Christmas was messy

The first Christmas was messy. By the first Christmas, I mean the birth of our Savior and the events surrounding His nativity.

If we are not careful, our images of what the birth of Jesus was like can be controlled by a few words from traditional Christmas songs rather than Scripture. It seems to me portions of songs such as "Away in a Manger" and "Silent Night" are misleading. The idea that Jesus did not cry or make noise as a baby is not helpful to our belief in the full humanity of God the Son. Nor would it seem everything was calm in a stable.

The Christmas event was messy for at least the following reasons:

It was messy for a young, betrothed Jewish couple who were chaste in their relationship as they awaited marriage only to learn the bride-to-be was pregnant.

It was messy for that couple to travel all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem with the woman, almost certainly a teenager, on the verge of going into labor.

It was messy for that maiden to give birth for the first time in a place normally reserved for animals.

It was messy for that child to have a feed trough as His first crib.

It was messy for God the Son to become a man -- a man born of poor parents in the most humble of circumstances, living and dying in the place of sinners, receiving the wrath-filled punishment due us.

It was messy -- but oh so gloriously right.