Glory in the Manger: True Miracle of Christmas 

Having lived in Missouri for 3 years, my family has had “Sight & Sound Theatre” in Branson, MO on our wishlist for a long time. It still stays there. With the busy work schedule and chauffeuring our four children here and there, we still have not made it to the live show.

But God is gracious. Knowing my slightly disappointed heart, He allowed us to experience Sight & Sound’s “Miracle of Christmas” on a local theater screen (for free!).

It was wondrous! Live animals and flying angels, we were able to worship the newborn King alongside Mary and Joseph, shepherds and magi. I can only imagine how infinitely more powerful the experience would be, viewing this show live.

Among the breathtaking scenes and worshipful moments, a short line broke me on the inside.

A nameless traveler in Bethlehem peeked into the stable where Mary was about to give birth to the Savior of the world.

The traveler’s line went something like this — “Disgusting! She’s giving birth to a baby in the stable.”

Disgusting? The holy night, the sweet baby Jesus, the virgin birth, the once-in-all-of-history Incarnation of God the Son. How dare she dismisses it as “disgusting”..?

But almost instantly I had to admit something. And it broke my heart and filled it with tears.

If I had been there, I would have said the same. With my current hygiene standard, I would have despised the sight, sound and smell of that stable in sheer disgust.

Without a moment of hesitation.

Without pausing to think, perhaps, the greatest glory was being revealed in that manger, no matter how smelly or unsanitary...

*But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ***so that no one may boast before him. - 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

God’s choice is often unexpected. In fact, almost no one at that time could expect the greatest act of God in history to take place the way it did — a manger birth by a unwed, peasant teenager. A man of sorrows, weeping more often than laughing, surrounded by nameless, low-class followers. He then dies the death of a criminal on a cursed tree. His disciples claim that He is alive again and reigns as the King of the universe. We who recognize the glory in the face of this God-Man too confess He is our King.

His was not a life of privilege and pleasure, but of suffering and sacrifice.

All to remind us that…

My heart is too proud to descend to where my Lord was as He entered our world.

My eyes are looking at wrong places for glory.

My priorities are all mixed up and backwards.

God’s ways are higher than ours, and His will is always good, pleasing and perfect.

Is God trying to work in my life today in ways that I consider “disgusting”?

“Shameful”?

“Shabby”?

“Not my style”?

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, who does not know Your ways.

May You open my blind eyes, illuminate my dark heart, so that I may behold Your glory, even when I did not expect or cannot understand it.

Thank you for the gift of Your one and only Son, who was born in poverty, and suffered infinite pain, all for us.

As we celebrated His birth, and now walk toward Lent and Easter, help us grasp the wisdom and the beauty of the cross of Christ, and partake in His risen life.

*Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ***but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God - 1 Corinthians 1:22-24