The story around the birth of Jesus is an interesting one. He was peculiar right from conception.
Let me point out a few interesting details for you. There is no verse in the Bible that tells us how old Mary and Joseph were, but in the Jewish tradition, a woman got married in their teenage years (12–14 years). The Bible records that Mary was a virgin, and she was betrothed to Joseph. That means that she was going to get married to Joseph and Jesus was going to be her firstborn son. Mary may have been in her mid or late teenage years when she conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Luke 1:26-38 (NKJV) Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
Currently, the average age of first time mums is nearly 27 according to Center of Disease Control and Prevention. As you all know, there are a lot of campaigns against teenage pregnancies and early marriages now. This is because teenage pregnancies are associated with certain complications such as anaemia, high blood pressure, low birth weight babies, premature birth, post-partum depression etc. According to WHO, Adolescent mothers (ages 10–19 years) face higher risks of eclampsia, puerperal endometritis, and systemic infections than women aged 20 to 24 years, and babies of adolescent mothers face higher risks of low birth weight, preterm delivery and severe neonatal conditions.
Things might have been different during the time of Jesus, and teenage pregnancies and early marriages were probably a norm. This however didn’t exempt Mary from the risks associated with early pregnancy.
According to WHO, Adolescent mothers (ages 10–19 years) face higher risks of eclampsia, puerperal endometritis, and systemic infections
His delivery was even more unique.
Luke 2:4-7 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
We are also not given the details about the delivery of Jesus. We don’t know whether there was a midwife present or not. We also don’t know whether this manger where Mary placed her son was in an enclosed space or not. All we can infer from this scripture is that this was not an ideal environment for delivery. An ideal environment for delivery should be warm, quiet, private, dimly lit, and most importantly, sanitary. The kind of environment where Jesus was born exposes the mother and the child to complications, especially infections.
God is a master planner. Think about it; He had announced the birth of Jesus, His life, crucifixion, death and resurrection very many years before it happened. God had planned His whole life. But if this is the case, why did Mary not get a conducive room for delivery? Why was the Messiah born in a manger? I am sure that God was able to get the best midwives to deliver Jesus in an appropriate and prestigious environment. It seems as though God had forgotten to make arrangements for the delivery of His own Son. But isn’t interesting that even this was part of the master plan. Everything that happened to Jesus – the good and the bad – was part of the plan. God had not forgotten about Jesus’ delivery. He had planned it that way. The shepherds came to see him at that manger. “This was the sign given to them by the angel. “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
“No other king anywhere in the world was lying in a feeding trough. Find Him, and you find the King of Kings.”
In Christian circles, Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. There are a lot of controversies whether Christ was born on 25th December, but I will not get into that discussion. The person is more important than his/her birth-date, so I believe the day He was born is not reason enough to cause division in the body of Christ.
What makes Christmas special for me is the fact that we all get an opportunity to celebrate with our families. What concerns me though is how often we forget that it is someone’s (Christ) birthday party. We cook all kinds of food and buy all kinds of drinks, but we forget who the guest of honour is. Pastor Jeff reminded Christians this week on family TV that when you celebrate someone’s birthday, you don’t cut the cake in their absence. You wait for them to blow the candle, cut the cake, then share it as you sing to them.
Most of us, if not all of us, don’t give this day much thought. For some of us, even when Christmas is on a Sunday, we don’t even go to church. We are busy travelling or cooking for our guests. Well, what about the guest of honour? Nobody remembers that it is His day. Isn’t that rude?
Thank you for reading my blog. If you are reading this, and you do not know Jesus, this would be a very good time to give your life to Him. He gave up His life so that you may live for Him. Reach out to me if you would like to do so.
I wish you a Merry Christmas. Jesus is indeed the reason for the Season. We are not just celebrating a baby that was born to Mary and Joseph. We are celebrating the King of kings.
