October 2, 2026
A number of years ago, as the Christmas season was approaching, I began preparing to lead worship by revisiting the gospel narrative. Knowing that every detail is important, and seeking that which may have been overlooked, I approached the text with many questions. One that struck me particularly that year was, “Why a stable?”
Why did God choose a stable as the birthplace of the Savior?
Stables were public places, places of commerce and business. What happens in a public place becomes a public event. The birth of Jesus was not intended for a select few but for all. This included the most common and humble of people. God was proclaiming from day one, my Son and my love are available to all people, not a select few.
Had Jesus been born in a palace, a private home, or even an inn, access would have been limited. In a palace, where the magi assumed he would be found, only a select few would have been able to intimately celebrate His birth. If Jesus had been born in a private location, friends and family may have been welcome, but not a bunch of strangers. The message of the stable is that this Savior, “lying in a manger,” was not just for the high and mighty, but for everyone.
This points to another possible reason for a stable. That was God’s choice of whom He would invite to celebrate the first Christmas - shepherds “abiding in the fields.” In the current context, it’s easy to imagine that it was wonderful to have quaint, jovial shepherds come to worship the newborn Savior. Sort of like having an unexpected, well-harmonized, choir of carolers showing up at the front door.
But, in first-century Palestine, shepherds were considered the Jewish “country bumpkins” of their day. They were not allowed to worship in the temple. Primarily because they literally reeked from working with sheep and people found it difficult to be in their presence.
Dirty, stinking, country bumpkin shepherds, those that society and the religious leaders had rejected, those who were not allowed to worship in the temple . . . and complete strangers to Joseph and Mary . . . were the only ones that God heralded to celebrate the birth of the Savior. There is an irony in this message, Jesus came to save all, beginning with and including those whom society had rejected. Yet in a real sense isn’t that a spiritual description of all who come seeking a Savior?
That night the stable became the temple, because God’s presence, Emmanuel, was literally there, incarnate! The “country bumpkins” of their day, possibly more than most in polite society, could appreciate what God had done and an invitation to come.
Although overlooked, the stable was not an oversight on the part of God. It was part of His plan then and His message to the world ever since. Jesus is accessible to all, and it is a reminder that He is for “all people,” including odiferous country bumpkin shepherds then and many rejected and overlooked by society now. Even still, all are invited to come and worship Him this Christmas. What a tragedy it is for so many to fail to accept His loving invitation. What a greater tragedy it is for those who claim to know Him not to invite them!
"For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:11-12 NASV)
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Charles Jones is a newspaper columnist, Baptist historian, and retired pastor.
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