Imagine this story. A very young woman is taken from her hometown by her fiancé to satisfy the tax register requirements of a hostile government. She is extremely pregnant and near term. The only means of transportation is an old donkey that stumbles over the rocky paths and hilly terrain. As her body prepares for the impending birth, her pain and discomfort increase with each step. This miserable journey was about 90 miles. Let that sink in.

The local hostel is filled with people who are also being forced to register for taxation. But the weary couple finds a space out in the barn, where at least there is some shelter from the wind.

Luke 2 (Common English Bible)

2 In those days Caesar Augustus declared that everyone throughout the empire should be enrolled in the tax lists. ² This first enrollment occurred when Quirinius governed Syria. ³ Everyone went to their own cities to be enrolled. ⁴ Since Joseph belonged to David’s house and family line, he went up from the city of Nazareth in Galilee to David’s city, called Bethlehem, in Judea. ⁵ He went to be enrolled together with Mary, who was promised to him in marriage and who was pregnant. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for Mary to have her baby. ⁷ She gave birth to her firstborn child, a son, wrapped him snugly, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guestroom.

A rough feed-box served as a bassinet for her baby. It is hard to imagine giving birth under such circumstances. No doctor, no midwife, no pain medications, no sterile bed, no sutures … just the man who refused to send you away (as was his right) encouraging life out of your travel-worn body as you experience the excruciating pain of delivery. Firstborns usually require long labors. Hers must have felt like a lifetime.

But with the instinct of every new mother, this teenage girl found cloths and wrapped her son snugly. Perhaps these cloths came from her own body, as she removed her head wrap and scarves to provide his first baby blanket. Perhaps the only donkey saddle she had was a worn-out blanket, which she now swaddled around her baby’s shivering shoulders. Her love for her son wrapped him as well. She finally knew the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies and the proclamation of the angel Gabriel nine months earlier. The comfort of those words wrapped her snugly as she fell into an exhausted sleep.

⁸ Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night. ⁹ The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified.

¹⁰ The angel said, “Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. ¹¹ Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord. ¹² This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger.”¹³ Suddenly a great assembly of the heavenly forces was with the angel praising God. They said, ¹⁴ “Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.”

There was nothing snugly about the sudden and terrifying appearance of a host of fiery angels suddenly appearing and hovering over the ground like some horrific scene from a science fiction novel. The humble shepherds, dozing by their warm nighttime fires, were jerked to their feet and filled with an overwhelming desire to flee down the hill toward safety. But the winged creature spoke to them with the strangest direction: Don’t be afraid. Go and see. Your Savior is born. Look for the snugly blanket.

And so they did.

Close your eyes for a moment and think about Mary. Now imagine people in our own lifetime who are cold, homeless, traveling a road they did not choose for themselves, frightened, oppressed by a hostile government, and anything but snugly. Jesus came to bring warmth and security for even the least of these. Ask yourself this: How can we help? What will I do?

Don’t be afraid. Go and see, then go and tell. Take a snugly blanket with you to offer to someone cold, in the name of Jesus. It is the best way we can honor what his mother did for him.

Snugly