes in the church, given our sinful nature, we’re too preoccupied

with our institutions and buildings and budgets and other worldly concerns – all of

which are merely the wrapping paper and containers for the gift of Christ.

We are called to remember the good news that Jesus is the reason for the season –

and not just at Christmas…. We are forever beckoned to keep our focus on the gift of

Christ, not the containers in which he continues to come to us.

Still, since the manger is central to the Christmas story, let’s specify how the manger,

the containers for the gift of Christ, appear in one sort or another in our Christian life.

We may discover that we’re like the animals going to these vessels so that we can be

fed by Christ.

Take the Bible itself. Think of the book of the Bible as a manger that contains God’s

word, and as such it conveys to us the gift of Jesus Christ and his gracious, saving,

nourishing message, a message feeds us. Or think of an open Bible as a crib where

Christ is reclining there, his radiant light shining forth on us as we read the stories

about him in the good book. Reading the Bible is like a visit to a spiritual feeding

trough!

Then, think too of our baptismal font in connection with the Christmas story of

Jesus’ birth. The baptismal font is a womb that births Christ for us and in us, and

births us as Christ’s own children. The womb that carries and contains a child is its

own kind of manger before birth, right? Then think of the white baptismal garments

that we are adorned with as swaddling clothes that wrap us up in the loving embrace

of God in Christ having been born for us and in us.

Then, there’s the Eucharist, the Holy Communion, a simple meal of blessed, holy

bread and wine. Think of your outstretched hands to receive the bread as a manger to

hold in your very hands the gift of Christ which feeds you personally with holy food

and drink – given and shed for you! And then think of your own bodies as a manger

to contain the gift of Christ’s real presence for you in the sacrament after you’ve eaten

the bread and received the wine, spiritual food and drink for our journeys of faith.

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Spiritually, think of your own faith, your own trust and belief in Jesus Christ as the

manger of your hearts to receive and trustingly contain all the blessings that Christ

imparts to us as a gracious gift, which we receive simply in gratitude because we

cannot otherwise earn such divine blessings.

Then there’s the assembly of all of God’s people, that is to say, all of you in this room.

Christian community in the church is its own manger that contains the gift of Christ

as we relate each other and reach out to feed a hungry world and to care for humble

people who have been told there’s no room for them in the inn.

So, you see, metaphorically speaking, managers, spiritual feeding troughs, of one sort

or another appear again and again in the Christian life and in the church’s mission.

And these vessels contain the nourishing gift of Christ, the one whom the prophet

Isaiah foretells and describes as Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting

Father, Prince of Peace who reigns with justice and righteousness forevermore. (cf.

Isaiah 9:6b-7)

Our many and various mangers contain Christ, the very grace of God, as the reading

from Titus suggests, that brings salvation to all, our blessed hope, and the

manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, who gave himself for us to

redeem us from all iniquity. (cf. Titus 2:11-14a)

All that Christ would become in his earthly life of teaching and miracle working and

healing, culminating in his death and resurrection, all of this is contained in the

various mangers that hold the gift of Jesus Christ who feeds the whole world. This is

exactly the gift, the bread from heaven, that our sorry, hungry world continues to

need to this day.

Thus, by the power of same Holy Spirit that visited the virgin Mary, may we all

become pregnant mangers, gift boxes, vessels that contain and birth and proclaim in

word and deed the angels’ message and song to the poor shepherds: “[See, we are]

bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the

city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

And may we all with the heavenly host, praise God and proclaim in word, song, and

deed: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom

God favors!” Thanks be to God. Merry Christmas. Amen.