The Story

There is a happy spirit at Christmas time. We feel it in church as we hear the Christmas story and sing our Christmas songs. We feel it at home as we get ready the presents we are to give, and as we see and smell the Christmas tree. We feel it as we walk in the street and see the many people hurrying home with bundles, or look in at the lighted windows and see companies of happy children. The Christmas spirit takes us back to the first Christmas long ago in Bethlehem, when the baby Lord was born and His mother wrapped Him in soft baby clothes and laid Him in a manger, one of the little boxes where the animals have their food. It seems to be the happiness of that Christmas that we still feel.

We must go to Bethlehem to be with those who first learn of the Lord's coming and who are first to welcome Him. Why are these crowds in the streets of the town, so that travelers coming from a distance can find no room, not even in the inn where travelers usually stay? Some coming from Galilee must find a resting place where sheep and cattle are sheltered, in a sort of cave in the hillside. Here the Holy Child was born. We can still go to the place, and around a silver star in the floor of the cave we read, in Latin words, "Here of the Virgin Mary Jesus Christ was born." Who were the first visitors who came to greet the baby Lord? How did they know when they had found Him that it was the Lord? Who had told them that the Lord was born and that all the world ought to be glad?

There were shepherds in the field near Bethlehem. The shepherds in that country live with their sheep in the fields, leading them about to the good pastures and to the watering places, and at night gathering them in some sheltered place and watching to protect them from wild animals or other harm. To the east from Bethlehem there were open pasture hills, and shepherds who had been leading their sheep about by day had now found shelter and were keeping watch over their flocks by night. You can imagine yourself with them there, the hills are dark, the bright stars overhead, the sheep nestling close together. Then an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. He told them that the Lord was born, a little child in Bethlehem. "This shall be a sign unto you," he said; "ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." Then many angels sang, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Then the angels were gone, and the brightness, and it was dark again on the hills; but the happy spirit was with the shepherds still.

"Let us go to Bethlehem," they said; and they started together to go to see the baby Lord. They went quickly across the hills and came to the little town. They found the place, and the Holy Child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. They remembered the sign, and they knew that it was the Lord. They told to everyone what they had heard from heaven. All that heard it wondered, and Mary kept the sayings in her heart. The holy Christmas spirit was there as the shepherds stood about the manger and saw the baby Lord. The same happy spirit which was with the angels, and with the shepherds in the field, and about the little child in Bethlehem is with us still at Christmas time.

All who can, say with me the verses beginning, "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field." (Luke 2:8-20)

We read and recite again today the story of the Lord's birth in Bethlehem. First let us read it slowly and talk about it as we go, and then we will read the whole together without interruption.

Caesar Augustus - the great Emperor at Rome, who had so much of the world under his rule. The taxing was an enrolling as a basis for taxation and military service in all countries under Roman rule. The Jews according to their ancient custom were enrolled by families and tribes, each in his old family town. It was this that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem from Nazareth where they had been living, for they were of the family of David, and Bethlehem was David's town. This also perhaps explains why there was no room for them in the inn, for so many others had come on the same errand, and the place where travelers rested was full. The Lord was born, a Holy Child, and Mary wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger.

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field," in the pasture country near to Bethlehem, which lay to the eastward of the little town. Tell me what you can about the shepherds in that land and their life with the sheep. You learn some things from the story of David who kept the sheep on these same hills of Bethlehem. You remember how he had his shepherd's staff and bag and his sling; how he once saved the sheep from a lion and a bear (1 Samuel 17:34, 35, 40) ; and how at night he watched the stars, and said in a Psalm, "When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:3) You learn more about the shepherds from John 10, where the Lord tells about the good and bad shepherds, how each sheep has its name, and they know the shepherd's voice; how the shepherd goes before them and the sheep follow; how he protects them from wolves, and the good shepherd ever giveth his life for the sheep. So you think of the shepherds in the field near Bethlehem, keeping watch over their flock by night, when the angel came with brightness and told them good tidings of great joy. What were the tidings? What was the sign? What were the words of the multitude of the heavenly host?

Then you go with the shepherds as they hasten to Bethlehem. Today in Bethlehem you go into a cave beneath a little church, and there in the pavement of the floor you see a star and the words in Latin, "Here of the Virgin Mary Jesus Christ was born." None of these things were there then, just a rude place, perhaps a cave in the hillside, for such caves were often used for shelter for animals, and even for dwellings. It was a very holy place where the Child was lying in His rude bed, the shepherds telling the tidings of joy which they had heard from the angels, the mother Mary laying up the sayings in her heart.

Does it seem to you sad that when the Lord came into the world there were so few who knew it and so few to welcome Him? Does even the crowded inn suggest how full the minds of people were of worldly and evil things, with small place for the Lord? As the Lord once said, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man bath not where to lay His head." But the angels rejoiced, and they found some simple people to share their joy. Why were they so glad? Who did they say He was Who had been born?

1. Where was Mary's home when the angel foretold to her the birth of the Lord? Why were Mary and Joseph afterwards in Bethlehem?

2. Where was the Lord laid on the first Christmas night? Why?

3. Tell me some of the prophecies of the Lord's coming, which had given the angels hope. With whom did the angels share their joy when the Lord. was born?

4. Who came to see the Lord that night? By what sign did they know Him?

5. What words did the shepherds hear from the multitude of the heavenly host?

How much more truly the angels knew the meaning of the Lord's coming than anyone on earth! Who did they say He was? What did they say would be the effect of His coming, in heaven and on earth? Who did they say would share the joy of His coming? But what did the world know about His coming? And how little did it care! What is represented by the fact that Caesar was enrolling all the world? What by the fact there was no room in the inn? (Luke 9:58) What by the coming in the night? (Luke 2:8; Isaiah 60:2) But what brighter thought is suggested by the shepherds keeping watch at night?

The shepherds keeping watch by night represent also all who in that dark time were cherishing affections of innocence and charity which kept them near to heaven and ready for the coming of the Lord. We thought of the shepherds and of others who were waiting for the Lord when we read in Malachi of those that feared the Lord speaking often one to another. The meaning is not limited to one time and place. Always the cherishing of affections of innocence and charity keeps us near to heaven and open to the coming of the Lord. As compared with the wise men, the shepherds represent those who are drawn to the Lord more by innocent affection, and the wise men those who are led more by the light of truth.

You will know that the place of the Lord's birth is representative of the state in which He was born. Bethlehem of Judea. Judah or Judea was always representative of states of holy love, and Bethlehem, the town of Benjamin's birth and David's home, represents a state of holy perception belonging to this love. "That the Lord was born there, and not elsewhere, was because He alone was born a spiritual celestial man, but all others natural with the faculty, or ability, that by regeneration from the Lord they may be made either celestial or spiritual." (A. 4549) We cannot fully understand what is meant by a spiritual celestial man. In speaking of Benjamin, Swedenborg says, that the quality which he represented, the spiritual of the celestial, cannot be described to the apprehension, but that in heaven the quality appears as in clear day. (A. 5411) We can, at least notice the meaning of the name Bethlehem, "house of bread," and see that it was a fitting birthplace for the Lord, who was the living bread which came down from heaven, that men might eat and not die.

There is beautiful meaning in all particulars of the story. Let someone find and read the passage in E. 706, which begins with the words, "If it had pleased the Lord, He might have been born in a most splendid palace," which goes on to show that such a birth would not have been truly representative of the spirit of His coming. Notice in particular the swaddling clothes and the manger which the angels gave to the shepherds as a sign, and which evidently to them were full of deep significance. In general they bore witness to the gentleness of the Lord's coming, His Divine accommodation to the humble states of men. There was nothing terrible, nothing unapproachable, nothing to keep from Him the sick, the sinful, or the children. The swaddling clothes in particular represent the accommodation of His truth, the manger the accommodation of His love. All through the Gospel story the Lord's garments are emblems of the words in which He gave expression to His love. The swaddling clothes of the little Child represent the simplest expressions, such as He Himself could give as a child, and such as children and those of simple and childlike hearts can understand. He spoke in human language; He clothed His truth in parables. The manger was the place where gentle animals found their food, and these animals represent gentle, useful affections of human hearts. The Lord was laid in the manger, because He came to feed and strengthen every innocent gentle affection. More strictly, the manger shows the mercy in which the Lord brought the Divine goodness, the food of life, within reach of all simple good affections, and the swaddling clothes show the mercy in which He brought the Divine truth to the understanding of the children and of all childlike minds. We may believe that these signs of Divine humility were to the angels a revelation of mercy. They saw in them assurance of the accomplishment of the Divine saving work. (E. 706)

The reverent attitude which the church should keep and which every mind should keep toward the Lord, toward His Divine birth and His Divine mission, hoping always for fuller understanding of them, is suggested by Mary's keeping the words of the shepherds and pondering them in her heart. See also Luke 2:51.

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