Love

You have shown strength with your arm; you have scattered the proud in their conceit; you have deposed the mighty from their thrones and raised the lowly to high places. You have filled the hungry with good things, while you have sent the rich away empty.~ Luke 1:51-53

Have you ever seen a crow’s nest? No, not the one on the top of a ship’s mast, an actual nest made by a crow in a tree. Probably not. Even if you patiently watch crows carrying material for a nest, you will be hard pressed to find it, let alone see it. Like their name’s sake on ships, they are always high up. Crows are highly intelligent, so they are clever enough to be stealthy. They take their time building the nest, knowing that rushing to the nest regularly will give away its location. In fact, they will sometimes carry decoy sticks, dropping them off somewhere other than the nest site. A typical location is the top of an evergreen, so even once the nest is complete, it is nearly impossible to see.

The place where Jesus was born was also difficult to find, because it was not the typical spot. Concealed in a lower level of the house where the animals were kept, Joseph’s family had cleverly created a place for the holy family to nest. It wasn’t the upper room where guests would normally stay (in fact, other members of the family were already there, thus, there was no room for them “in the inn”). It would seem that the view would have been better from the upper room, but Mary had a prophet’s vision. Months before, when she had met with her cousin Elizabeth to tell her about her pregnancy, she sang a song that only a prophet, with a crow’s nest view could sing. She was able to see the might arm of God at work turning the tables, making the mighty low and the lowly high. Here she was in the lowly part of her in-law’s house birthing not just love itself, but God’s justice into the world.

Prayer: Holy nest-builder, grant us a peek from under your loving wing that we might see the justice you are bringing. Amen.