ANIMALS AT THE CRIB SCENE TIERE AN DER KRIPPE |
 Stall Nativity Scene - Animals at the crib scene. |
| 0.
PROLOGUE Animals belong to a proper crib scene: ox, donkey, sheep… In many Christmas legends and fables animals even play a central role: During that first Christmas Eve they were loving, tolerant, well behaved, could converse with each other and with people, praising God in their own special ways. Dostojewski writes: You should love animals.
God gave them the rudiments of thought and untroubled joy. You should
not disturb this joy, you should not rush them or rob them of their
happiness. You should not strive against godly intentions, o mankind.
Do not be proud of your superiority over animals: for they are free
of sin.
Fjodor Dostojewski: The Karamasow Brothers 1. ANIMALS AT THE CRIB SCENE Who or what was at the crib scene first? A simple question - and yet - of course - it was the animals! Maybe not ox and donkey, as in many crib scenes, but sheep and goats. Animals, God's creatures, were present before shepherds, wise men and other persons arrived on the scene. In contrast to the people, who had "no room in the inn", they took the "holy family" in, sharing their room with them and their manger with the child. And the animals did not murder children as Herod did and did not force anyone to flee to Egypt. They praised God in their own special way, as is described in connection with promise of the coming Messiah in the book of Jesaja: See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise. Isaiah 43, 19 - 21 2. GOD, PEOPLE AND ANIMALS Now the LORD God had formed out of
the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the
air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them;
and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the
air and all the beasts of the field.
Genesis 2, 19 - 20a You made him ruler over the works
of your hands;
you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Psalm 8, 6 - 8 God brings his creation to the man. None of the animals runs away, none attack the man, none of them eat each other. The man is allowed to give a name to each creature: You over there, you are to be called a lion, and you an elephant, and you a horse, etc... In the bible giving someone or something a name is nothing to be taken for granted. Much more is associated with the presentation of a name (or of a new name: Abraham, Israel, Matthew, Peter, Paul, …). It is the taking in possession of someone or something in a wider sense, taking the responsibility, the love of, the trust of, the care of, and everything else we care to mention here. Perhaps this will be easier to understand when we remember what it is like when God himself calls us by our name. When He says: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43, 1 God passes on the assignment for giving names to HIS creation to the man. This early story points to the new Testament. To God's new assignment to mankind in the form of a new names giving: God passes on the assignment for giving names to HIS creation to the man. This early story points to the new Testament. To God's new assignment to mankind in the form of a new names giving: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28, 19 3. ANIMAL OFFERINGS Again a sentence from the very beginning of the bible: The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Genesis 3, 21 Wilhelm Busch explains this sentence as follows: Theses
nameless animals that God killed, are a preview of the Lamb of God,
of the crucified Lord Jesus.
What a moment as these animals suffered death. A cry of agony, a groan was uttered by all creation. For it was the very first dying and killing experienced. And it demonstrated with dreadful clarity that all was no longer "very good". Wilhelm Busch: Traces of the Cross [20] 4. ANGER AND MERCY FOR PEOPLE AND ALL CREATURES The LORD saw
how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every
inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his
heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, "I will wipe
mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-men and
animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of
the air-for I am grieved that I have made them." But Noah found
favor in the eyes of the LORD ."
Genesis 6, 5 - 8 The LORD then said to Noah, »Go
into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you
righteous in this generation. Take with you seven of every kind
of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean
animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird,
male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the
earth. Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty
days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth
every living creature I have made.«
And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. Genesis 7, 1 - 9 Again Mankind is guilty in the eyes of God. Through this all creatures come under the curse, stand beneath the judgement of God. However just as Noah found mercy in the eyes of God, so do the animals. Along with those persons near and dear to Noah, God also commands Noah to take animals into the ark, too. So Noah went to the animals and said, "You can come and you and you… The thus chosen animals did not run away from Noah but went with him and were saved. The story of Noah can be a parable for our time and age: Talk to
people saying, "You can come and you and you… - in the
ark, - for Jesus will save you from the judgement of God. At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert,
and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He
was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
Mark 1, 13 ...He was with the wild animals...
A Jewish Christian interpreter writes: There He was tempted, and afterwards He walked amidst the wild animals (lions, bears and wolves), whilst the angels protected and remained with Him. … Before Jesus went to people, He went to the animals. … Rev. David Jaffin: Jesus' Path of Sorrow with Israel [19] And the animals did not prepare a ghastly death for Jesus. They did Him no harm. They accepted him in their midst. The story of Daniel rises to mind. There the lions were not allowed to harm Daniel either, the angels held their mouths shut and God was very close. (Daniel 6, 17 -28) 6. THE KINGDOM OF PEACE FOR PEOPLE AND ALL CREATURES The wolf
will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11, 6 - 9 Evocative pictures I use for my "Christmas Story": Roughly one hundred years separate these two pictures yet the theme remains the same: PEACE |
 Stall Nativity Scene - Animals at the crib scene. "Friede" Bild: Eigenes Bild, eigener Scan, William Strutt, Gravure Hanfstaengl, © 1896 by Franz Hanfstaengl., Printed in Munich. |
 Stall Nativity Scene - Animals at the crib scene. "Peace" Bild: Eigenes Bild, eigener Scan, "Ching" Walters: "MOUNTAIN LIONS ", NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION, 1995, © nicht einholbar. |
| 7.
LONGING FOR GOD The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Romans 8, 19 - 21 All creation waits with great expectation for God: "The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed." It is, as it was, at the time of Noah: All creatures are subjected to the shackles of mortality because of the sins of mankind. And they wait with great expectation for the redemption of God. And so the animals, when the Messiah was born, stood full of joy around Jesus' crib. 
Do you do the same today, too? BACK TO THE NATIVITY SCENE |
 |
DOWNLOAD PRINTVERSION (PDF-FORMAT) |
 |
| BACK TO THE NATIVITY SCENE |