Animal Facts in the Nativity Story

"Leo the Lionhearted"

(Small watercolor study)

Being the wildlife artist and animal lover that I am, I have enjoyed through the years thinking about the animals that have been portrayed in famous artworks of Christ's birth and nativity scenes.  But on closer investigation, it may come as a shock to find out that the only animals that are mentioned in Christ's birth story were the sheep who were in the fields nearby Bethlehem. And according to Luke's account in Chapter 2, the shepherds had left them to go to the manger scene of Christ, because he reports that they went back to their flocks after seeing the newborn King in the manger.  

Tradition through the centuries has added the donkey, the cow, the camels and the sheep all centered around the Babe in the manger.  I don't object to that in one sense because I love animals.  And because it is a manger location, it is a possibility that animals were present. Being a dog lover, I could well imagine that there might have been a very well-trained sheep dog or two accompanying those shepherds.But those are assumptions and not facts.Sometimes traditions can become so familiar that it leads one to believe that they are part of the truth.  So just a word to the wise!

I know that all creation was invested in the Advent of Christ to the manger, because it ultimately meant the deliverance of all creation from death and decay.  The Bible talks about this in Romans 8:18-24:  

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.

For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are.  

Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse.  

But with eager hope, 

the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children

in glorious freedom

from death and decay.  

For we know that all creation

has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth

right up to the present time.

Christ Himself is referred to as the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.  God loves His creation and wonderfully it is the whole creation that will one day be free from all the suffering under which it is now subjected.  So enjoy the great art of the centuries that depict the animals at Christ's manger, or the donkey carrying the expectant Mary, or the camels transporting the wise men across the desert sands.  Just remember to keep facts at the core of your Christmas worship.  

 "Adoration of the Shepherds"

oil

by Rembrandt

Live bravely and beautifully!