The crib in which Jesus was laid has colored our image of Christmas. We usually associate the crib with the animals in the story of Christmas or with Jesus’ perceived poverty. Most Christians have nativity sets which include Christ child in a manger (crib), Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, various barn animals, and sometimes “three” wise men. Despite the enthusiasm, many have not understood the deeper meaning of the manger.
A Christmas nativity is probably one of the most recognizable symbols of the Christmas season. The earliest use of a crib in worship dates to 4th century C.E. Rome. This idea caught on and soon a new Christmas tradition was born. Till last Christmas in 2019, it is almost impossible for one to go through Christmas season without seeing a nativity scene in front of a church, in a Christmas play, shopping mall, or decorating someone’s house or yard.
Many churches have adopted the custom of saying mass over a crib at Christmas time, then the question comes, “What now?” In this pandemic, almost everyone is under lockdown, and churches are open with very limited attendees. With these places where the Crib was used as a decor, shut, where do we turn to?
Jesus with all humility was conceived in a manger, but that humility has been erased since antiquity, and this image of Jesus in a crib was used as a decoration where people compete on its design and who or which church sanctioned more budget.
The crib shows the socio-political and religious life of the people, a life where Jesus has no place to lay his head (Matt. 8:20). Jesus being born in a crib is a message of how not to give up in despair and hopelessness in moments of trials that plague the world today. Apart from the spiritual life of the people, the manger itself might have been literally dirty for anyone to reside. Jesus himself, set apart, poor, lowly, and vulnerable like the shepherds (the outcasts) a welcoming place.
As written in Luke 2:12, “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” A Manger is not a barn, nor a shed. A manger is a crib, not for a baby but in today’s farming language what one would call a horse trough or a feeding trough. Now when food is placed in the livestock’s feeding trough, the flock comes to it and feeds from it. So, way prior to Jesus breaking bread and saying “this is my body, take and eat” there was already a specific sign. In 1 Corinthians 11:24, we read, “and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’“ We are to eat from the crib, to receive from it, not just to admire it or place it in a corner somewhere.
The crib brings us the message of hope and God’s love for humanity: a race lost in materialism and a race for greatness. Symbols have long been worshipped with the intention and meaning of that symbol being ignored. And with regards to the returning of Jesus’ ‘crib fragment’ to Bethlehem by the Vatican, it was headlined in the news as, “a piece of wood worshipped as part of the manger in which Jesus was born has been returned to the Holy Land.”
Rather than venerating the crib (or pieces of it) or re-living the nativity every Christmas for over two thousand years, Jesus still finds no place to lay his head. He only fits into our ritualistic celebrations and not in our hearts. This year forward may we be a little different. May we remember Jesus, and not just the signs and symbols that represent Christ.
Author: Jonathan Lallawmsanga,
About the Author: Jonathan completed his Bachelor of Theology, Allahabad Bible Seminary and Bachelor of Divinity, Serampore College. He later earned his Master of Theology in the Department of Religion from the Aizawl Theological College, Aizawl. He formerly served as the Asst. Professor at the Master’s College of Theology, Visakhapatnam. He currently serves as the Chaplain for the Mumbai Mizo Christian Fellowship (MMCF) since November.
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