On Display on a Device of Wood - Luke 2:1-20

Matthew 1:18-25 says, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.  When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.  And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).  When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.  And he called His name Jesus.”

These verses in the NT book of Matthew remind us of a couple of important truths.  This passage reminds us that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  It reminds us that He was born of a virgin.  But this morning I want us to pay particular attention to His purpose and His person.  Verse 21 tells us that Jesus’ purpose was to “save His people from their sins.”  Then in verse 23 we discover Jesus’ person, “and they shall call His name Immanuel (which means, God with us).”  Jesus was far more than a good person, a good teacher, or just a good model of morals and right living whose purpose was to help humanity live better.  Jesus was God wrapped in flesh who came to earth for the purpose of delivering humanity from their sin!  This is the truth of the Bible and what it proclaims from beginning to end.  But we live in a society and in a culture where this truth is watered down!  In an effort not to offend others we hesitate to treat sin for what it is.  Instead of sin being an offense to God which separates us from Him and which results in eternal separation from God, we talk about it in terms of personal preferences that really have no consequence and which don’t really offend God.  And when sin is no longer an offense to God, there is no longer any need for a Savior, and Jesus is no longer a rescuer and deliverer from sin but just a good teacher and moral example.  But it isn’t the birth of a good teacher and a good moral example that we celebrate today – we celebrate the fact that God came to dwell with us on earth so that He might rescue us and deliver us from sin.  We celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord – Jesus.

With that reminder this morning I want you to turn your attention to something that stands out in the second chapter of the NT book of Luke, as Luke recounts the good news of the birth of Jesus.  [Read Luke 2:1-20]  Listen again to what Luke writes in verses 7, 12, and in verse 16.  “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn . . . And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. . . And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.”  Three times in Luke’s account he makes a point to emphasize the fact that Jesus – Immanuel, God with us, was lying in a manger.  Is there any significance in that?  I think so.  I think the fact that Luke tells his readers three times that Jesus was laid in a manger must have some important significance.  There are many details that Luke left out of the birth account.  We don’t know what Joseph and Mary’s sleeping arrangements were.  We don’t know what Mary’s delivery was like.  And we don’t know if there was anyone else there helping Mary and Joseph during the time of the delivery.  If Luke isn’t concerned with small details such as these, why is he so careful to make sure that the readers are aware of where Jesus was laid after He was born?  It seems that the inclusion of this detail in three separate places must have some important significance.

We can ask the question, “What does being laid in a manger communicate?”  And that’s a great question to ask?  Without question, it communicates a great humility.  The Son of God wasn’t born and placed into a comfortable crib.  He wasn’t laid on a comfortable mattress or in some other comfortable sleeping arrangement.  He was placed in a trough designed to hold food for animals.  That the Son of God came into the world and was placed in a lowly and humble manger was a sign that He was neither too great, too royal, or too significant for even the lowliest of people.  Anyone (regardless of status, position, or title) could come into His presence.  Anyone could into the presence of this child without fear or intimidation.  For here was a child born into the lowliest of situations.  This is certainly an important point to make.  It is a point that should give each of us a great sense of confidence.  Because the Son of God came into the world in such lowly fashion, each of us can know that we can (regardless of our status, position, or title) come into His presence and that He will welcome us.  That is amazing truth for each of us.  But I think the significance of the manger goes beyond communicating a sense of humility.  Jesus birth in a stable would have probably been enough to communicate the humility of Jesus’ birth. 

So we’re left to ask the question again.  “In addition to communicating the humble scenario in which Jesus came into the world, is there anything else that being laid in a manger communicates?”  And I think the answer lies both in what the manger is and how it functions in Luke’s birth narrative.  We often impose our own imaginations on the text and images that we have seen on Christmas cards, and paintings of the nativity scenes.  One of the images we often have in our minds is the image of Mary holding the baby Jesus.  Did Mary hold her child at all after she had given birth to Him?  Certainly!  What mother doesn’t enjoy holding her newborn child?  But go back and read the account of the birth narrative and make sure this time to note where Jesus is anytime that Luke mentions the baby’s location.  In the birth narrative of Jesus, as it is described in Luke chapter 2, the only place it ever records Jesus being is “laid in a manger.”  It is where Mary placed the baby after He was born, where the angels tell the shepherds they will find the baby, and it is where the shepherds beheld the baby!  So allow me to make this observation about the text.  In the birth narrative of Jesus, the Son of God is placed in a devise of wood, in which He is held up and put on display for the shepherds and all the world to see! 

Now let me ask you this question: “What brought Immanuel (God with us) to this place?”  Sin did.  If sin wasn’t a reality then we wouldn’t have been separated from God and we wouldn’t have needed God to come to us.  Love did.  If God didn’t love us then He wouldn’t have been moved to compassion for us and He would not have come for us.  The glory of God did.  Ultimately it was for the glory of God which Jesus came.  In coming to restore that which we had broken with our sin and in coming to fulfill the promise which God had made, Jesus was bringing great glory to God.  So make sure that you hear this this morning: because of sin, because of love, and because of God’s glory, the Son of God came into the world and was placed on a devise of wood, which held Him up so that He might be put on display for all the world to see.

If this is in fact true, then the manger plays an incredibly significant role in the birth narrative of Jesus, because we see the Son of God’s birth ultimately foreshadowing His death.  For at His death we find the Son of God attached to a different devise of wood – a cross - where he was held up and put on display for all the world to see.  Like the manger, the cross communicated Jesus’ humility.  Dying on a cross was reserved for the worst of criminals and was the worst kind of death that one could die.  Those who were condemned to crucifixion were hung on their cross naked for all to see.  In addition to those great humiliations, death on a cross was even more humiliating for Jews whose own law pronounced those who died on a tree to be cursed (Gal. 3:13).   And when we ask the question “What brought Immanuel (God with us) to this place [the cross]?” just as we did with the manger, the answers are exactly the same.  The Son of God endured the cross because of sin.  Jesus died on the cross to pay the punishment for our sin and to make atonement for our sin by shedding His blood.  The Son of God also endured the cross because of love.  Jesus understood our hopeless and helpless state and endured the cross so that a way could be made for us to be reconciled to God.  But ultimately, the Son of God endured the cross because of the glory of God.  By dying for the sins of humanity and allowing the wrath of God to be poured out upon Himself, Jesus brought ultimate restoration.  The penalty for sin was paid for completely!  So God could show Himself to be just and true by carrying out the punishment He said would have to be paid for sin.  But at the same time, God could offer forgiveness to those who by faith trusted in Jesus’ substitutionary death on their behalf.  Sin and death were conquered when Jesus rose from the grave and through Jesus all things could be made new once again.  In conquering sin and death, Jesus fulfilled the OT promises of God to send a Savior and made a way for all things to be made new once again.  And in doing that the incredible glory of God is once again put on display.  So we can say: because of sin, because of love, and because of God’s glory, the Son of God was placed on a devise of wood – a cross - which held Him up so that He might be put on display for all the world to see – as the Savior of the world.

The manger was incredibly significant for Luke.  From the very beginning of Jesus’ life on earth it was a reminder that Jesus came as our deliverer from sin and that He would ultimately accomplish that deliverance through another device of wood that would hold Him up and put Him on display for all the world to see.  Will you remember that today?  When you go home and see your nativity sets and see the baby Jesus laid in a manger, will you allow that to be a reminder of the cross that would later hold Him up as a man?  When you see the Christmas cards that were sent to you from your friends with the pictures of Jesus, will you let that image remind you of the task which that baby came to accomplish.  The angel told Joseph to call his son’s name Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins.  This is what we celebrate today – the birth of our Lord, the birth of our Savior, the birth of our Deliverer – Jesus!