A Baby in a Manger and a Boy in the Temple
December 22, 2024 Speaker: Ben Janssen Series: Blessing Mary
Topic: Revelation Scripture: Luke 2:1–20, Luke 2:41–52
At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the story of which is recounted for us in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In Luke’s Gospel, the second chapter begins by telling us about a decree from Caesar Augustus that led to Joseph and Mary being in Bethlehem on the day that Jesus was born.
And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 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 (Lk 2:6-7).
Then we are told about some shepherds who were “out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” when an angel appeared to them and told them the “good news of great joy”: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Lk 2:11). The shepherds went to visit the baby Jesus. Luke then tells us about the dedication of Jesus in Jerusalem where two elderly saints, Simeon and Anna, have prophetic words to say about the child.
At the end of Luke 2, we are told about an event that happened in Jerusalem during Passover when Jesus was twelve years old. It seems he wants us to see this story as part of the Christmas story, the “birth narrative” we might call it. After chapter two, we fast-forward to Jesus beginning his ministry at about age thirty (Lk 3:23).
There’s an interesting statement made twice in chapter two about Mary which also ties the story of his birth to the story when he was twelve years old. Following the visit of the shepherds, verse 19 says, “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Following the episode in the temple, verse 51 says, “And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.”
I wonder, what was she thinking? As we approach this year’s Christmas holiday, just three days away now, I’m wondering, “What are you thinking?” Amid all the busyness and anticipation, the joy and the celebration, what do you make of it all?
Can we slow down for just a few moments on this fourth Sunday of Advent and ponder with Mary these two significant moments, one with a baby in a manger, the other with a boy in the temple? What can we see in these stories? What does Luke want us to see? Like gazing at an artistic masterpiece, perhaps there are many things to see. But I would suggest one possibility from these two episodes to be observed: Even as a child, Jesus began to reveal the one true God and his priority for the world.
The Sign of a Manger
Let’s begin with that well-known story of the visit of the shepherds. When they found Mary and Joseph, they also found “the baby lying in a manger.” The baby Jesus’s position “in a manger” is significant. The angel who appeared to the shepherds said this would be a “sign.” So, when the shepherds saw it—saw the sign of the manger—they began to speak—to “make known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.” And as Mary listened, she “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Let’s ponder this with her this morning.
What was “the saying” that the angel had told the shepherds about the child in a manger? We can go back and read it again there in verses 10-13. But I’m wondering, as I read those verses, what made Mary wonder? She had already been told in her own encounter with an angel who her child was, “a Savior,” “Christ the Lord.” What new information did she hear from the shepherds?
I’m wondering about that manger.
The baby lying there may have been to Mary just an historical accident, a feature of there being “no place for them in the inn.” By the way, as the ESV notes, the word “inn” is a reference to a guest room, not a hotel. There were two parts to the homes of that day, the “upper room” where the family lived and the ground floor where the livestock lived.[1] Mary lays her baby down in a manger, which is essentially a feeding trough for the animals, because it was the most suitable place that could be found to put a newborn child in an overcrowded home. It is just as likely that Mary preferred that space for more privacy than it is that they were there because of the lack of hospitality from the homeowner with whom they were staying.[2] I hope that doesn’t ruin the Christmas story for you!
So, I don’t think Mary thought too much about the fact that her newborn was lying in a manger. But the shepherds sure did! This was the “sign” they were looking for. But what did it signify? Signs in the Bible are not parlor tricks. They are not amazements, but more like advertisements. I mean, they mean something.
So, what does the baby in a manger mean? Apparently, this is one of the things Mary treasured up and pondered in her heart.
The manger certainly causes us to ponder the contrast between Caesar Augustus who ruled the world and this newborn king of lowly birth who had come to save the world. It no doubt signifies the path of humility that would mark the life of the greatest King the world will ever know. Many commentators speak of this meaning of the manger.[3]
But I wonder if there might be something more signified here, especially when we consider an Old Testament text which may draw out the meaning more clearly. In Isaiah, God complains that his own people do not know him or understand him, unlike the ox who “knows its owner” and the donkey who knows “its master’s manger” (Isa 1:3). I wonder if Mary treasured this sign of her baby lying in a manger because it indicated that here was God’s provision, his way for his people to finally know him truly and be fed by him completely.[4]
This is what we celebrate at Christmas, the realization that Mary may have been the first to have: that in her son, Jesus, the full revelation of who the one God truly is had taken on flesh and entered into our world.
Who is God? The answer to that question begins definitively right here with a baby in a manger.
The Business of the Father
Now we fast forward twelve years to that incident Luke reports at the end of chapter two involving the boy Jesus in the temple.
Having returned to Jerusalem to look for Jesus when he was not found among their relatives on the way back to Nazareth, his parents “found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions,” and amazing everyone with the answers he gave to their questions (Lk 2:46-47). Mary rebukes him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress” (v. 48). Any parent can resonate with Mary’s exasperation.
But here we find the first and earliest recorded words of Jesus of Nazareth. “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house” (v. 49).
What do these words mean? They were perplexing to Mary and Joseph, the next verse (v. 50) says, and Mary again pondered them and “treasured up all these things in her heart” (v. 51).
Let us ponder these first words of Jesus with her. What do they mean?
The Greek goes like this: “Didn’t you know that in the things of my father it is necessary for me to be?” The ESV like many other translations says, “in my Father’s house,” which is a suitable translation in context since the issue is the place where Jesus was found. Still, one’s house represents where one carries out authoritative business, and Jesus is making the case here that “he must align himself with God’s purpose, even if this appears to compromise his relationship with his parents.”[5] If they wondered where Jesus was, they should have thought to begin their search where it was most necessary for Jesus to be, given who they already know he is—right in the middle of the mission of God in the world.[6]
Surely, this is where we are supposed to be, too.
The boy in the temple does not signify that we are supposed to be always found in our modern-day church buildings. But it does mean that, now that we know who God is, we also know what God’s priority is. Jesus, even from birth, from childhood, makes both of these things known to us.
As Mary pondered these things, we are blessing Mary to this very day when we ponder these things with her. And then we must go and celebrate Christmas by making known to the world, in word and deed, the news of who the Savior of the world is, the one who feeds our souls, and who has made God known to us once for all.
It all begins when we ponder with Mary a baby in a manger and a boy in the temple.
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[1] Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, ed. Gordon D. Fee (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 129.
[2] Scot McKnight, The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus (Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2007), 35.
[3] See, for example, Martin Hengel, “φάτνη,” Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittle and Gerhard Friedrich, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1964), 9:54-55.
[4] Green, The Gospel of Luke, 135–36.
[5] Green, The Gospel of Luke, 157.
[6] Darrell L. Bock (Luke, vol. 1: 1:1–9:50, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, vol. 3A, ed. Moisés Silva [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1994], 269), notes that the verb δεῖ is a strategic word for Luke, used in reference to aspects of Jesus's mission.
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