The Manger Throne!

Thursday, December 25, 2025

The Nativity of the Lord

Is 9:1-6; Tit 2:11-14; Lk 2:1-14

The feast of Christmas, the Nativity of the Lord, invites us to celebrate the mystery of the manger becoming the very throne for the Son of God. 

Though there are many signs around Christmas, the role of the manger is truly profound, making the feast unlike any other. 

Why is it so? 

We may imagine that Jesus was not the only child born in Bethlehem on that night. We may also believe that almost all the newborn children were wrapped in swaddling cloths just like Jesus. However, what makes the Christ Child unique is the fact that no other child would have been laid in a manger like him. For that matter, no one would expect to find a newborn child in a manger, and this is why the child in the manger is a very remarkable sign for us.

This is why Luke demands our attention to the word ‘manger,’ mentioning it thrice. 

1. ‘Mary gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn’ (Lk 2:7).

2. ‘This will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger’ (Lk 2:12). 

3. ‘They went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger’ (Lk 2:16).

Moreover, the manger symbolism offers deep connections to the life and ministry of the Messiah. 

1. The manger, which is a food trough for animals, foreshadows Christ becoming the food for the world in the form of the Eucharist. Thus, the one who is born in Bethlehem – the House of Bread – is also the ‘Bread of Life.’

2. The wood of the manger, the starting point of Jesus’ earthly journey, points to the wood of the cross, the conclusion of Jesus’ earthly journey. Jesus’ humility witnessed in the manger is a pointer to his humility on the cross. 

3. The manger symbolizes Jesus’ coming to announce the Good News of God’s Kingdom as a radical reversal. The Christ Child, who became a sign for the shepherds, shows that God’s Kingdom is for the lowly, humble, and marginalized.

More importantly, the Child lying in the manger also symbolizes the birth of our redemption, hope, and love. 

The purpose of Jesus’ incarnation is a loud reminder that God has not forgotten His promises to humanity. Hence, we do not just look at a helpless child in the manger but our Saviour who will redeem us. Thus, the Child of Bethlehem is already the Saviour of Calvary. 

How is Christmas the birth of our hope? God as Immanuel, God with us, is not some abstract idea but has now become a living reality. Hence, through the Christ Child, God tells us that we are not forgotten or abandoned. God is now with us in everything.

The Christ Child is also the incarnation of God’s love. When God reveals His love, He does so through a vulnerable child. God turns Himself into someone very small for love. Thus, the one who accepted the manger was the one who kissed the cross for love.

This is why Christmas is a unique feast, because in celebrating it, we do not just remember what happened in history some two thousand years ago, but what Christ dared to do for us every moment of our lives. Christmas is a reminder that God now lives with us in total vulnerability and fullness of love, abandoning the grandeur of palaces or spectacles of power and splendor. For this reason, the manger symbolizes that Christ, who comes in love, does not wait for perfect conditions to enter our lives. For the God who assumed the most vulnerable form of a child, even the lowliest of places, like a stable and manger, become occasions to show his love. It is in loving humility that the Christ Child transforms the manger into his very throne. For the one who rules in love, even the manger becomes a throne.

The feast of Christmas helps us with wonderful insights for action.

1. Yes, Jesus was born on a cold night and placed in the manger. However, we must not forget that even in that nothingness, Jesus was surrounded by the love of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the animals. The manger is a profound reminder that the true riches of life are found in people and relationships. Only people can help us feel the warmth of love and not things or money. 

2. Pope Francis reflected beautifully on the poverty of the manger. He wrote, ‘Let us remember that it is not truly Christmas without the poor. Without the poor, we can celebrate Christmas, but not the birth of Jesus.’ I just read a beautiful quote on Christmas: ‘The first Christmas was simple. It’s okay if yours is too.’ Charity is the grandest manner in which we can celebrate a simple Christmas.

3. We celebrate Christmas not just to admire the Child in the manger but to carry Him into the world. How do we do that? It is when we do not let this Christmas pass by without doing something good. If goodness becomes our identity and mission, I believe we can credibly imitate the Christ Child lying in the manger. 

Let us pray that we may live out the beauty of the Manger Throne by living what the Christ Child lying in the manger has come to signify. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar