It seems a truism to say that we live in the world: that the world is outside of us. In reality the world is very much inside of us too. In fact the world passes through us as much as we pass through it.
We breathe in its air, using up the oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide. We ingest its food and water, deriving energy from their nutrients and expelling the waste. Of course eating and drinking are the most obvious way in which the world becomes part of us and we become part of the world. But we also absorb vitamins from sunlight. The phases of the moon and the seasons of the year affect our bodies. Light enters our eyes and the world we see is transformed into mental images to which we respond, touching things and people, and uttering sounds, the vibrations of which impinge on the eardrums of others and are likewise transformed into something to which they react or choose to ignore.
Unobserved and unfelt by us billions of sub-nuclear particles from the deeps of space are passing through our bodies day in, day out. Objects that we think of as solid are made up of untold numbers of atoms, all of whose electrons are whizzing around their nuclei and which are all, though bound together by one force, also kept apart by other forces at distances too small for us to perceive. Apparently solid objects are actually made up, as it were, of sub-microscopic planetary systems, constantly rotating at such speed that the whole appears solid – and yet they are not solid, they are permeable. Even our skin is said to have pores because we are porous. Everything in the world is not only filled with life and incessant movement, it is permeable – and the world lives in us as much as we live in it[1].
And it is all like this because this is how its Creator, God, is. The universe that He has made has His likeness indelibly ingrained into it – all things, from the infinitesimally small to the immeasurable vastness of space and things in dimensions unknown to man. All things exist in Him, by Him, through Him. And they all exist in a universe. Every different thing plays its part in a cosmic concert. Everything reflects the glory of God.
For God the Father dwells in God the Son and vice versa, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father to the Son and back again. This mutual indwelling, to the joy and blessing of each and all, is how God, the Triune God, has His being. And He made creation not only to reflect that, so that His creatures would each have their being in other creatures, but also that the pinnacle and representative of all creation – man himself – should participate in His own divine fellowship: he dwelling in God, and God in him.
Through his disobedience in the garden, however, Adam was not only expelled from the garden. He was expelled from fellowship with God. And that could have been the end of the human race, were it not for the loving-kindness of our Creator. Adam, and all who descended from him, were corrupted by that sin; but right there in the garden God promised a seed, not of Adam, but of the woman: a Seed Who would come to crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15) but Whose heel would be bruised as He did so.
And, on the basis of that promise, two things could happen.
First, man could continue to exist. God would not expel man altogether. This is why the apostle Paul, in his famous sermon delivered in the Areopagus at Athens, could say that: “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Were it not for the fact that God still allowed us to indwell Him to some degree we could not even exist.
Secondly, and wonderfully, men were allowed at least to draw near to God. On the basis of the shed blood of a clean animal – which pointed to the blood-shedding of the promised Seed untainted with the sin of Adam – man could once again enjoy fellowship with his Creator, albeit limited by the constraints of sacrifice. In fact, God even provided that, once sin had been dealt with by a sin offering/nearbringing, and the offerer had, through an animal proxy, ascended into heaven by an ascension (burnt) offering, then a man and his family could even share a meal with God in what was known as the Peace Offering/Nearbringing.
A joint meal you see is one of the things that most clearly expresses our sharing in one another. Ingredients that have been gathered together are cooked into one meal and we gather together to eat it; so that what you are consuming, I am also consuming – it becomes a part of each of us and we become part of it – and by it we become part of each other[2].
God’s purpose in creation was for us to live in Him, and He in us. In a very real sense then He both wants to eat us, to consume us – and for us to eat, to consume Him. It is not for nothing that the act of marriage in which each spouse becomes one with the other is spoken of as a consummation.
In the third chapter of the book of Revelation Jesus says some remarkable things to the church at Laodicea
14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!
16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew [εμεσαι] you out of my mouth.
[Why were they in Jesus’ mouth in the first place? – they were in His mouth because He was tasting and eating them, but they tasted vile…]
17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
[Jesus wants to come in to us, to live in us and not only to share a meal with us but for each of us to be that meal – for the eaters to be the eaten. (Out of the eater came forth food – Judges 14:14).]
21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'”
Well, you might be thinking, what has all this to do with Christmas? Actually it has everything to do with it. It is what Christmas is all about. What is a manger? Well, it’s related to the French verb: manger which means “to eat.” It was preserved in our verb “manducate” and has been superseded by “masticate” meaning to chew.
A manger is something from which an animal feeds – a feeding trough for example. In the context of Jesus’ birth it was probably a hay rack on the wall of a donkey stable. Why not sheep or oxen? Well, the sheep were all out in the fields. And it’s unlikely an innkeeper would keep cattle. But an innkeeper would have to provide a stable to house the donkeys of his travelling guests. (Horses weren’t much used by ordinary people in Israel. Horses were kept by kings for hunting and warfare).
Donkeys were not sacrificial animals. Their blood was not acceptable to be displayed before God because they were in the class of unclean beasts. They symbolised sinful men. That’s why when God claimed all the firstborn males to commemorate the Passover He said not to sacrifice firstborn donkeys to Him. Instead they were to be redeemed with a lamb – and the same applied to people. Exodus 13:13 says, Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. So the manger in the stable in Bethlehem provided food for beasts in need of redemption by a lamb.
Now consider again Luke 2:
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
Three times we are told that as soon as the Son of God entered the world He was laid in a manger. Do you think God was trying to tell us something? The message is that when God sent Jesus into the world He presented Him to us as our necessary food. This is food for people in need of redemption: the only food by which we shall live and have fellowship with Him. Just like Israel of old, however, people today do not even consider what the manger at Christmas is all about. Speaking through the prophet Isaiah (chapter 1:3) God said: “Even the ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”
Very many people do not understand where true food and true life come from. When He grew up this is exactly what Jesus told us (John 6:48-58):
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
This is the message of Christmas to the world. Many people think they can be good Christians without going to Church but Jesus says: “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Jesus still offers men His body and blood – and the only place He does so is in the Church.
This sermon was delivered by Rev. Arthur Kay to attendees and members of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Affetside.
[1] See Peter Leithart’s Traces of the Trinity for much more on this theme.
[2] By consuming one loaf in the Lord’s Supper it not only becomes part of us, we become part of it – and so we are one bread (1 Corinthians 10:17). And so it is not only the Lord Whom we eat. We consume each other too.