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It’s just a few days before Christmas, and hopefully you’ve been able to avoid the rush of last-minute preparations and the stress of travel that might not be going smoothly. Other than losing a borrowed winter jacket on an airplane last week, and trying to avoid the cold that has run through my family, I have been brought into the Christmas story through 6 wonderful dramatized Bible stories from Abide. Won’t you join in as we are introduced to 6 characters we meet at the manger?
Zechariah
The priest Zechariah was the first one to know that the Messiah was so close. While serving at the temple, Zechariah, an old man at this point, had an encounter with the angel Gabriel. But because he doubted the words Gabriel said—that he and his wife, Elizabeth would have a son who would prepare the way for the Messiah—Zechariah became mute. For the next 9 months, while the angel’s words were fulfilled, he could not speak.
Gather your family around and listen to this 15-minute story about Zechariah’s doubt.
The Innkeeper
The Bible doesn’t go into any detail about the innkeeper who let Mary and Joseph stay in his stable. This is the line from Luke 2:7: “And she 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.” The other gospels don’t even say that much. But what if we could see into the thoughts of the owner of that stable? Listen to this story from the perspective of the innkeeper that we’ve named Amos. Just one of the characters we meet at the manger.
The Shepherds
More familiar figures in the Christmas story are the shepherds. We know there was a group of them out in the field watching their flocks by night. We know that a host of angels sang praise to God to them after announcing the birth of the baby. They told the shepherds to go and find Him, and even told them where to go and what to look for.
What’s important to remember in this scenario is that shepherds were not high-class people in the eyes of their society. They were lowly. Yet Luke dedicates quite a number of lines to their involvement in the story of the Messiah. Is it any wonder, since Jesus is the Lamb of God?
Listen to this story from the perspective of one of the shepherds, and hear echoes of how Jesus is our Good Shepherd—as well as the spotless Lamb.
Joseph
Joseph might seem to be a periphery character in the Christmas story, but what strikes me about him is his faithfulness to God, his open heart to hear the word of the Lord and obey immediately, and his commitment to Mary and Jesus. Several times God speaks to Joseph in a dream and Joseph does not even question whether it was God speaking or not. That tells me that he knew God’s voice.
Listen to what Joseph might have said to a stranger on the road to Bethlehem.
The Animals
OK, so, the Bible doesn’t tell us there were animals in the stable. We really get few details about the location at all. But we do know that Jesus was laid in a manger, a feeding trough for animals, so it’s not a far stretch to imagine there were animals in that stable. We don’t even really know what the stable looked like. Traditional images show it as a wooden building, but it very well could have been a cave, or even the lower level of a house.
We like to hold fast to our traditions, don’t we? But let’s not lose sight of the most important detail: Jesus was born. Listen to this imagined scenario from one of the characters we meet at the manger.
The Angels
Now here are some characters in the Christmas story that we know a bit more about! Who hasn’t felt the tingle of excitement when Luke describes the angels coming to announce the birth of the Messiah? “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Let’s take a look at what might have been going on in the mysteries of heaven when the incarnation was about to happen.
I hope you have been able to take the time by yourself or with your family to experience these stories of the nativity. The 6 characters we meet at the manger help us picture a scene that will always remain wrapped in speculation, but undergirded by this awesome truth: “’Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).”
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Stephanie Reeves is a writer and the senior editor of Abide.
