She Laid Him in a Manger

Amanda Woodiel ponders the Christ Child laid in the manger: after decades of hearing the nativity story, her eyes are opened to something new. 

She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7) 

I’ve heard that passage from Luke many times throughout my life, as have you, I’m sure. I always thought of it as folksy — an image of what one does when one doesn’t have a crib at hand. Ah, you use a manger, of course. Sometimes I thought about it in relation to the poverty of Our Lord. He didn’t even have a proper crib; all He had was a manger.  

Lately, though, I’ve been wondering more about Mary. Why did Mary put Him in the manger at all? Did she need a break? Wasn’t Joseph handy to hold the Son of God? It seems a little strange; when I gave birth to my own child, I wanted him close to me, to lay him on my chest. Snuggling with him after carrying him for months was the most natural, maternal action. How much more so that must have been for the Mother of God! So why did she wrap Him up and lay Him in the manger? 

Biblical details aren’t superfluous 

Listening to Dr. Brant Pitre talk about Old Testament typology has opened my mind to the idea that these Biblical details aren’t just folksy imagery. There is a reason why these details are included in the Bible. They mean something.  

What is it about a manger? I wondered. Why mention a manger? The thought came to my mind of the old Italian woman with whom I lived in Rome. She was always telling me, “Mangia! Mangia!” (“Eat! Eat!”) A manger — yes, of course! A feeding trough. Eat! Eat! You mangia what’s in the manger.  

Jesus, born in Bethlehem — which literally means “the house of bread” — is placed into a feeding trough.  Could it not be more apparent? How could it take so long to see? Mary puts Him there — no doubt inspired by her spouse, the Holy Spirit — to foreshadow the Eucharist, to make plain to all the Christ Child’s mission: to give Himself to us that we may partake of Him. 

Mary’s fiat 

I think of that act of Mary as another fiat. Undoubtedly, she wanted to hold close that Baby she had carried with wonder, awe, and anticipation. Yet within the first hours, she is asked to lay Him down in a gesture of holy detachment, a movement of love for humanity that trumps a natural maternal possessiveness.  

Years later, Jesus will give us His mother from the Cross, but years earlier, Mary gave Him to us in that moment of placing him in the manger, acquiescing again to the will of the Father: that her son, born in “the house of bread” will be given to all as “the living bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:51a). We approach this holy manger at every Mass, coming with wonder, awe, and rejoicing like those first shepherds: God Himself has become bread for us.  

“Whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:51b) 

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Copyright 2024 Amanda Woodiel
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