Swaddled-Here's Your Sign
And this will be a sign for you:
you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:12
Dear shepherds, Here's your sign! Two clues. Swaddling clothes and a manger.
Hmm. At first thought that is no much to go on. All newborn babies were swaddled, but probably none were laid in a manger for a crib. The biggest clue was the location, Bethlehem. Now days, Bethlehem is a large tourist attraction with a population of around 60,000. At the time of Jesus' birth it was a small rural village and my guess would be there was only one baby born that night.
It's been three years since this beloved child in the photos above was swaddled by our daughter. Swaddling was not in vogue in the 80's when I birthed our six children, but it was very much a part of the Jewish culture when Jesus was born and has been the past thirteen years when our twelve grandchildren have been born. I called our swaddled grandchildren, little burritos all wrapped up tightly like that.
Swaddling clothes are defined as: "narrow bands of cloth formerly wrapped around a newborn child to restrain its movements and quieten it." Did Mary have these bands of cloth in a saddle bag on that donkey just in case she went into labor while in Bethlehem? You know, like how expectant mother's today have a suitcase packed for the hospital a month before the due date.
David Mathis wrote..."Swaddled in the manger would not be the last time this human body would be bound. When they arrested him one day, he would be bound (John 18:12), and they would carry him bound from one unjust trial to the next (Matthew 27:2; Mark 15:1, John 18:24). Seemingly as helpless as a swaddled baby would be the man Christ Jesus, as he strode with chains on his hands and feet, and then was subject to a greater binding: with nails to the cross.
The swaddling at his birth would not be the last time we hear of the incarnate Son being wrapped in cloth. After his death, he would be wrapped again, this time in linen-only to leave it behind when he walked out of the tomb alive. 'Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stopping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.' (Luke 24:12)
The infant in the manger would not stay swaddled. And his crucified body would not stay dead....He is not dead; he is risen. The one who was, like us swaddled is now the human king of the universe."
Amen! Hallelujah! Here's your sign!
The Song from The Rend Collection "Today is the Savior's Day"
