Humble Beginning With a Capital H
And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7, RSV.
The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was about 80 miles. But the overcrowded conditions because of the massive influx of people who needed to register for the census left little room for Joseph's family. They were probably happy for even the stable.
It was there in the manger, history's most famous animal feeding trough, that the Lord of glory entered the world as a human person. Like other infants of the day, His mother "wrapped him in swaddling cloths," which consisted of a square cloth with a long, bandage-like strip attached. Jesus was first wrapped in the cloth square and then the strip was wound around Him a few times to hold the "garment" in place. Such was the introduction of the Creator of all into human existence.
J.B. Phillips has written a rendition of the Incarnation that helps us visualize the gap between what Jesus left behind and what He came to here. Phillips imagines a senior angel showing a very young angel the splendors of the universe. They visit a multitude of blazing suns and whirling galaxies, finally entering one with more than a billion stars.
"As the two of them drew near to the star we call sun and to its circling planets, the senior angel pointed to a small and rather insignificant sphere turning slowly on its axis. It looked as dull as a dirty tennis ball to the little angel, whose mind was filled with the size and glory of what he had seen.
' 'I want you to watch that particular one,' said the angel....
" 'Well, it looks very small and rather dirty to me,' said the little angel. 'What's special about that one?' "
After being told of the Incarnation, the little angel asked, " 'Do you mean that our great glorious Prince...went down in Person to this fifth-rate little ball' " and " 'stooped so low as to become one of those creepy, crawling creatures...?' "
To think about the incarnation of the Christ into the baby Jesus is almost beyond our imagination. And our comprehension gets further stretched when we realize that He began His story in this world not in a mansion but in a manger in a fourth-rate village.
When I think of what He gave up for me, it makes me wonder what I should give up for Him.
And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7, RSV.
The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was about 80 miles. But the overcrowded conditions because of the massive influx of people who needed to register for the census left little room for Joseph's family. They were probably happy for even the stable.
It was there in the manger, history's most famous animal feeding trough, that the Lord of glory entered the world as a human person. Like other infants of the day, His mother "wrapped him in swaddling cloths," which consisted of a square cloth with a long, bandage-like strip attached. Jesus was first wrapped in the cloth square and then the strip was wound around Him a few times to hold the "garment" in place. Such was the introduction of the Creator of all into human existence.
J.B. Phillips has written a rendition of the Incarnation that helps us visualize the gap between what Jesus left behind and what He came to here. Phillips imagines a senior angel showing a very young angel the splendors of the universe. They visit a multitude of blazing suns and whirling galaxies, finally entering one with more than a billion stars.
"As the two of them drew near to the star we call sun and to its circling planets, the senior angel pointed to a small and rather insignificant sphere turning slowly on its axis. It looked as dull as a dirty tennis ball to the little angel, whose mind was filled with the size and glory of what he had seen.
' 'I want you to watch that particular one,' said the angel....
" 'Well, it looks very small and rather dirty to me,' said the little angel. 'What's special about that one?' "
After being told of the Incarnation, the little angel asked, " 'Do you mean that our great glorious Prince...went down in Person to this fifth-rate little ball' " and " 'stooped so low as to become one of those creepy, crawling creatures...?' "
To think about the incarnation of the Christ into the baby Jesus is almost beyond our imagination. And our comprehension gets further stretched when we realize that He began His story in this world not in a mansion but in a manger in a fourth-rate village.
When I think of what He gave up for me, it makes me wonder what I should give up for Him.
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