Title: Living Manger
Contents
Isaiah 53:1-5, Luke 2:8-14]
Once upon a time, a strange legend was handed down to a certain country. It is a legend that a star comes down from the sky at New Year's Eve every year, and if the star is put into a manger made with care, it will transform into a holy baby.
So, on New Year's Day, the king posted rooms with these contents all over the country.
“New Year’s is the month when the stars fall, so if you have a will, build a manger to receive the stars one by one and let them be judged. If anyone is judged to be a living manger, I will give a great reward.”
People made the manger with all their heart. Some people made it by melting iron, while others carved it out of marble. Some powerful men slaughtered several hundred-year-old juniper trees to make mangers, gilded them with gold, engraved beautiful patterns, and glued silk to the inside of the manger.
Finally, the day of the judging came, and all the applicants were excited. In the exhibition hall, mangers of all shapes were displayed. From the gleaming golden manger, the majestic marble manger, the fragrant juniper manger, to the silk manger clad in silk, every manger boasted its own splendor.
Finally, the king appeared and looked closely at the mangers one by one. However, the king's judging method was very peculiar. It was to take a shining star out of his chest and gently place it in a manger.
A star was carefully placed in a manger made of molten iron and gilded with gold. Then the star turned into an iron doll inside. The king shook his head. Next was the turn of the marble manger. When I took out the star and put it inside, the star turned into a stone doll. The king also shook his head.
Standing in front of a manger made of juniper, the heart of a powerful man swelled. “I was good at making juniper wood. A living juniper is better than iron or stone. A wonderful miracle is about to happen soon.”
He thought to himself and smiled. As the king approached, his breathing became severely rough. It felt like my heart stopped when the king placed the star in his juniper manger. However, this time the star has turned into an ugly doll. The only difference was that it was a juniper doll.
The star turned into a doll was like any manger. The material was changed only from the iron manger to the iron doll, the stone manger to the stone doll, and the wooden manger to the wooden doll.
As the king is about to return to the palace in disappointment, he finds a girl who stops among the crowd. The king speaks quietly.
“Hey, what are you holding? Don't be ashamed, I'm here to see you."
The girl was a scavenger who made a living by taking out garbage, and she was holding a wretched manger made from pieces of old wood weaved together. The manger was made of pieces of wood that had been picked up from the rubbish heap, and the bottom of the manger was laid out with an unsightly, but carefully laid out cloth with traces here and there.
The king placed a star in the poor manger of the scavenger girl. Then, suddenly, the star breathed and changed into the form of a holy baby. The king was overjoyed and said:
“Everyone, come here. A miracle happened in this poor girl's manger. It is not the manger's body that matters, but the manger's heart. In the manger of formality, the star is a doll, and in the manger of a pure heart, it is living holy. This birth is real.”
This story is from the fairy tale book <Scent That Goes Away> by Chaebong Jeong.
Christmas has become a worldwide festival. Not only the church, but the whole world rejoices and rejoices together. It is a day to commemorate the birth of Jesus, so it is natural to rejoice and be happy.
But these days, only the feast remains, and I wonder if the meaning has disappeared. The feast is important, but our hearts as we celebrate Christmas are even more important.