Scripture Reading: Luke 2:6-7
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.
Devotional: Away from home with its familiar and probably secure environment, the Holy Family found themselves in a strange place with no lodging available except with the livestock in a barn. Was this because they were too poor to afford lodging in the inn? Was this because Joseph had somehow failed to make prior arrangements for a place to lodge? As a male, I can identify with the men in this family, perhaps feeling that he, for whatever reason, was not able to care for Mary when she delivers the baby. Surely, any husband and father would have feelings of inadequacy and guilt and perhaps apprehension about the safety and welfare of mother and child.
This is a real human situation and this cannot be the best circumstance for the delivery and care of a newborn. Yet, it is in the midst of such a situation that God comes among us, then and now.
Surely Joseph and Mary were people of great faith and chosen by God to parent the Messiah; yet it is not out of reason to assume that they were anxious about their whole situation, and perhaps shared that anxiety as mates do. So, maybe this was not a blissful situation, at least initially. Maybe there was even some conflict within the family. If so, this makes the birth of Jesus even more significant than the Christmas Card pictures would indicate. Even at His birth, Jesus came into the real world to save the real world from sin and death.
It is in the “real world” that Jesus loves us and gave His life for us so that we might become citizens forever in the truly Real World of the Kingdom of God.
Prayer: Come, Lord Jesus
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