In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that the whole world should be enrolled.
This was the first enrollment, 
when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.

 And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth 

to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, 
because he was of the house and family of David, 
to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

 While they were there,

the time came for her to have her child, 
and she gave birth to her firstborn son.
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, 
because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields 
and keeping the night watch over their flock.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them 
and the glory of the Lord shone around them, 
and they were struck with great fear.

 The angel said to them,

“Do not be afraid;
for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy 
that will be for all the people.
For today in the city of David 
a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.

 And this will be a sign for you: 

you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes 
and lying in a manger.”

 And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel,

praising God and saying:
    “Glory to God in the highest
        and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:1-14

Excerpt from Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI, The Infancy Naratives, Chapter 19 The Birth of Jesus.

“And while they were there in Bethlehem, the time came for her to be delivered, and she gave birth to her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a Manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:6 and following.

Let us begin our exegesis [Scripture analysis] with the concluding words of this passage. “There was no room for them in the inn.” Prayerful reflection over these words has highlighted an inner parallel between this saying and the profoundly moving verse from St. John’s prologue. “He came to his own home and his own people received him, not,” 1:11, “for the Savior of the world, for him in whom all things were created” (Cross reference Colossians 1:16.) “there was no room. Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Matthew 8:20. He who was crucified outside the city cross referenced Hebrews 1312. Also came into the world outside the city.

This should cause us to reflect. It points toward the reversal of values found in the figure of Jesus Christ and His message. From the moment of his birth, he belongs outside the realm of what is important and powerful in worldly terms. Yet it is this unimportant and powerless child that proves to be the truly powerful one, the one on whom ultimately everything depends. So one aspect of becoming a Christian is having to leave behind what everyone else thinks and wants, the prevailing standards, in order to enter the light of the truth of our being and aided by that light to find the right path.

“Mary laid her newborn child in a Manger.” (Cross reference. Luke 2:7.) From this detail it has been correctly deduced that Jesus was born in a stable, in an inhospitable, one might even say unworthy space, which nevertheless provided the necessary privacy for the sacred event. In the area around Bethlehem, rocky caves have been used as stable since ancient times. (Cross Reference. Stellmacher, The Gabbert Desk, Emmanuel, page 51.) As early as Justin Martyr, died 165, and Origen, died around 254, we find the tradition that Jesus was born in a cave which Christians in Palestine could point to. The fact that after the expulsion of the Jews from the Holy Land in the 2nd century, Rome turned the Cave  into a shrine of Thomas Adonis, thereby evidently intending to suppress the Christian memorial cult, confirms the age of the shrine and also shows how important it was thought to be by the Romans. Local traditions are frequently a more reliable source than written records, so a considerable measure of credibility may be assigned to the tradition that Bethlehem was Jesus’s birthplace, a tradition to which the Church of the Nativity also bears witness.

Mary wrapped the child in swaddling clothes. Without yielding to sentimentality. We may imagine with what great love Mary approached her hour and prepared for the birth of her child. Iconographic tradition as theologically interpreted the Manger and the swaddling clothes in terms of the theology of the Fathers. The child, stiffly wrapped in bandages, is seen as prefiguring the hour of his death. From the outset he is the sacrificial victim, as we shall see more closely when we examine the reference to the first born. The Manger, then, was seen as a kind of altar. Augustine threw out the meaning of the Manger using an idea that at first seems almost shocking, but on closer examination contains a profound truth. The Manger is the place where animals find their food. But now lying in the Manger is he who called himself the true bread come down from heaven, the true nourishment that we need in order to be fully ourselves. This is the food that gives us true life, eternal life. Thus the Manger becomes a reference to the table of God to which we are invited so as to receive the bread of God. From the poverty of Jesus’s birth emerges the miracle in which man’s redemption is mysteriously accomplished.

The Animals

The Manger, as we have seen, indicates animals who come to it for their food. In the Gospel, there is no reference to animals at this point, but prayerful reflection, reading Old and New Testaments in the light of one another, filled this lacuna at a very early stage by pointing to Isaiah 1:3. “The ox knows its owner and the asks its masters crib. But Israel does not know my people does not understand.” Peter Stomacher points out that the Greek version of Habakkuk 3:2 may well have contributed here. In the midst of two living creatures, you will be recognized. When the time has come, you will appear.” Cross reference the Gabbert Does Immanuel, age 52. The two living creatures would appear to refer to the two cherubs on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant cross reference Exodus 25:18-20, who both reveal and conceal the mysterious presence of God. So the Manger has in some sense become the Ark of the Covenant. In which God is mysteriously hidden among men, and before which the time has come for ox and ass, humanity made-up of Jews and Gentiles, to acknowledge God.

Through this remarkable combination of Isaiah 1:3, Habakkuk 3:2, Exodus 25:18-20, and the Manger, the two animals now appear as an image of a hitherto blind humanity, which now before the child before. Times humble self manifestation in the stable has learned to recognize Him, and in the lowliness of His birth receives the revelation that now teaches all people to see. Christian iconography adopted this motif at an early stage. No representation of the crib is complete without the ox and the ass.

After this brief digression, let us return to the text of the Gospel.

Mary gave birth to her first born son, we read in Luke 2:7. What does this mean? The first born is not necessarily the first in a series. The word first born points not to a continuing number, but rather indicates a theological quality which finds expression in the oldest of Israel’s collections of laws. The instructions for the Passover contain the following passages. “The Lord said to Moses, Consecrate to me all the first born, whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.” Exodus 13:1 and following. Every first born of man among your sons you shall redeem. Exodus 13:13. So the reference to the first born is also an anticipation of the account soon to follow of Jesus’s presentation in the temple. Clearly, this word highlights the particular way in which Jesus belongs to God. Pauline theology took the idea of Jesus as first born two steps further. In the letter to the Romans, Paul calls Jesus the first born among many brethren. 8:29 Having risen, he is now first born in a new way, and at the same time he is the beginning of a host of brethren. In the new birth of the resurrection, Jesus is no longer merely the first in dignity. He now ushers in a new humanity. Once he has broken through the iron door of death, there are many more who can pass through with him, many who in baptism have died with him and risen with him. In the letter to the Colossians the idea is developed further. Christ is called First born of all creation 1:15 and 1st born from the dead 1:18. In him all things were created 1:16. That in everything he might be preeminent. 1:18. The concept of First Born takes on a cosmic dimension. Christ, the Incarnate Son, is, so to speak, God’s first thought preceding all creation which is ordered toward Him and proceeds from Him. He is both the beginning and the goal of the new creation that was initiated with the resurrection.

Luke does not speak in these terms. Yet for us reading his gospel with the benefit of hindsight, this cosmic glory is already present in the lowly Manger in the Cave at Bethlehem. Here, he who is truly the first born of all that is came to dwell in our midst.

Shepherds.

“And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night, and an Angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.” Luke 2:8 and following. The first witnesses of the great event are watchful shepherds. There has been much reflection on the significance of the fact that shepherds were the first to receive the message. It seems to me that we should not read too much into this. Jesus was born outside the city, in an area surrounded by grazing grounds where shepherds would pasture their flocks. So it was natural that as the people physically closest to the event, they would be the first to be summoned to the Manger. Of course, one could immediately develop this idea further. Perhaps they were living not only outwardly but also inwardly, closer to the event than the peacefully sleeping townsfolk. Inwardly, too, they were not far from the God who had become a child. What is more, they were among the poor, the simple souls whom Jesus would bless, because to them above all is granted access to the mystery of God. (Cross Reference, Luke 10:21 and following.) They represent the poor of Israel, the poor in general, God’s first love.