A Look At The Manger

But we need to turn to the manger for a couple of moments and see what is there because it leads us to Jesus, the most important part of Christmas.

(Slide 5)

(Slide 5a) First of all there is commitment at the manger.

Joseph, says Matthew in his gospel account, was ‘a just man.’ Though he had every legal right to divorce Mary because of her pre-marital pregnancy, he obeyed the Lord and kept his commitment and vows to her and became Jesus’ earthly father.

Mary expressed her commitment to Joseph and God, as we read in Luke’s gospel account, when the angel Gabriel came to her and told her, “You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,’ and she simply and faithfully responds, “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true.”

Commitment is present at the manger in the two most important people in young Jesus’ earthly life; commitment to one another, commitment to raising Jesus, and commitment to obey the Lord and fulfilling His plan and purposes.

But their commitments were costly. Both risked their reputations to become the earthly parents of Jesus. I recently was reminded of how costly their commitments were when I read the following from the pen of Rueben P. Job:

“Mary made this incredible leap of faith and offered herself without qualification to God for whatever God chose to bring into her life... The risk to her reputation, the commitment of faith to an unknown path, the simple trust that God would provide today and tomorrow were not unlike the ingredients of our decision to offer ourselves to God without qualification.” I would suggest that the same held true for Joseph.

I encourage each of us to re-commitment ourselves to the Lord, one another, and our families and give the gift of ourselves through our commitment this holiday season as we give our gifts to one another

(Slide 5b) Also present at the manger was love.

Now to some it might seem incredible that love was present at manger. After all it had been a hard journey for the young pregnant woman and her fiancé’. Not just the distance that was required was an issue but so were her physical condition and his emotional state at having to travel to his ancestral home because politics required it! Then there was the haunting realization that ‘it was not mine’ and the possible tension that it caused between them.

But love was there and we only have to read Luke 2:19 to see evidence of love at the manger, “Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often.”

Love is there in the commitment. Passion? Would you be passionate if you had had the same experience of a long and tough journey followed by having a baby? I don’t think so!

Can you imagine Joseph showing Mary a passionate look of interest only to be met with a sharp daggered look that says, ‘Don’t even think about that right now!’

But I remember that love was present in the birth room when Jonathon and Daniel was born. You can see it in the pictures of Susan and I. Those of us who are parents know what I am talking about, right?