When Bonnie Payne and I were in Israel we visited an agricultural kibbutz where we had a wonderful visit with the director of the kibbutz and an unforgettable lunch with the many workers. As we walked from the director's home to the dining halls, the equivalent of a few blocks away, we had to pass some of the farm animals that were grazing in the hot midday sun. The stench of the animals and the heat of the stench all but took my breath away. It only lasted a few moments, as we passed by them, but it was the sweatiest, stinkiest, most overpowering stench I had ever experienced. I was raised on a small farm with one cow, hogs and chickens for our personal dairy and poultry needs. I don't remember a stench that strong, even as I routinely passed the hog pen or filled the hog trenches with scraps from the supper table. I don't remember our barn smelling like hot sweaty bovines, but then, we only had one cow and our mountain temperatures were not of the desert variety. In any case, it was a shock to my respiratory system, and though it cut off my breathing, it opened my eyes and my mind and stirred my soul in a way it had not been stirred previously. For these past few years I have meditated on this and have often wondered, "Why did the Creator of heaven and earth choose a stinky stable as His door of entry into the world of flesh and blood?" There had to be a truly valid reason. We know it was planned ahead of time, it was meant to be - but why? I have not uncovered or discerned anything new. Perhaps writing my thoughts down and sharing them will unveil something I have missed before. Mary went into labor on the three-mile road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. If she had gone into labor during their stopover in Jerusalem, they would have gone straight to Elizabeth and Zacharias, the proud new parents of six-month-old John (the Baptist). But this was not to be the case. They were closer to Bethlehem, past the point of a return to Jerusalem, and by the time they arrived in Bethlehem and found their way through the crowds of travelers to the Inn, Mary was having heavy contractions. Mary and Joseph followed the leading of the Holy Spirit on that day, and the Spirit Himself gave measure to the times and intensity of times of Mary’s labor, bringing them in the nick of time to a private stable, a Divinely appointed private stable, like the Divinely appointed foal of a donkey Jesus would ride thirty-three years later into Jerusalem, and the Divinely appointed Upper Room where He would share His last Passover Supper with His Apostles. This in no way implies that Jesus had no free will of His own, or that all things were planned ahead for Him. It means He had an humble and trusting spirit that bowed itself to the will of the Father. We learn from the Scriptures that He discerned the will of the Father by walking in the Spirit and that the fruit of the Spirit followed Him… If Mary had not been in labor, they might have been forced to sleep in the street among strangers. If it had not been for the compassion of the Inn keeper and his wife, Jesus might have been born on a cold harvest night beneath the moon and the stars, amid the raucous noise of the city, oppressive body odors, raw sewage, weary animals and late-night open-air cooking. But, as planned and pre-arranged by Heaven in the beginning, His birth would be private, well hidden and sheltered from the cold night air and a politically turbulent Heaven and Earth. A startled cry, muted at His mother’s breast, announced His arrival. Thirty three years later, His crucifixion would be public, in the unyielding heat of midday, His cries on that day announcing His departure. The agony and humiliation of His death would ultimately defy the pain and discomfort of His birth. Jerusalem and the world would soon forget that every pain, every discomfort suffered in that stable brought God's gift to the world. And every agony and humiliation of the Cross brought God's Grace to those that hallow the glories of both. He was appointed in the absolute darkness of nothingness, when the Triune Father first envisioned mortality made in His own image, someone to walk with, commune with, someone who could love and who would love to be loved. And, of course, the Triune Word agreed to become the Savior of these mortals - if need be - and so the six days of creation began... He was called forth from the Garden of Eden, prophesied to Adam and Eve as the One who would crush the authority of the serpent. This deliverer would be conceived of the Divine Seed of a Divinely-appointed woman as the Holy Spirit moved upon her, and He would be born Son of God and Son of Mankind. He would be mortal and He would be immortal, He would be God in the flesh... The stable was a bit removed from the noisy town and it had no doors. It was a cave, used as a stable, and God had that day blessed it with freshly cut and strewn hay in the feeding mangers and as warm clean covering for the floor. So it was harvest time, September harvest, and the nights were cool if not downright cold. It was not too cold for the shepherds to still be abiding in the fields, but it was too cold to give birth under the stars. The rains would begin in a few weeks and before that, the sheep would be led to the sheep pens for the winter. Meanwhile, the tiny Son of the Most Holy God would be warmed by His mother's arms and a soft homespun woolen blanket, and by the hot breath of a few privileged animals as He lay sleeping on the hay in the manger. It is interesting that Mary had presence of mind to bring her baby’s needs with her to Jerusalem, anticipating His birth before they could return to Galilee. Of course, Mary and Joseph were both well aware of the prophecies and the Divine presence that was growing in Mary’s womb. Perhaps it was this Word and their remembrance of the words of the angels, that prompted Joseph to allow Mary to make the trip in spite of her advanced days, ever so near to accomplishment. Once they arrived, Mary and Joseph may not have noticed the stable stench the way you and I would reel from it. They may have become so accustomed to it in Galilee they couldn't smell it any longer. It was not unusual for the Jews to have a cattle stall built on the side of the house with a door to the stall for easy feeding and milking. Or they may have been so grateful for the use of the stable they dared not complain. I used to wonder how the towns and cities of the pioneer days in America smelled with all those cattle and horses moving through them all the time, and I have often wondered who cleaned the dirt roads going through the towns, but I guess we will have to let that one ride around in the history mystery for awhile... There was no mention of nasal discomfort when the Shepherds came to visit. Of course they were used to breathing in the sheep day and night and on this particular night they had other things on their minds like: "Unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord..." And "You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger..." With such belly-churning sights and sounds they had just witnessed in the field they wouldn't even notice a barnyard smell. All they would see would be a tiny babe, cleaned and comforted by a warm bath, staring back at them through eyes wide with newborn wonder... It is certain the authorities would not have looked for Him there. Herod would not have considered the steamy stinky hiddenness of His birth, or the hiddenness of his first two toddler years when the wise men came to the house they had moved into, and were warned not to return to their own lands through Herod's Jerusalem. It was from there Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt with great fear and anxiety, just as all the males two years of age and younger in Bethlehem were commanded by Herod to be killed. The stench of death and blood would now follow them...always following, threatening them, asking, "How old is your son?" and "Where and when was he born?" The stench of the barnyard replaced by the stench of death...tracking Him everywhere He goes... I stand corrected and shamed. I understand now and I have repented. How can I explain it when it is so new to me I am still sorting it all out. Perhaps it would be best to begin with the nature and character of The Father. Having planned and created all things, including beast, fowl and man, and noticing when even a sparrow falls to the ground, we can fathom His love best when we see ourselves as tiny and as helpless as the fragile sparrow. And if He loves the sparrow so much, how much love fills His heart for you and me? And for the beast in the field? Without His hand catching us when we fall, nesting us while we grow and guiding us as we learn to soar, we would be fodder for the vultures. God promised Jacob a land flowing with milk and honey. That, my friends, is a land rich in cattle that are rich in pastureland, and fruit trees, the vine and the flowers to prosper the bees who make the honey…It is a paradise of abundance but it requires the cooperation between animal and man to make it so. God made the animals and the creeping creatures first, and I am sure Adam and Eve wondered at the marvels they walked among. There were no biting fleas or flies in their perfect world, and there were no flying vultures following the scent of death. Things would change of course, in the fall of man and beast, but there are still blessing and cursing to be found in the untamed relationships of tent and field. Covet the honey but beware the bee…know the difference between the smell of the sheep and the smell of the wolves…the smell of love verses the smell of fear… God has endowed us with the ability to smell good and evil. This is a powerful gift, a mortal sense that comes from our immortal spirit within us. The sense of smell is our friend. Mary and Joseph were not there when the hay was cut and brought into the stable, but they smelled its freshness. They did not object to the sweaty animal smells of the stable because they could only see the blessings the animals brought to their host – and on this night – to them as well… Peter was a fisherman. He smelled – stunk – of fish. Yet, Jesus did not ask Peter to take a bath and change clothes before calling him as one of the twelve. I am sure Jesus needed a bath and clean robes following His forty days and nights in the wilderness but it was only His clothes and His skin that smelled of sacrifice and fasting, a sweet savor unto Heaven of His trust and obedience. His soul smelled as sweet as rain water, and it was the only thing The Father could smell… I have criticized and judged those that enter the sanctuary in shorts, jeans, flip-flops and tee-shirts. And since beginning this article I have repented. These earthly sanctuaries are after all houses of worship erected by men, hopefully filled with the presence of God who receives each of us just as we are. And we in our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Ghost – where God dwells within us continually. There is no vanity or pride in the heart of the pure, there is only respect and thanksgiving, flowing in a river of worship that says, “Here am I, Lord, just as I am, loving you…” I will not criticize them again. They savor the scent of God’s eternal love and they smell OF love. What else can they do but step out as they are, without pretense, and bask in it. They have shown their respect in coming to the throne – just as they are and just as they feel – and I have had no right to judge them with lack of respect. Indeed, they are more righteous than I have been in their simplicity of faith… The stinky stable did not stink of evil, but of the mystery of God’s Grace in hiding and covering and keeping warm the little family of His only begotten Son. When the Shepherds came with their testimonies, God’s presence filled the little cave and the smells of men and beast were sweetened in the awe of the night’s wonders. When one drinks deeply of that Presence, he drinks also of the stables that God has created to provision and prosper the men of this world. Yes – the stables can take our breath away – and for brief moments we are offended and gagged. But not for long if we remember the blessings through God of the stinky stable that gave light to the world and gives hope to this day to all mankind… Joan Krempel
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