Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Luke 2:7
The Scotsman newspaper recently shared an articled called ‘Nobody should be without a home at Christmastime.’ It was an article about the rising numbers of people applying for homelessness assistance. Current statistics show that there are over 34,000 homeless households in Scotland. That is a huge number of folks without a place to call home this Christmas. Thankfully, there are many great folk and great charities, who can provide services and temporary accommodation, but it’s still reported that in 2024 over 1000 people slept rough on the streets of Glasgow.
It might not have been an alley or doorway with a cardboard box, but Jesus’ first bed wasn’t much better.
Mary and Joseph landed in Bethlehem because of a command given by the ruling Romans that the whole empire should be registered. Joseph’s family were from Bethlehem, so he and the pregnant Mary had to make the eighty-mile journey there from Nazareth.
It’s pretty well known that they didn’t have the cosiest of accommodations. Plenty nativities would have you believe that Mary and Joseph went round knocking on doors and were simply unfortunate that they couldn’t get a B&B.
Luke doesn’t give us much description of this place. We’ve got one small verse, and we’re told they didn’t get a guest room, so they put Jesus in a manger. It’s likely they stayed with family, and the only space that could be spared was with the animals, in a ground floor room or an attached barn.
It wasn’t the most sanitary birth. No midwives or doctors, no theatres in case of complications, not even any hand gel. Mary wrapped him up herself because she had nobody else to help. Then she laid him in the only available resting place, an animal trough, a manger.
It’s easy to take this for granted because we’ve heard the story every year since we were kids, but this is absolutely mind blowing. This is the glorious God who created all things, slumming it in obscurity. Jesus starts off life as an outcast, in abject poverty, far from basic comforts, and living among animals.
Nobody should be without a home at Christmastime?
This was no accident. This moment was planned since before the dawn of time. God moved the whole Roman Empire to orchestrate this moment, using brutal politics for his gracious purposes. Jesus’ birth in obscurity set the tone for the rest of his life, and ministry, and death.
Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
Mathew 8:20
Jesus came to bring hope, and bring his people home, but he did that by stepping into the mess of this broken world. Jesus came to bring outcasts home, by becoming a homeless outcast.
Rejected by the very people who should have been expecting him, he died alone, outside the city gates. There, he took the shame and guilt of sin and acted as a substitute so that his people might be given eternal security.
It’s good and right that efforts are made to care for those who are homeless, or outcast, or in any kind of poverty. It’s a great aim that nobody should be homeless at Christmas. We Christians should care more than anyone else about suffering and poverty, as a practical response to the extraordinary kindness we’ve been shown by Jesus.
However, we have much more to share than just practical help. We have news of eternal hope of an eternal home.
Those with the biggest and swankiest houses today will one day be down and out, homeless and destitute eternally, unless their hope is in Jesus. No earthly necessities can give us eternal security. No practical comforts can give us lasting certainty.
Today, if you have a roof over your head, and bed to lay down in, praise the Lord.
But more than that, if your hope is in Jesus, praise the Lord that you are secure forever.
What joy to know that Christ is mine!
Who holds me ever in his love
The sure foundation of my life
Whose grace will always be enough!
Though all I have is stripped away
Still I rejoice for Christ remains!
And when he comes he’ll lift me high
For all of Christ is all of mine!
If Christ is Mine, Joyful Noise
Even if we lose all our worldly possessions, if our faith is in Jesus, we will never lose our solid hope of eternal home.
Rejoice!
Written by Pete Bell
A thought to remember: Emmanuel became an outcast to bring outcasts home.
A bit more to read: Luke 2:1-7
A question to ask: What possessions do you hold on to more than you hold on to Jesus?
A song to sing: If Christ is Mine
For reference: Scotsman article