In a Manger

Luke 2:7-16

I love the Christmas song “Away in a Manger” (#148) written centuries ago by Martin Luther.  God made “a way” in a manger for us to be saved. Jesus is “the way.”

I.     The PLACE of the manger (v. 7—“And she brought her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger…”)  Not exactly the most comfortable place. It smelled like a barnyard… It was cold… It was hard (usually made of hew stone).

•Is this the place for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
•Is this the throne of the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE?
•Swaddling clothes instead of royal garments?
•Animals lowing instead of seraphim singing “Holy, holy, holy?”

A feeding trough was one of the most common, everyday, ordinary things you could find in the agricultural society this story is set in.  There’s nothing ornate or special about a feeding trough. It didn’t have some kind of unique or romanticized purpose. It was just used for the run-of-the-mill, ordinary task of…well,…feeding sheep! It was very “common.”

The Bible says, “The common people heard him gladly” (Mark 12:37).
God has chosen the foolish things… weak things… the base things… to confound the things that are mighty (1 Cor. 1:26-28).

A.   Place for Lambs / Sheep— When God entered the human area, He  chose a manger in which to place His newborn LAMB (John 1:29).

A “sheep shed” — A “glory barn.”
B. Place for the hungry to feed.

1. The word “manger” comes from the French (meaning “to eat”
or “to chew”). It was a trough carved out of wood or stone,
constructed to hold food for animals. It was a feeder.

PARTIAL SERMON: See PDF attachment for complete sermon.