Listen:
Luke 2:4-7
Since Joseph belonged to David’s house and family line, he went up from the city of Nazareth in Galilee to David’s city, called Bethlehem, in Judea. He went to be enrolled together with Mary, who was promised to him in marriage and who was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for Mary to have her baby. She gave birth to her firstborn child, a son, wrapped him snugly, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guestroom.
Consider:
This portion of the Christmas story is one we have heard possibly more times than we can count. When a story becomes this familiar to us, it can be easy to simply recite, or read without absorbing.
When this happens we have to slow down and intentionally ask ourselves - what did I notice today that has never popped into my mind before? We have to intentionally separate the Bible’s story from the Hallmark one because, and this may be controversial, the Bible’s story is usually better!
So today I’ve noticed a detail which I didn’t notice before. First, it doesn’t say anything about an inn or innkeeper, but simply mentions there wasn’t a place for them in the guestroom. Does this mean Joseph and Mary returned to Bethlehem so they could have their baby near family? And if so, how does that change the story for me?
In this case, it means Mary and Joseph chose the manger. It wasn’t a place of last resort or the last open space in Bethlehem, but a loving part of their ancestral family home. Jesus wasn’t born unwanted and unnoticed, but into a loving, large family which made space for him where there wasn’t any before.
And so, I remember, God makes space for us in this large and loving family, space which we may have never had before. We aren’t cast into the darkness, unloved and unwanted, but welcomed into a space made for caring and nurturing the weak and vulnerable.
Those details are important and so we must make space to find them in our hearts.
Respond:
What new thing about the story of Jesus’ birth surprised you today, or felt different in this reading? Focus each day, while reading the story of Jesus’ birth, to find one NEW thing, one new perspective, one new phrase that stands out to you here and now.
Pray:
Loving Lord, we know that your Word is living, breathing, ever changing as we encounter it at different times and in different places. Help us never stop reading your Word with expectation and hope of new surprises of your love for us. Amen.
