25 December Luke 2:1-7
Christmas Day is not just Jesus’s official birthday; it is also a day when you and I often eat and drink a bit too much in celebration. Puritans found this juxtaposition very uncomfortable, resulting in Oliver Cromwell famously banning Christmas as being nothing more than festival of papist gluttony which had nothing to do with its real meaning of the Word made flesh.
The truth, however, is more nuanced than it might first appear. The imagery of these few verses in Luke’s gospel actually point us to food being at the very heart of God’s purpose. The name ‘Bethlehem’ in Hebrew means ‘House of Bread’. Of course, we might see this as purely coincidental, except that Jesus is also ‘laid in a manger’. God incarnate is laid in the animal’s food trough. Jesus is clearly the one who brings nourishment and sustenance.
Now some of us might still want to treat this in purely symbolic terms, but the message of the incarnation marries the earthly and divine. So God is present in our feasting, but we also need to recognise that the food God brings is not just meant for us, in some sort of private Christmas party, but for all in our world who desperately need to be fed, in body, mind or spirit.
Ken Stokes
Christ Jesus,
born in Bethlehem
and laid in a manger,
as we celebrate and are richly fed,
teach us how to feed others in every possible way,
so that one day all might know the true satisfaction
of knowing you.
Amen.
