Lying in a manger
Why was the baby laid in a manger – in a feeding trough? The expression appears three times in Luke 2: ‘And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger.’ (v7) “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (v12) ‘And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger’ (v16). Why are we told that?
(1) Because it is what actually happened in history. Luke of all the evangelists was particularly concerned about giving a chronological account of events. See Luke 1:1-4. History matters. Christmas has attached to it lovely fables and fictions and we must not in any measure equate the birth narrative with them. There must be a clear distinction in our own minds that will be sensed by our children. Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension are to be taken seriously as events that occurred in history. His second coming will happen as part of, and at the end of, history.
(2) The manger also emphasises the humiliation of Christ. Christ came down; down from the glory of heaven to this world; down to a disgracefully poor birth; down to crucifixion and hell itself. Only after all that do we see the exaltation of Christ as he rose, ascended and will one day come again. He stooped very low in order to lift us up. As Calvin put it, the Son of God became the Son of Man that the sons of men might become the sons of God.
(3) But there is more to the manger than this. The manger was in deed a place from which the animals could feed. There, instead of food for the stock, was the Christ-child. This cries out that He is food for the faithful. He was and is the Bread of Life (John 6:35). Christian people must come and feed on Him. How do we feed on Christ? By the word. We feed on Him through the daily intake of Scripture. Deprivation of spiritual food for any length of time leads to the sapping of strength, vulnerability to malaise and sickness. You just cannot starve yourself without damaging effects. But there is another prime means of nourishment: the Sacraments. Christ took bread and said, “Take, eat, this is my body,” and, “This is my blood” as they shared the wine (Matthew 26:26-28). We feed on Christ by faith as we engage with the Lord’s Supper. How important it is not to neglect the means of grace.
The make-shift crib where they laid the baby was a figure of the Communion Table. The manger invites us to come and be strengthened and sustained as we feed on Him.