When people are expecting a child, they often plan for the baby to be born in a birthing suite at a hospital. These maternity wards are clean and sterile where every care is taken for the safe delivery of the child. Experienced medical professionals are present in case there is an emergency of some kind, pain relief is available to help the mother through the trauma of childbirth, and everything is done to help the infant enter the world in an environment that is as clean, safe and comfortable as possible.
However, the arrival of a baby doesn’t always go to plan. If the child will be born naturally, there is no way of knowing exactly where or when the mother will go into labour and the child will be delivered. This has led to some babies being born in extraordinary places and circumstances. A quick search online reveals that babies have been born in places such as the back seat of cars, shopping centre bathrooms, on commercial airline flights, and one story I read even reported a woman giving birth while she was in a tree trying to escape from floodwaters. While we might like the birth of a child to be in a safe, clean, controlled environment, sometimes babies can enter the world in unexpected and messy places.
No one in the Bible expected that the Messiah for whom they had been waiting for centuries would be born in a shed for farm animals. There is a lot of discussion around the exact circumstances of Jesus’ birth. The most common way nativity scenes are represented is in a shed surrounded by animals. Other people suggest that the animals lived inside the house where Mary and Joseph were staying and the baby Jesus was placed in a manger, or animal feeding trough, because it was the only soft place in the house for him to sleep. Whatever the exact situation was, Jesus didn’t enter the world in a sterile birthing suite surrounded by medical professionals. The Son of God entered the world and human existence in circumstances which were messy in a few different ways.
Firstly, Jesus’ birth was politically messy. His parents were forced to leave their home and travel to Bethlehem because of an order from the Roman Emperor who was ruling Judea at that time in history. This imperial edict made a pregnant woman and her husband leave their home and travel about one hundred and fifty kilometres (roughly from Greenock to Victor Harbor or Barmera), about a four day journey, with no accommodation booked at the end. Jesus’ birth was relationally messy because Mary and Joseph weren’t married when they found out that she was pregnant. That was very shameful for both Mary and Joseph in that culture and could have resulted in some kind of public punishment for Mary. Thirdly, Jesus’ birth was physically messy because they were surrounded by farm animals, with everything that goes along with that. Can you imagine giving birth in a cow shed? However we look at it, and no matter how our culture tries to sanitize our nativity scenes, Jesus’ birth was messy.
There is a deep and profound significance to God’s Son entering the world in this way. It tells us that God understands and embraces the messiness of life in this world. Jesus could have been born in a palace or fortress. In fact, that was where the Magi from the East initially looked for him. Instead, God’s Son was born in a messy cow shed to tell us that God understands the messiness of our lives. We don’t have to be embarrassed or ashamed or pretend everything is fine when life gets messy. We don’t have to keep the messiness of our lives hidden behind a façade of respectability or try to give the impression that everything’s OK. In Jesus’ birth, God sanctifies the messiness of our lives. That’s a fancy theological way of saying that God enters into it and makes it holy. God didn’t send the angels to do a quick clean-up of the stable before Jesus was born any more than he expects us to clean up our lives before he comes to us and makes his home with us. Jesus enters the world in a messy way to tell us that God makes our messy lives holy by his presence in them.
Another reason why God entering the world in the messiness of a shed for animals is significant for us is that when the shepherds went looking for the Son of God, they found him in the messiness of a manger scene. That tells us that we can find God in the messiness of our lives, whatever that might look like. The mystery and miracle of Jesus’ birth is that God comes to us and makes himself known to us in the messiness of life. We don’t find God often when life is clean, predictable and under control. We find God when life is politically, relationally or even physically messy. When world leaders are doing things we disagree with or our own government seems questionable, that’s when we can find God who is born in the mess. When our relationships are strained or uncertain, or when we are facing judgment or shame, that’s when we can find God who is born in the mess. When we are heading into an uncertain future, isolated from others, or surrounded by animals with their wee and poo (I’ll let you work out what I mean by that), that’s when we can find God who is born in the mess. God doesn’t enter our lives through the clean, safe, predictable or carefully managed things in our lives. In the birth of Jesus, God enters our lives in the mess and through the mess. That’s where we find a God of grace, humility, compassion and self-sacrificing love in Jesus.
When we find God in the messiness of life, we can also find joy. This joy is different from feeling happy or having fun. It is a deep and lasting joy which is born from the faith that in Jesus’ birth, God meets us and is with us in the messiness of life. When life gets messy, we can start to wonder where God is and how God could let those things happen to us. When we meet God in the messiness of Jesus’ birth, we can learn to trust that God embraces the messiness of our lives, sanctifies them (remember that means ‘makes holy’), and teaches us to trust him through them. No matter how messy life might be, we can find joy that God is with us, God is for us, and somehow, in his infinite creative power, God will work through the messiness of life for his glory and for our good. God saved the world through a baby born in a messy stable. A big part of the joy of Christmas is finding God in the messiness of our lives, as he invites us to participate with him in his plan to save a messy world through Jesus.
If this Christmas is looking a bit messy for you, either politically, relationally or physically, don’t feel ashamed of it or judged by it. Embrace the messiness of life this Christmas. Jesus was born into a world that was politically, relationally and physically messy. When we accept and embrace the messiness of our own lives, we might find God in that messiness. And as we find God in the messiness of our lives, we can find a deep and lasting joy as well.
More to think about or discuss:
- How is Christmas looking for you – under control or a bit messy? What are some other ways that our lives can get messy, especially at this time of year?
- What is your reaction to the idea that God meets us in the messiness of life through the birth of Jesus? How can the messiness of life help us to learn to follow Jesus in faith, hope & love?
- How might finding God who is with us & for us in the messiness of Jesus’ birth help you to find a deep & lasting joy in your life?
Pastor Eugene Online 
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