The Simple King

" Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.(Luke 2:11)NJB

The story of the birth of Jesus reveals the simple surroundings in which the King of glory was born. "Now it happened that, while they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to a son, her first-born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger because there was no room for them in the living-space." (Luke 2: 6-7)

When Mary and Joseph arrived at the small inn at Bethlehem to seek for a room, they were unable to obtain one. Why? Was it because the inn had no spare room or that the couple could not afford the tariff? Whatever the reason, Mary and Joseph proceeded to look for an alternative accommodation and could find one in a nearby stable.

Mary must have pondered the unfathomable mind of God, who allowed His only begotten Son to be born in a stable. The handmaid of the Lord submitted herself to God's disposal of events. Jesus started His life in very simple surroundings and He grew up to love simplicity. From His birth to His death, He possessed very little. Jesus learned simplicity from His mother. The first people to visit Jesus in the stable were simple shepherds.

Leo Xlll wrote in his Encyclical, Fidentem Piumque of September 20, 1896: "No one can fail to be sweetly affected when considering who....presented to the shepherds, to the kings and to Simeon."