What's up with the ox and donkey?

I don’t know why, but Christmas makes me think of Walgreens. I don’t buy Christmas presents at Walgreens, but if you want to observe Christmas clutter at its best (and worst), go into a Walgreens this time of year.

Even our homey manger scenes are cluttered with shepherds, sheep, three wise men, camels, an ox, and a donkey. It’s like people dropping in unexpectedly with their pets during Christmas, and it’s impolite to tell them to go away. Christmas and clutter go together, even in the manger.

But what’s up with the ox and the donkey? The deeper question is about our need to embellish what is a very sparse story about Jesus’ birth. We’ve cluttered the Christmas story with so many novelistic details that it looks like a fireplace mantel crammed with too many trinkets.

Read Matthew and Luke: no ox or donkey in the manger. How did they get there? Who thought up the barnyard scene? One of my favorite Christmas carols is “What Child is This?” That song says, “Why lies he in such mean estate, where ox and ass are feeding?” I like the picture. It offers a very sweet, childlike image. It brings out my sentimental side, yet it points to a potential clutter issue in the manger.

It might be kind of a shock to know that the ox and donkey were placed in the manger by a Gnostic Gospel from the 8th century called “The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew.” This thing is long and dull and silly. But in Chapter 14 of Pseudo-Matthew we read, “The very animals, therefore, the ox and the ass, having Him in their midst, incessantly adored Him.” Okay, so the ox and donkey incessantly adore the baby Jesus. Why?

Well, it’s because Isaiah supposedly prophesied this when he wrote, “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand” (Isa 1:3). This is about the manger? Yes, according to the romantic version of the manger based on Pseudo-Matthew. I think we would agree that this is stretching scripture a tad!

Enough. Back to Christmas clutter. Walgreens is cluttered. Our houses are probably cluttered. We’ve even cluttered the manger with animals that weren’t really there in the first place. And perhaps we’ve cluttered the story of Jesus himself with non-essentials.

The key to a Christ-filled Christmas? Get rid of the clutter and “incessantly adore” Jesus. Cut through the novelties and embellishments and receive Christ himself by faith.