As Christmas approaches, churches and Christians the world over will be setting up their cribs or nativity scenes. Some of these cribs will have been passed down from one generation to the next over a longish period of time. Some years ago when our children were still young Lucille and I purchased a set of crib figures in the Romanesque style from Oberammergau. This set of crib figures brings us joy and delight each year. A few years ago our church purchased a new set of crib figures from France which will once again find an honoured place below our altar reminding us that Christ is born in the bread and the wine of Holy Communion. This year I want to reflect on the significance of the ox and the ass in the crib especially as they are not mentioned in the Christmas narratives of the Bible. The ox and the ass did not find their way into the crib by accident, just as little as Pontius Pilate made his way into the Nicene Creed by accident.
There are in my mind three main reasons for including the ox and the ass in the traditional crib scene. Firstly the presence of the ox and the ass reminds the viewer that God’s purposes are for the whole of creation. What we are mostly concerned with as humans is our relationship to God. The ox and the ass in the crib remind us as human beings not to become too self-centred – a constant danger for many Christians with ruinous consequences for the whole of creation. It is a great sadness to me that in our day and age we have to relearn a simple truth that God’s concerns are for the whole of creation and that in turn we are to be responsible and good stewards of this creation.
Secondly, the ox and the ass are the chosen animals because they already find a mention in the Ten Commandments where they are named in the tenth commandment, which is about avoiding covetousness. There we read, ‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.’ (Exodus 20.17) It should be the hope of the nations that we no longer covet (lust after) what is not ours. The temptations are many that assail us and if we are honest we give into many of these, because we have the means or we think we are deserving, leading us in turn to cause injury to others. But that is not to be the way with us. As St Paul the Apostle writes, ‘So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!’ ( 2 Corinthians 5.17)
Thirdly, the ox and the ass find their way into the crib because of a verse from the Bible found in the book of Isaiah (1.3). There we read,
The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib;
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.
The Church Fathers (a summary term for the theologians of the Early Church) made much of this passage as Pope Benedict XVI points out in The Blessings of Christmas. Whatever you may think of the present Pope he is acknowledged to be a fine and industrious theologian by supporters as well as opponents. His Introduction to Christianity based on lectures delivered in 1969, when he was a professor of theology at the faculty in Munich, remains a classic modern exposition of the Christian faith.
The above quote from the book of the prophet Isaiah is worth meditating on during Advent as we prepare to celebrate Christmas. As Christians we know who our ‘owner’ is. It is none other than God himself who has made himself known to us in Jesus Christ by becoming one of us and sharing in the fullness of our humanity. He will know the joys, challenges and sufferings of human life. Thomas of Celano, St Francis’ first biographer wrote that ‘he (Francis) said that this was the feast of feasts for on this day God became like a little child and sucked milk like all human children.’ Likewise we know who made us as in the master’s crib. It is none other than God himself working through his creation forever bringing forth new life across the millennia and throughout the cosmos. As Christmas approaches there are many who do not understand, others who do not want to know. This will always be the case and should not unnecessarily trouble us. Isaiah’s word is surprisingly not initially for them. It is now directed at us for we through Christ have become the New Israel, a living temple, through him who makes and is making all things new. There are two questions we hold before us during Advent as we prepare to celebrate Christmas. Do we as the New Israel know God and live accordingly? And do we understand, share and make known the good purposes of God for all his creation?
This edition of Crossways features two articles on St Francis and the Franciscans, so before finishing, a quote from St Francis who is credited with introducing the Christmas crib into the Western Church. It was St Francis who directed that an ox and an ass should be present in the cave of Greccio, Italy on Christmas night 1223. He told the nobleman John: "I wish in full reality to awaken the remembrance of the child as he was born in Bethlehem and of all the hardship he had to endure in his childhood. I wish to see with my bodily eyes what it meant to lie in a manger and sleep on hay, between an ox and an ass."
United in Christ the New Israel with one voice will sing this Christmas the world over ‘ox and ass before him bow, and he is in the manger now’ from the carol Good Christian men, rejoice and ‘Why lies the baby in such mean estate, where ox and ass are feeding’ from the carol What child is this. The ox and the ass in the crib affirm that God’s purposes are for the good of the whole creation and challenge us to faithful living in the knowledge that there is one who shares in all our sorrows and joys.
