Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

The angels, the shepherds, and the wise men, along with Mary and Joseph, dominate the scene around the Christ-child, who gave the world the gift of Christmas.

But animals also play a role in the greatest story ever told.

Being dumb, they could not sing of it or talk of it, and the result is their silence leaves them the most neglected creatures connected with the Incarnation.

We usually look at the astronomical witness of the star, or the angelic witness of the heavenly host, but we seldom to never notice the animal witness to the advent of Christ.

There is no escaping the facts, however.

In His birth our Lord Jesus identified with the animal kingdom.

He was born in a stable meant for the shelter of animals.

He was laid in a manger meant for the feeding of animals.

The first sounds baby Jesus heard could have been the sound of animals.

He was first announced to the shepherds whose whole life revolved around the care, feeding, and protection of animals.

The wise men, who represented the Gentile world, made their journey to worship Him on animals.

They were likely camels, although horses were not impossible.

Mary likely made it to Bethlehem riding on a donkey.

Later in His life, Jesus was in a context where He related both to the angels and animals.

Mark 1:13 says, "He was with the wild animals, and angels attended Him."

This was during His forty days in the wilderness.

Angels and animals have this in common, they are both servants of God and man.

They are both a part of the Christmas story.

The result of all these facts is a world of Christian art and poetry full of Christmas animals.

The famous nativity scenes through the ages include the ox, donkey, sheep, camels, and often the dove.

One of our most famous Christmas hymns, Away In A Manger, says, "The cattle are lowing the poor baby wakes but little Lord Jesus no crying He makes."

The emphasis on animals in the birth scene is not part of our contemporary life-style because the majority of people no longer live with animals.

Back in the 12th century when everybody had a daily contact with their farm animals, they sang songs that stressed the role of the friendly beast in Christmas.

They sang,

Jesus our brother kind and good

Was humbly born in a stable rude

And the friendly beasts around Him stood.

This song, sung over 800 years ago by Christians, reveals just how carefully they had thought through the role of animals in the Christmas story.

They had each animal tell of what they contributed-

Thus every beast by some good spell

In the stable dark was glad to tell

Of the gift He gave Immanuel.

I said the donkey shaggy and brown

Carried his mother uphill and down

I carried her safely to Bethlehem town.

I said the cow all white and red

Gave her my manger for His bed.

I gave Him my hay to pillow His head.

I said the sheep with curly horn

Gave Him my wool for His blanket warm.

He wore my coat on Christmas morn.

I said the dove, from the rafters high,

I cooed Him to sleep that He should not cry.

We cooed Him to sleep, my mate and I.

I said the camel yellow and black

Over the desert upon my back.

I brought Him a gift in the wise man's pack.

All of this may seem superficial and sentimental to us as city people, but keep in mind God did not send His angels to announce Christ's birth to city people.

He sent them to people who lived daily in relationship to animals.

The Bible world was a very animal oriented world.

I think it is safe to say, every great leader of Israel, male or female, had a life strongly involved with the animal kingdom.

Look at just a few highlights.

1. Adam and Eve dwelt in a perfect relationship with animals, and Adam even named them all.

2. All of the Patriarchs had animals for their wealth, and the story of their lives could not be told without reference to the animal kingdom.

3. Moses was a shepherd when God met him at the burning bush.

4. David was a shepherd when called to be the king of Israel.

5. Job was an owner of great herds of animals.

6.

Most of the prophets used animal imagery constantly, to convey their message.

7. John the Baptist lived with the animals, wore camel skins, and ate locust.

The list could be greatly expanded, but the point is, Bible people were animal lovers.

You would have a hard time finding any Bible hero who was not an animal lover.

E.F.

Schumacker went so far as to make this claim, "There have been no sages or holy men in our or anybody else's history who were cruel to animals or who looked upon them as nothing but utilities, and innumerable are the legends and stories which link sanctity as well as happiness with a loving kindness toward lower creatures."

Therefore, it follows that the greatest King of Israel, the promised Messiah, the Son of David, the Seed of Abraham, the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecy, should also be in some way connected with the animal kingdom.

No where do we see this connection stronger than in the Christmas story.

Jesus was the only great person in Israel, as far as we know, to be actually born among the animals.

Most would agree with John R. Rice who said, "It is unthinkable that any detail of the birth of Christ could fail to have a universal meaning for the race."

The animal atmosphere is an example.

There are millions of stuffed animals given as gifts to children every year at Christmas.

This is more appropriate than we realize.

Every major holiday has some animal associated with it for symbolic reasons.

The turkey for Thanksgiving; the rabbit for Easter; the donkey for Palm Sunday; the eagle for July 4th.

But for Christmas there is no single animal to symbolize it, for the whole animal kingdom is involved.

Any animal can be a Christmas animal.

There is an old English wood-cut printed in London in 1631, which illustrates an ancient legend of how even the dumb animals spoke on that Holy Night.

In the center of the picture is the Babe with Joseph and Mary, the angels above singing, and the cock crows-Christ is born.

The raven in a tree asks-when?

The crow replies-this night.

The ox cries out-where, where?

The sheep near the manger bleats-Bethlehem.

It is not meant to be believed that animals talk, but to convey the idea that animals were involved in Christmas.

Much of the symbolism of the Bible is from the animal kingdom.

The Bible is a literary zoo.

I counted 61 different creatures that could be studied.

There are more animals in the Bible than you will find in some zoos.

The more we get away from the animal kingdom the more difficult it is to understand many parts of the word of God.

If you took all the references to animals out of the Bible you would eliminate more of God's word than you can imagine.

A big chunk of the Christmas story is also lost if you remove all references to animals.

The secular world has added a lot of animals to Christmas.

The twelve days of Christmas are full of creatures.

A partridge in a pear tree; two turtle doves; three French hens; four calling birds; six geese a laying and seven swans a swimming.

Our secular culture has raised up one animal that has gained a great deal of popularity and that is Rudolf the red nosed reindeer.

He has relevance because he plays the role the camels played in the New Testament story.

They got the wise men to Christ with their gifts, and Rudolf gets Santa to the children with his gifts.

It is a story of an animal that is a blessing to man.

Animals are such a blessing to man in the Bible that when the Christ-child grew up He took upon Himself the names of these animals.

The two most outstanding being the Lion and the Lamb.

These two names bring out the two positive characteristics of animals in their relationship to man, and help us see the relevance of the animals of Christmas.

The lion represents sovereign service, and the lamb represents sacrificial service.