Christmas- The Crèche
This morning what I would like to do is talk about the creche. This is a decoration many people have in their home at this time of year. Even many people who never set foot in a church will have a crèche. This is a little model of when Jesus was born, which is sometimes called a nativity scene, or a manger scene. In Britain the word crèche can mean a nursery where babies and young children are cared for.
We believe that St. Francis of Assisi may have invented the crèche as a Christmas decoration in the year 1223. In an attempt to honour Jesus and the holy family their images were often surrounded with gold and extravagance. Francis wanted to remind the people of the profoundly humble circumstances Jesus was born into. God came to us in poverty.
The first thing we usually see when we look at a crèche is the stable. The Bible doesn’t necessarily say that they were in a stable (see Kenneth Bailey’s Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes). Luke tells us that there was no room for them in the “inn”, but that word can also be translated as “guest room”. This might mean that they had to be in the main room where the family normally lived. At night, people of this time often housed their animals in an adjoining part of the main living area. Often on a lower part of the house. A manger was placed on the ground, or a part of the floor may have been dug out to make a kind of feeding trough. The animal could reach from where they were housed to eat the food in the manger at the edge of the family’s main living area. Sometimes these houses would include natural caves, which meant you only had to build half a house. … So, the idea of being in a stable really comes from Luke mentioning this manger being used as a crib for the newborn Jesus. It is very possible that the Holy Family was staying in the main living area with the family that owned the home. To us from the modern west, it may very well have felt like being in a stable.
“Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand” (Is 1:2-3).
This is not an uncommon statement coming from the prophets. They are constantly urging the people to turn back to God. We see a similar statement from the gospel of John,
“He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him” (1:10-11).
Throughout Jesus’ ministry we see creation obeying the voice of Jesus- the wind and the waves calm at his command, the fish swim into nets, even demons obey his command. The creation recognizes the Creator, but humans seem to be the ones who are unsure. The ox knows and the donkey knows, but humanity is another story.
Sometimes a crèche also has a representation of a star, which The Gospel of Matthew tells us drew the mysterious Magi from the East to come and worship. Craig Chester, an astronomer for the Monterey Institute of Geophysics and Astrophysics, has stated that it is safe to say that every astrophysical event between 7 and 1 BC has been proposed to be the Bethlehem star. We don’t know if they were looking at a supernova, or a comet, or at some configuration of the planet Jupiter and Saturn. … The star seems to move and then stops. This led some early church commentators to say that it was actually an angel that led the Magi. We don’t usually include the Magi in the crèche until Epiphany on January 6th.
The Magi were not kings, but they do symbolize the Gentile world coming to worship before the Jewish Messiah. They are called “Magi” in the plural, but “Magus” in the singular. It is a word that that has a few definitions and can refer to a practitioner of magic arts, to someone who would divine the future, to an interpreter of dreams (like the prophet Daniel), or to those who study the night sky. A magus was a mysterious person, with mysterious knowledge of things hidden to ordinary people. It may have referred to the priestly class in Persia. The ancient historian, Pliny, records that the Roman Emperor Nero received such guests in 66 AD. So, such an event is not unheard of.
“Three” Magi have been imagined because there were three gifts, but Matthew says nothing about how many Magi there were except that there was more than one. … The three Magi were even given names by the Venerable Bede in the 8th century. One was “Melchior” and was an old man with white hair and long beard. “Gaspar” was young and beardless with a ruddy complexion. “Balthasar” had dark colored skin and a big beard. The multi-ethnic group was believed to represent the Gentile world that would also benefit from Jesus’ saving action, along with the Jewish people. …
The Magi give gifts to little Jesus which are fit for a king. Isaiah 60:2-6 speaks about Gifts being brought-
Sometimes a crèche also has a representation of a star, which The Gospel of Matthew tells us drew the mysterious Magi from the East to come and worship. Craig Chester, an astronomer for the Monterey Institute of Geophysics and Astrophysics, has stated that it is safe to say that every astrophysical event between 7 and 1 BC has been proposed to be the Bethlehem star. We don’t know if they were looking at a supernova, or a comet, or at some configuration of the planet Jupiter and Saturn. … The star seems to move and then stops. This led some early church commentators to say that it was actually an angel that led the Magi. We don’t usually include the Magi in the crèche until Epiphany on January 6th.
The Magi were not kings, but they do symbolize the Gentile world coming to worship before the Jewish Messiah. They are called “Magi” in the plural, but “Magus” in the singular. It is a word that that has a few definitions and can refer to a practitioner of magic arts, to someone who would divine the future, to an interpreter of dreams (like the prophet Daniel), or to those who study the night sky. A magus was a mysterious person, with mysterious knowledge of things hidden to ordinary people. It may have referred to the priestly class in Persia. The ancient historian, Pliny, records that the Roman Emperor Nero received such guests in 66 AD. So, such an event is not unheard of.
“Three” Magi have been imagined because there were three gifts, but Matthew says nothing about how many Magi there were except that there was more than one. … The three Magi were even given names by the Venerable Bede in the 8th century. One was “Melchior” and was an old man with white hair and long beard. “Gaspar” was young and beardless with a ruddy complexion. “Balthasar” had dark colored skin and a big beard. The multi-ethnic group was believed to represent the Gentile world that would also benefit from Jesus’ saving action, along with the Jewish people. …
The Magi give gifts to little Jesus which are fit for a king. Isaiah 60:2-6 speaks about Gifts being brought-
“the wealth of the nations shall come to you. … They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.”
Psalm 72:10-11 says,
“May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service”.Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh, were valuable gifts that might be given to any king. The church has often seen the gifts as being quite symbolic, as well- Gold, was a gift worthy of a king. The word messiah points to the anointing of a king, and Jesus is the king of kings. … Frankincense was a kind of incense offered in worship and so was a gift for a High Priest, or maybe a gift given to God. … Myrrh was a spice that was sometimes used for embalming a dead body and the church saw this as prophetically pointing to Jesus’ death on the cross.
…
The Star that the Magi followed hinted towards this newly born king, but they needed Scripture to fill in the details. They needed to hear the words of Micah- “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2). Creation can point us towards God, but we need Scripture to see the character of God.
Bethlehem is the hometown of the famous King David, and as you know, the Messiah is called the ‘Son of David’. Bethlehem means “House of Bread” which the church has often seen as pointing to the Eucharist. This is highlighted even more because baby Jesus is placed in a manger, which is a feeding trough- it is where you put the food for the animals. In the ‘house of bread’, placed in a feeding through, is the one who would say,
“I am the bread of life. … I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (Jn 6:48, 51).A crèche also often has shepherds. King David was a shepherd, and God is sometimes spoken of as a shepherd (e.g. Psalm 23). But, Shepherds were also often considered to be a very rough bunch. The fact that the angels appear to them shows God’s heart for ordinary people, even marginalized and outcast people. Shepherds were the bottom of the social ladder.
But, this isn't the first time angels appeared to ordinary people. An angel appeared to an ordinary Jewish girl named Mary- who told her that though she was a virgin, she would give birth to the long-awaited Messiah. And an ordinary carpenter, Joseph, receives an angelic visitation in a dream telling him to take Mary as his wife, in spite of her strange pregnancy. … We have this strange pairing of the ordinary and the extraordinary.
An ordinary girl with an extraordinary pregnancy. Ordinary shepherds are visited by extraordinary angelic beings. This extraordinary child who is called Jesus (which means God Saves), and Immanuel (which means God-with-us), savior, and Lord- this extraordinary child is born, on an ordinary day, in an ordinary place, to an ordinary couple, and placed in an ordinary straw-filled manger used to feed ordinary animals. And, I think that is how God wanted it. That is how God planned it. Because God works through the ordinary. That's what the incarnation is about- God working in the ordinary. "The Incarnation" is really just a big word for what the author C.S. Lewis described as “the author writing himself into the script of the play". God worked in the ordinary to bring about the extraordinary.
Jesus, the Son of God, God Himself, lived as one of us. He scraped his knee as a boy. He had friends and played. He learned from his parents. He grew up to be a carpenter like Joseph. He didn't really start preaching until he was 30. Most of Jesus' life was lived in an ordinary way. That is what the incarnation is about- God enters the everyday ordinary-ness of human life as one of us. God wants to be present in our ordinary, daily lives. Rather, He wants us to be AWARE that He IS present in our ordinary lives. … God became incarnate as Jesus to save us. That means to be in God's presence- to accept God's presence in your life. … That is what God has done through the ordinary events of that first Christmas. God has become a part of our everyday ordinary lives. And through our ordinary lives God will bring about the extraordinary.
Blessing of the Crĕche
L: In the faith of Christ, and in your name, O God most holy, do we hallow this crib of Christmas, to set before the eyes of your people the great love and humility of Jesus Christ, your only Son; who for us, and for our salvation, came down as at this time from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary his mother, and was made Man; to whom with you and the same Spirit be all honour, majesty, glory and worship, now and forever, world without end.
A: Amen
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