Outcasts at the Manger

"Outcasts at the Manger" is a blog post by Andrew Marr, who is a monk of St. Gregory’s Abbey in Three Rivers, Michigan, a Benedictine monastery in the Episcopal Church.

Here is an excerpt from his blog:

We like to be insiders and hate to be outsiders, don’t we? Well, let’s look at some insiders and outsiders in the Christmas story. The people who stayed at the inn in Bethlehem were insiders. A betrothed couple and their newborn baby were outsiders. Shepherds were outsiders, hated and distrusted by all. So why would the angel of the Lord show such bad taste in revealing the birth of the Savior to them?

The Magi were highly-placed insiders in their own country, most likely top advisers of royalty. So why would they travel to another land where they were outsiders? If the star was up there for all to see, why did these foreigners from without and outcasts from within Jewish society respond when others did not?

and he ends with this paragraph:

The greatest irony is that Christ was born to save all people, to make insiders of all of us. The problem is, we don’t want to be insiders with those who are outsiders and we certainly don’t want outsiders to join us. After all, what would we do if there were no outsiders?

I encourage you to read the whole post here:

http://andrewmarrosb.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/outcasts-at-the-manger/