O Holy Night... in an Israeli "Stable"

Two days before Christmas.  I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.  It always amazes me how this season equally elates and deflates me at the same time…

But yet I can’t help it.  I feel so compelled to still squeeze in this reflection before Christmas comes and goes…

My reflections on Christmas and my experience of being in a “stable” in Israel.

We all can picture the nativity scene.  A wooden barn with a small wooden box with stable animals gathered around Mary & Joseph.   And there is nothing “wrong” with this scene; it is how we picture it given the account in Luke’s gospel…

But I had the opportunity to sit in an Israeli “stable.”  And it wasn’t how our traditional “nativity scene” pictures it.

The “stable” we were introduced to was entirely different.  The Israeli “stable” we sat in was  a cold, dark cave carved into a rough mountainside, with “traces” of animals everywhere.   

Isolated, out of town, and in the wilderness.

First, we reflected on the issue of why Mary and Joseph were going to a stable-cave in the first place.  We learn that they were first of all told there was “no room” for them in the inn in Bethlehem.  My first thought was always that there was no room because of all the extra people in town due to the census.  But what if there was “no room” for them because of who they were?

So you’re not yet married, but yet you are clearly pregnant.  VERY pregnant.  And not married.  Against Jewish law.  Ya, sorry… there’s *ahem* no room for you here.  Door slams.

And no room for them in the next place.  But she’s a virgin you say?  Ha.  Sorry, no room for crazy at our place. Slam. 

And the next place.

And the next place. 

Doors slamming in their faces.

Now whether or not some kind stranger finally felt pity and led them to their stable-cave, or if they wandered outside the town until they found some sort of cover for their baby’s arrival, we don’t know how they ended up in this make-shift shelter, as the gospel writers don’t tell us.  We do know, though, that when the Saviour of the world arrived in infancy, he arrived in a cold, dark, damp stable, likely surrounded by animal-feces.  When I sat in an Israeli “stable” similar to what Jesus would have been born in, I could hardly find a spot to sit that didn’t have sheep feces on it…  And this is how our King of the Universe took his first breaths on earth…

And then, he was placed in a manger.

A feeding trough.   An animal watering bucket.  Directly translated, it was a “cup.”

A cup meant for water for animals.  And Jesus was placed in there.  Our God, who came from his throne, down to earth to share in our suffering to give us life, came to being in the humblest of ways.  Far, far, far from the sanitized, sterile way most births happen today…

And this is the “silent night” we sing about.

This is the “holy night” we reflect on.

This is the “heavenly peace” we revel in.   

The silent night of silence of isolation out in a stable…

The holy night of the least sanctified place to bring a child 

 into the world…

The sleeping in heavenly peace of a baby resting

 in an animal’s watering cup...

Christmas is by far one of my favourite times of the year.  And having the opportunity to sit in a “stable” like my Lord could have sat in, my understanding of Christ’s birth will never be the same as has made Christmas even more rich than ever.  My understanding of my God’s love for me and for His world and people has grown more than can ever be described in a short reflection. 

The Lamb of God born in a shepherd’s cave.

The Living Water placed in an animal’s cup. 

The King of Kings given a damp, dark, cold throne. 

 

May you have a blessed Christmas, reflecting on how God so much loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son.  The King of the Universe became a humble, poor, helpless baby… for you.