Christ is Born!

I think it is impossible--as a Christian--to view Christmas the same way when holding your own newborn son in your arms.  Every hymn was different to me this year; each menaion more profound, each Gospel reading that much clearer. 

I think we get a little desensitized to the facts of Christmas.  When I look at my Nativity scene, I see Baby Jesus, happy and clean in a tiny manger.  I hear in the Christmas carols that there was no room in the inn.  I see a picture of Mary riding a donkey.  But the true facts of the matter?  This was no romantic scene, which is so often depicted in this day and age. 

The Theotokos made a long, arduous journey, nine months pregnant, on the back of a donkey.  Speaking as someone who was very recently nine months pregnant herself, I cannot even fathom this.  I could barely walk across the room, let alone climb up on a horse, and sit in the same position for hours, being bumped and jostled the whole way.  And to go into labor and not be able to find a place to give birth?  Terrifying.  When my son was on his way, we were greeted by ample medical staff, in a clean and well lit hospital.  Mary?  A barn.

I've been in barns.  They are repulsive.  They stink, and have poop everywhere.  Even barns that are well looked after, cleaned regularly, and cared for are gross.  I won't even darken the doorstep of one if I can avoid it.  I have a friend who has goats and chickens, who makes fun of me to no end for this.  Once, she was milking her goats, and I stood in the doorway and looked on in horror, trying (in vain) to hide my disgust.  Never in one million years would I even consider sitting down in a barn, let alone giving birth in one.

And yet the Panaghia, in her humility, walked into a barn, and gave birth.  To GOD.  Jesus Christ Himself was born amidst the animals, and the poop, and the dirty straw, and the mice and whatever other diseases and filth were present.  It's not often that a Gospel reading inspires horror in me, but as I listened to the priest read on Christmas Eve, I looked down at my own infant son and tried to imagine wrapping him in rags and laying him down in an animal's feed bin, not because I wanted to, but simply because nothing else was available to me.  That mental image was so repugnant that I actually shuddered.

But there He was.  In a manger.  Jesus Christ, the Author of creation, the Son of God on High, surrounded by the animals.  I have tried for days to fathom this, but it makes my brain spin to even attempt to wrap my head around it.

We hear in the hymns that the "cave became heaven" and "in the confines of the manger is laid the Infinite Christ our God."  THIS is Christmas.  It is incomprehensible, and awesome, and a whole host of other words that don't even exist in the English language.

And it is TRUTH.  Christ is Born!  Glorify Him!

 Thank you for visitng Khouria's Neighborhood.  Here are links to "like" me on Facebook or follow me on Pinterest.