Good morning. This week we are considering some of the scriptures and topics that guide our celebration of Christmas, the arrival of Immanuel.
Luke 2:6-7 continue the record of His coming: And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Notice that the scripture record doesn’t say that Jesus was born only hours after Joseph and Mary arrived at Bethlehem. It says, And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. It could have been that night, or the next, or the next. But because the shepherds seem to have been settled in for a night’s watch, and the glory of the angels was brilliant against a darkened sky, it seems clear that Jesus was born at night.
The part of the story that has intrigued many through the centuries is the last portion of verse 7: because there was no place for them in the inn.
That Bethlehem would have been packed with people isn’t hard to imagine, the Roman decree made sure of that. But the Jewish laws of hospitality required that any good Jew would open their home to a traveling stranger, and one would think this would be especially true for a young couple such as Joseph and Mary given her condition.
It wasn’t just the inn keeper that would have turned them away, it would have been the entire community. I am sure it was easy for them to justify. After all, hundreds of travelers were in their city and they couldn’t extend hospitality to more than one or two, could they? They all said “No”. They all turned them away. They all pointed to the hole in the hill where the animals were kept, the so-called “stable”. The young man with the even younger pregnant woman at his side would have to go it alone, to do the best they could.
The question is often suggested, but it is an appropriate one: “Do you have room for Jesus?” We too are busy. We too feel that our resources are stretched. We too can justify almost anything to get us through the day. But the question is very real: “Do you have room in your heart, in your life, to invite Immanuel to come in?
‘Tis the season!
Thank you Lord Jesus for coming to us.
Vern