Born where the animals were fed

An emperor orders a census for tax purposes and, without knowing it, moves a pregnant carpenter's wife eighty miles to the village the prophets had named. There is no room, so the baby is laid in a feeding trough. Then the announcement — and it does not go to the palace or the temple. It goes to shepherds, men whose work made them ceremonially unclean and whose testimony was not accepted in court. An angel tells them good news of great joy for all people, and the sky fills with light. They go, find the child exactly as described, and tell everyone. Luke notes that Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Everything about the entrance is deliberately the wrong way round, and it sets the pattern for everything that follows.