Feeding Trough

Clare of Assisi lived from A.D. 1194-1253.  Born the eldest daughter of Favorino Sciffi the wealthy Count of Sasso-Rosso, and his wife Ortolana, in the city of Assisi, she became a follower of Christ through the influence of Francis of Assisi and the Church of the Portiuncula in 1211.[1] As a young woman, over the objections of her father, but in accordance with Francis, she joined the convent of the Benedictine nuns of San Paulo, near Bastia.  

Later two of her sisters and her mother joined her.  Pope Innocent III granted the Order of Poor Ladies, a community that she founded, the privilege of taking the vow of poverty just two days before her death. In her honor, the Order was renamed the Poor Clares.  ​​These women were dedicated to poverty, simplicity and service.  Their focus was not on a lack of material things but rather as a spiritual discipline of simplicity and detachment of heart.  As Richard Foster observed, in those times vowed communities formed in an attempt to provide an answer to the vexing question of how to live with a balanced relationship towards money, sex, and power.[2] 

Clare of Assisi realized that a righteous relationship with God demanded a clear focus.  She chose poverty over wealth and insisted she would have no other husband than Jesus Christ.  She scorned earthly power as a misfit application so as to walk in the strength of utter dependence upon her heavenly Father.  

MEDITATION ON LUKE 2:7—Then she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped Him snugly in cloth and laid Him in a feeding trough—because there was no room for them at the lodging place. 

 There is something incredibly stripping in how God chose to send His Son to earth.  By the way of the world and by rights, Jesus would have come as an adult in power and with full acclamation.  He was, after all, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the Creator and the bright Morning Star.  So, the fact that God chose to birth Him through Mary and make his first bed a feeding trough demands our attention.  He was making a celestial statement that upended the world’s notion of everything important.

The omnipotent Father magnified humility wrapping His Son in cloth used by the poorest of the poor.  The best VIP suite in Bethlehem was not reserved for the perfect Redeemer for Joseph and Mary could only find a stable.  The setting and circumstances are simply breath-taking, not placing us in awe but in shock.  Surely Jesus deserved better!  Yet is was not about deserving, was it?  The message heaven intended was of far greater import. 
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I find it meaningful that Clare means bright and clear.  Clarity begins when we understand that greatness begins and lives in humility; that might is solidified by vulnerability; that love is substantiated most by identity.  Jesus manifested meagerness to birth the full embodiment of love.  This should give us something to think about . . . in reveration! 
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INSPIRATION FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.--Oswald Chambers in My Utmost For His Highest
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©2017 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the "GET THE LATEST REVERATION FROM DANIEL YORK" box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.       

Ecclesiastes 12:10 - The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_of_Assisi. Richard J. Foster and Emilie Griffin in Spiritual Classics, (HarperSan Francisco:  New York, 2000).
Posted by Daniel York on 26 December 2017 | 0 Comments
Tags: meditation on Luke 2:7, reveration, inspiration, weekly devotionals, first cause

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