STOOPING WE FIND JESUS


“To you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” Lk 2:10-11.

Dear fathers and brothers this is how the angels announced the good news of our Lord’s birth to the poor, illiterate shepherds of Bethlehem. I wish to reflect on the manger in which our Lord was born. First of all, the Scripture says there was no place in the inn for Jesus to be born. As the popular world turns its back on the son of God, the manger, the cave of animals offers a place. A manger is anything but a place for a baby to be born. It is the place for beasts. Animal nature is often equated with violence; but our Lord’s birth in the manger tells us that sometimes better sense can prevail even in the animal world.

Another interesting thing about the manger is how men enter into it. Obviously the entrance into it is lower and those who wish to enter in have to stoop and enter. In the world that is turning to atheism and the worship of mammon the inn of many hearts are closed. He finds no place to incarnate Himself except in the forsaken mangers of our modern world. Only those who are willing to stoop and enter into the mangers of our present times will find Jesus.
What does the manger of Bethlehem remind us today? The manger is a reminder for us all that divinity is found in the least expected places. He is found in the slums and ghettos of our modern world. It reminds us of the fierce urgency to meet Jesus in the despised people of our world. Tagore realizing that God is with the people tells the God-men of our world:

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads!
Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut?
Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!
He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path maker is breaking stones.
He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust.
Put off thy holy mantle and even like Him come down on the dusty soil!
Deliverance! Where is this deliverance to be found?
Our Master Himself has joyfully taken upon Himself the bonds of creation.
Come out of thy meditation and leave aside thy flowers and incense!
What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained?
Meet Him and stand by Him in the toil and in the sweat of thy brow!

The inns of the modern world do not let Jesus to be born fearing that He won’t pay much to its progress. It is therefore a matter of choice to follow the star of Christ and find Christ in the mangers of our despised world. Truly wise men know that they don’t know everything; they stoop to enter any place in search of true wisdom. As we are busy preparing for our Lord’s coming, let us look to the manger and stoop to enter into it. May Christmas remind us of the fact that divinity is found in the least expected places and that God’s kingdom begins with the lowly.

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