Many of you will be reading this on Christmas Eve, and in honor of the Christmas holiday I thought I would take a look at an old Christmas song that comes from an even older Christmas fable, entitled The Friendly Beasts. I remember the song quite well from my childhood, and it was always a favorite of mine. The song and the fable, besides being endearing, I believe also have a lesson to teach us.
The fable tells the story of how the animals that were in the manger the night that Jesus was born, were briefly given the ability to speak. Each animal there spoke of the gift that they had given Jesus, the Son of God and their Creator, that evening.
The first animal to speak is the donkey. The gift that he gave the Lord Jesus was to carry His mother, the Virgin Mary, many miles from her home in Nazareth to the town of Bethlehem. That journey, taken on foot by Joseph, and Mary on the donkey, would have taken several days, quite probably even over a week. Also, it would have been a difficult one for Mary, as she was nine months pregnant. Knowing how I felt shortly before the birth of both of my two now adult children, I can say it would not have been too comfortable a journey! The donkey, though, says he did his best to bring her safely to Bethlehem. That was his gift to the Lord Jesus.
The next animal to speak was the cow. She says that her gift to Jesus was her manger and hay. The Gospel account of Luke in Scripture says that Mary and Joseph laid the newborn child in a manger. The Greek word used is one that describes a feeding trough used by farmers for their cattle, one they would use to place the hay. Joseph would have cleared it out, placing nice, fresh, sweet-smelling hay in it, and laid the wrapped infant down to sleep. The cow gave up use of her feeding manger and the fresh hay that night for her Creator God.
The sheep was the next animal to speak. The gift he spoke of giving was from the wool, which would have been used to wrap and clothe the Baby Jesus. The sheep who would have been in the stable that night when Jesus was born most likely did not give the wool that would have been used to wrap Baby Jesus, as it is a process to shear sheep and then take the wool and make fabric to be used as swaddling clothes. However, this sheep spoke on behalf of all sheep which gave their wool to clothe Jesus, their Creator.
The last animal to speak was a dove from the rafters of the stable. The dove and her mate gave the gift of comforting coos to help the Baby Jesus relax and go to sleep. I occasionally hear mourning doves in my neighborhood, and their cooing can be a soothing sound. The calming coos were her gift to the Lord Jesus.
So what gifts can we give the Lord Jesus this Christmas? It is the day in which we celebrate His birth, and yet most people are more concerned with what they are getting, not with what they can give to Jesus. There is another Christmas song, The Little Drummer Boy, that also tells of a young boy who gave what he could, that of playing his little drum for the Baby Jesus. Can we help others carry their burdens, like the donkey did? How about doing what we can to help others have a place to rest, something to eat or wear, like the cow and sheep. Or maybe we can bring some comforting joy to others, like the dove did. Jesus told us that what we do for others, we do for Him (Matthew 25:40). What gift will you bring to Jesus this Christmas?
No comments:
Post a Comment