“They laid him in a manger”

Luke 2.1-7

Pastor Tom Johnson, December 24, 2011

 

Consumerism is a central part of the Christmas story. Yes, that is what I said. One of the main messages of Christmas is about you and me as consumers. I’m not talking about what begins on “Black Friday” the day after Thanksgiving...people pushing, shoving, and spraying pepper spray at each other so they can be the first to grab that holiday gift…or about the rise in consumer confidence and a faster recovering economy. I’m talking about the consumerism that is depicted and revealing when Joseph and Mary lay their baby in a manger—a feeding trough for farm animals. Christmas is about the greatest treasure in the world. Christmas is about being a consumer and recipient of that treasure.

In our Lessons and Carols service, we heard the story of those first consumers—Adam and Eve—and how they rushed the aisles of Eden to shoplift the forbidden fruit. Their consumerism resulted in greater poverty and brokenness. The promise of spiritual recovery was bound up in the promise of the Messiah—the one who would reverse the downturn of humanity—not just for one nation and tribe—but for all nations, tribes, tongues, and peoples. Just look at our nativity scene in front of church. It beautifully points us to the truth of this message. Joseph holds a lamp and Mary is next to her newborn—the sun, the moon, and the stars bow down to the eternal Son of God. In many Nativity scenes, angels also bow down before Him—and they announce his greatness—and they invite us to join our voices to their songs of praise—to the King of Heaven—the God who is now with us.

The One who created heaven and earth—is worshiped by heaven and now on earth—even as a baby in the manger. They know that Jesus was not just Human but God and Man. The manger scene has the three Magi. We are reminded that wise men seek Jesus, the rich owe their riches to Jesus, and kings worship the King of kings. And these foreign Magi remind us that Christ came for all peoples and nations. The kings are consumers who bring their offerings of thanksgiving. The nativity scene has the shepherds reminding us that our Lord did not despise the common man. He came for the rich and the poor—for those who serve as kings in palaces and for those who serve sheep in the fields. The manger scene has a donkey, a camel, a cow, and a lamb. Unclean animals and clean animals. Unclean animals in the Old Testament often represent different foreign nations. And these unclean animals appear to want to eat out of the manger where the Christ Child lay. They are all consumers from humans to non-humans. The donkey and the horse represent non-Jews—the Gentiles. They represent all the nations outside of the Nation of Israel—the whole world coming to their Savior—poor and hungry consumers gathered around the Christ child. All are welcome to receive the true Bread of Heaven.

Such a rich diversity of creatures gathered around the newborn king sends us a powerful message—and an almost humorous one at that—that if the poor, the rich, the proud, the humble, the ceremonially clean animals, and the ceremonially unclean animals are welcome, so are we—there is room around the Christ Child even for the lonely and the oppressed, the weak and the struggling. If it was not beneath God to send his Son to be born in the heart of a stable, it will not be beneath God to send his Son to be born into the lives of people like you and me.

And so we see that the feeding trough is not just the result of no vacancies at the local inn. But He was placed there because he is the Bread of Life—the Manna that has come down from heaven—the food we need to strengthen and preserve us in this world—a free gift for poor and starving consumers. The lamb in the manger scene reminds us of Jesus’ purpose—the eternal Son of God became human in the most unlikely places—because he is the sacrificial Lamb for the whole world. He is the Lamb of God whose blood on the cross takes away the sin of the world—who has mercy on us—who grants us peace. God born below so that we would be born from above. God born as a human child so that we would become the children of God. Born for death so that we would be born unto eternal life. And there he lays in a feeding trough for you and me—an open invitation for all to believe—to receive him by faith—to trust in Him as our Redeemer—to be consumers of a life-transforming Gospel.