One of the most famous verses in all the Bible is John 3:16, which says, “God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
I love the phrase “so loved.”
The little word “so” takes love to the next level. He did not just “love the world,” but God so loved the world! This demonstrates the length that God would go to bring us back into a relationship with Him.
Christmas’s message begins to unveil God’s heart of love and the cost He was willing to pay to redeem mankind back to Himself. This story starts with the birth of a baby. But the storyline reads in some ways like a tragedy.
A young teenage girl from an extremely poor middle eastern family finds herself pregnant. Her fiancé does not believe the tale she tells him of how she found herself this way. Her claim? The pregnancy was the result of a miracle from God.
Yeah, right! The man does not believe the story. He plans to cut ties with his pregnant girlfriend quietly.
God, however, intervenes with this struggling young man through an angel’s visit. The angel’s exact message was, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
What? Is this really true? When Joseph heard the message, he took a great step of faith and married his fiancé, a pregnant woman. This was a costly step of faith for him. This pregnancy hung like a dark cloud over their lives and in the eyes of most in their small village.
As the months go on, the baby grows in Mary’s womb.
Somewhere in the third trimester of the pregnancy, the government of that day calls for a census. This requires the head of each household to travel to the hometown of their family lineage. Joseph’s birth home was far away.
This required a lengthy journal over several days to a village in the south of Israel called Bethlehem.
The couple makes the arduous journey, and when they arrive, they can find nowhere to stay. Things seemed to be going from bad to worse. This is how God came to us.
Just about the time of them being shut out from a cozy bed and warm quarters, the young woman turns to her husband and says, “It’s time. The baby is coming.”
But where will they go? Time was of the essence. They scramble and find a barn, a place where farm animals are kept.
Barns are notoriously unsanitary, especially as a maternity ward. The pictures painted on many of our Christmas cards reflect an idyllic scene.
The carols we sing tell of sweet pleasantries with words like “the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay” Here was the sweet infant asleep on a pile of nice clean straw.
I don’t believe this is how it happened.
The place Jesus was born had most likely the stench of both animal urine and manure. It was rough and brutal, especially for a pregnant woman. And this is how God is going to begin His plan of salvation for mankind? This makes no sense.
He did “so love” the world. He was willing to go to the lowest place for each of us.
He lowered Himself to this place, so He could raise us up and bring us back to Himself.
The pastor and author, Max Lucado, once noted being born in a barn is a message from God’s heart to mankind.
God is saying, “There is no place Jesus will not go. If He is willing to be born in a barnyard, then expect Him to be at work anywhere— bars, bedrooms, boardrooms, and brothels. No place is too common. No person is too hardened. No distance is too far. There is no person he cannot reach. There is no limit to his love.”
This is good news for every single one of us, regardless of who we are.
Grace Noel Crowell says, “I am so glad He was not born in some rich palace bed. I am so glad to know it was a lowly place, instead — a place where soft-eyed cows and sheep were sheltered and were fed. For the country-born of earth, a stable will ever be a wholesome place, where night comes down with its tranquility, a place of heart’s ease and content for all who choose to see. And so, I like to think of Him first opening His eyes in that good elemental place beneath the friendly skies. That the men of fields could find Him there, as well as the great and wise.”
A magnificent king living in a palace would be unapproachable to most, but a little baby born in a barn is approachable to everyone.
But He comes to those who are willing to come to humble themselves and come to Him on His terms.
God so loved you and me.
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him, but to those who do receive Him, He gives them the right to be called children of God.
Joy to the World, the Lord has come [in a barn!]. Let every heart prepare Him room!
Merry Christmas.
