David Bahn – Reflections

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Luke 2:4-7

Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. ⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Where else are we to seek mercy

for all our betrayals, all our weak faith,

all our failures,

but in the lowliness of God in the manger?

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I don’t know that I would have drawn the conclusion that Bonhoeffer did in regard to finding mercy, forgiveness, and redemption only in God in the manger. But I love that he offers this question. Where else, indeed?

God could have come into the world in much more respectable circumstances. Allowed Mary and Joseph to have been married before conceiving the Christ Child by the Holy Spirit other than through Joseph. He could have worked out details such that Jesus would have been born of a virgin. He didn’t have to put Mary and Joseph through all that. And how about the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem? And why not just a regular bed? Surely none of these were essential to the birth of the Savior, were they?

But then I think about how all these things line up as a show of utter humility on God’s part. His complete abandonment of his glorious majesty. His utter humility in taking on human flesh in the first place. We might imagine Jesus born in a refugee clamp, or to migrant peasants, or being laid in some other common make-do crib. But that was not God’s choice.

We are to learn something here. I wonder whether it’s more about looking to God wherever he may be found in order to find grace, mercy, forgiveness, and redemption. Isaiah spoke to Israel 750 years before Christ’s birth,

“Seek the LORD while he may be found;
    call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. – Isaiah 55:6-7

Today Jesus may be found in the Church – the gathering of God’s people in Jesus’ name. Jesus has promised wherever two or three are gathered in his name, he is in their midst (Matthew 18:19). He is to be found in his word, the Old and New Testament inspired, infallible, inerrant writings of the prophets, apostles, and evangelists. He is to be found at the Table of the Lord. He is to be found in the life-giving waters of baptism. For there is forgiveness, redemption, hope and life.

I’ve been binge-watching Suits, the TV series about high powered New York lawyers. And I’ve noticed that most all of them are unforgiving, judgmental, self-protecting, vindictive, power-hungry characters. We may find some relief in seeking such people in the midst of legal battles. But what a breath of fresh air it is when one becomes gracious, compassionate, and even forgiving!

Perhaps that’s why God’s people are urged to clothe themselves in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12). We’re not high-powered New York attorneys. We are children of the almighty God. Jesus’ swaddling cloths and manger ought to inspire us to that same kind of humility, mercy, love, and grace that we find in God in a manger.