Loving God, your Son Jesus came into our world with only a feed box to hold him.  By the power of your Spirit, open our hearts and our homes to Jesus, that we might discover in him life in all its fulness; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    One day an angel of God appeared to me and said, “God’s Son Jesus is coming.  Can you find somewhere that he could lay his head?”  I thought it a rather strange request, but it isn’t every day that an angel shows up.  Surely this job couldn’t be that hard.  Somebody must have room for the Son of God to lay his head.  And so I said, “Yes.  I can do that for the Son of God.  I’ll find a place for him for when he arrives.”  And the angel seemed pleased, and left me.

    I started with some of the biggest houses I could find.  I thought, “Surely they must have some extra room.  Surely Jesus could stay with them when he comes.”  And so I started knocking on doors.

    The first house that I tried was big and bright and all decorated for Christmas.  I knocked on the door and was met by a rather frazzled looking woman.  “What?” she said to me.  “Jesus coming?  This isn’t a hotel,” she said.  “Doesn’t he realize how busy I am right now?  We’ve had something almost every night for the past three weeks.  The children have all had Christmas concerts, and there have been holiday parties at work, and all of the relatives are showing up over the next few days.  No,” she said.  “Jesus will have to find somewhere else to stay.”  And so I tried a different house.

    This time, a young couple and their dog all answered the door at once.  “The Son of God?” they asked.  “Why would he need a place to stay?”  I explained again that Jesus was coming and would need a place to lay his head.  “So why doesn’t he stay with you?” they asked.  “I don’t have a home,” I answered.  “My job right now is to find a place for Jesus.”  “Oh.  Well, we can’t help you.  We’ve had so much on our calendar that we still have to do our Christmas shopping tonight.  We can’t show up without any gifts, you know.”  “I suppose so,” I answered, and I left.

    This time, I tried a smaller house.  A man answered the door who looked very old and tired.  “Jesus?” he answered.  “Why would he ever want to stay with me?  Can’t you see that there’s no room to move in this place?  I can’t even find the extra bed under the piles of stuff.  Plus, the missus isn’t feeling too well these days.  Nope.  There’s no room for Jesus here.  Surely there’s somewhere else he could stay, isn’t there?”  I was starting to wonder about this myself as I sadly walked away.

    I tried a different street and another house.  A young man answered the door, obviously annoyed at having been disturbed.  His eyes were glazed as he tried, apparently unsuccessfully, to focus on me.  “Oh no,” he said.  “Jesus wouldn’t want to be around me.  Bad luck follows me around like I’m a magnet for it or something.  Girlfriends leave me, bosses fire me, and my family wants nothing to do with me.  Jesus never did anything for me, and there’s definitely no room for him here.  Now leave me be, and find somewhere else for him to stay.”

    I was starting to wonder if I would ever find a place for the Son of God to lay his head.  I gave up on the houses and tried a small apartment.  This time, a young mother holding a baby answered the door.  I could see a hamper of food just inside that was obviously recently delivered.  The apartment looked almost bare other than the odd stick of furniture.  I was almost afraid to ask by this time, but I really wanted to find a place for Jesus that would be better than a cardboard box under the bridge.  And so, I told her that the Son of God was coming and needed a place to lay his head.

    “With me?” she asked.  “Of course he could stay here any time!  The couch is all I have, but he would be most welcome.”  I almost fainted with relief.  At last, somebody willing to make room for the Son of God!  I thanked her profusely.  “It would be my honour,” she said.  And so Jesus came to stay.

    Her heart was filled with love and joy and peace, and her home was filled with laughter.  While she never seemed to have much of anything, it was always enough.  She gave thanks each and every day that the Saviour of the world had come to stay with her.  She gave thanks, and she shared her abundance with others in whatever ways she could.  Her heart was overflowing with the goodness of God.  God-with-us – Emmanuel – had brought her life in all its fulness.  Amen.

Nativity of our Lord - Christmas Eve                    Luke 2:1-20
December 24, 2009
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2009 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved