Celebrating Christmas--Swaddling Clothes

I’ve often wondered what Mary must have been feeling as she wrapped her newborn Son in swaddling clothes.
During Biblical times after a baby was born it was washed,
rubbed with salt then oil and lastly swaddled. Swaddling was accomplished by tying strips of cloth together and then wrapping them around the baby to restrict movement. Swaddling kept the child warm, and it was thought that it also ensured that the baby would grow strong without deformity. Because of this a swaddled baby took on the metaphor of being a loved and cared for child. Thus Ezekiel says of Israel,

“And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, 

neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee: thou was not salted at all,

nor swaddled at all” (Ezekiel 16:4). 

In other words, because of Israel’s wickedness they have been abandoned and not cared for.

Perhaps the reason Luke gave us this small detail about Mary swaddling her baby was to help us realize how much she loved this child and to let us know He was well cared for. 

But there is something else. Of all people, Mary knew the significance of this child and the circumstances concerning His conception. From the moment of that miraculous event, if not before, she must have sought for any information about the fate of this child. There were many prophecies, and Mary must have hung on every word the rabbis and others said about the coming Messiah. She must have asked questions and in the answers would have discovered what was going to happen to her little boy.

Therefore, did wrapping Him in swaddling clothes make her think about the fact that one day 

He would be wrapped in similar looking grave clothes? 

Did seeing him wrapped tightly in the bands of birth make her think of the bands of death that would surely come to Him? 

Whether she did or not, the bands Mary swaddled her Son in remind us of His mission. He was born to die for us and by so doing would take away our “deformity” and allow us to live forever in His love.