“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”
— John 1:14, The Message

The Christmas story declares that God is not an idea, a distant deity, or a philosophical force. He is the God who showed up in a place—among real people, in a real town, at a real moment in history.

It was no accident that Jesus was laid in a manger. The King of Kings began His life not in a palace but in a feeding trough. The Lord of Lords arrived not in Rome but in a forgotten village. God is telling us something: place matters.

Scripture follows a God who is working to give a sense of place to a nomadic people. Since the expulsion from Eden, humanity has lived east of Eden, restless and wandering.

Abraham left the comforts of Ur—where archaeologists have discovered early forms of “air-conditioning”—to walk the hot, barren desert. Israel fled oppressive Egypt only to spend forty years grumbling and wondering where their home would ever be. Even when they settled in the Promised Land, their restlessness persisted. It led them to exploit others, and so the Lord once again scattered His people through the exile.

Throughout this long wandering, God’s people kept trying to build structures in order to steady themselves: Babel, the tabernacle, the palace, the Temple, the Temple 2.0. But none of these buildings could give them the home their souls longed for. It was not until God moved into the least likely of places—a feeding trough in Bethlehem in the first century—that He began to regather His scattered people.

He sent His Son to gather His people and lead them to our eternal home—the only place that will give rest to our souls.

As you set out your nativity scene this week and place the Christ child in the manger, remember that this place is just a temporary stop on the way to eternity, because Jesus promised: “I go and prepare a place for you… I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:3)