She knows that the final push will be the one to bring Him into the world. Him, the “Him” she has prayed for each month knowing that as she prayed for Him she prayed to Him.
Behind her, a donkey cries out and digs its front hoof into the ground in restlessness. Two pigs oink their way into the corner of their pen as if to make room another arrival. Water trickles from the roof panel splashing into a muddy puddle near the door which hangs, slightly, off hinge.
Joseph walks to her, his back now to the manager. Inside of it, he has placed hay and clean cloths. They both know, this is where the child will rest until they travel back to Galilee. They both know, this small barn is where the child will cry out in the middle of the night. Joseph grips her hand; it’s worn from his recent work in carpentry, but it is warm with anticipation. She looks at him, presses her lips firmly together and pushes with force.
Suddenly the barn is quiet, every animal suddenly hushed. Joseph pulls the child up into the arms of Mary and she holds her breath as she looks into the eyes of her son. When he begins to let out a faint cry she whispers his name, “Jesus”. Joseph is now leaning over her shoulder, he looks, equally as mesmerized, at the baby then he says to Mary, “They shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means ‘God with us’”.
disclaimer: this short story was fictionalized based on the scriptural references of the birth of Jesus.
I wrote this small short story because I wanted you (and I also wanted) to be close to the moments of Jesus’ birth. I wanted us to think about what was happening when Jesus was traveling through the birth canal into the world He watched His Father create.
When Jesus calmed the sea, perhaps about 30 years after His birth, the disciples said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” Do you ever wonder about how the animals responded to Jesus’ birth? After all, everything is subjected to Him. I’m sure the animals in the barn sensed the coming of their Creator. Do you wonder if Joseph and Mary cried at the birth of Jesus their son? Can you imagine how nervous they were to hold their son, but the Son of God!? Do you question whether or not Mary shook a little when she looked at her son remembering the visitation of an angel who prophesied to her months prior? Can you picture Joseph pacing, rubbing his callous hands together while his wife screamed in pain?
I don’t want us to miss the details. I don’t want us to miss the beauty that shows us how God brought glory into a manger the night when Jesus was born. We can’t fathom what those moments before, during and after the birth of Jesus were like, but we can be sure they were special moments. Not only had Mary and Joseph anticipated their son’s arrival for 9 months, but the whole world had anticipated the moment of the King’s birth since the Garden of Eden.
This week, read Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth in Luke chapters 1 through 2 verses 20. It’s a quick, detailed reading. Every time I read it,
I’m excited to know how important the birth of Jesus was to God. These two chapters represent so much more than a baby being born. These two chapters show us the lengths the Lord God was willing to go through just to join us in everyday life.
What joy we can have because the little manger in the barn beheld the glory of God? In this season, and for the rest of our lives, let’s be thankful for this perfect and precious gift: Jesus Christ.
