This morning we sat in a cave where sheep had spent the night before. It was dark, dank and smelly. Sitting here in this cave, we heard, as if for the first time, the birth story of Jesus. Yes, we had heard this story before but the picture was so very different. The previous setting was in a stable, a barn like structure made of wood with a manger stuffed with hay where baby Jesus lay. This setting changed everything. The Lord of Lords and King of Kings was born in a cave something like this.
Philippians 2 says,
… have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man he humbled Himself…”
Jesus was born in a cave. It wasn’t clean, it wasn’t romantic. It was as earthy as it could be. Jesus the son of God became man… for me, for you, and for the world.