Tuesday, December 25, 2007

In those days Ceasar Agustus...

This year I have been thinking about Mary and what it must have been like to travel to Bethlehem and deliver Jesus in a stable. I have taken care of many ladies who are "with child" over the past few years. As I have heard their aches and pains and traveled through the 9 months with them, it has changed the way I read the story of Christ's birth.

At about 8 months, give or take a few weeks, most ladies hit the "tired of being pregnant stage". They are willing to do about anything to have the baby. I am not sure that includes riding a donkey. Mary must have been quite large and probably not comfortable in any position, much less traveling on a donkey.

The stable is not a place I would choose to deliver (granted, Mary didn't choose it either!). Besides the obvious reasons, there was no family, no doctor, no midwife- only a husband. Now, most of the husbands I have seen are about worthless for helping during a delivery. They are lucky if they can cut the umbilical cord without passing out! Did Joseph have any idea about what was happening? Also important to note is that there were no epidurals. NO epidurals?! That means Mary was in a LOT of pain and Joseph could do nothing. What did he do? How did he comfort his hurting wife?

Today we treat delivery as a sterile procedure (which, really it isn't). We use gowns and gloves. We have plastic drapes and when it is all over, the mess disappears in a second. I am sure Mary did her best to be clean, but it must have been a challenge. What did she do? Was the straw clean? I wonder how the smell affected her? How long was her labor?

And Jesus. He is the KING of the universe. He created the WORLD. And he came into this earth as a baby. Not a cute, clean, wrapped in swaddling clothes post card, but a naked, goo covered, wrinkly baby. Did he cry right away? Did he have a cone head? Who cut the cord?

I did a delivery last week and was reminded of the helplessness of the infant. God himself come to the world he created in the most dependant, fully human way that he could. He CHOSE to be born in a stable. He chose to be covered in goo, wrinkly and red...for me!

I read the Story different now. I see Mary's agony and feel Joseph's ache to help her. I hold my breath as Jesus is born, waiting for him to cry. And I am amazed. Again. That the love of God is so big that he would send his SON to earth to die. To die for MY sins that I might be considered clean and be in relationship with God. Thank you Jesus. Christmas is Good.

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