About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to their own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.
There were shepherds camping in the neighbourhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly God's angel stood among them, and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said:
"Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody worldwide. A saviour has just been born in David's town, a Saviour who is the Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for, a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger."
At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises:
"Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all women and men on earth who please God."
As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the shepherds talked it over: "Let's go to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us."
They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the shepherds were impressed.
Mary kept these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The shepherds returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they'd been told!
Introduction - No Room at the Inn
The most famous "no vacancy" sign in the world is the one from just over 2000 years ago at the Bethlehem Inn. Can you imagine the personal story behind our scripture reading?
There was an 80 mile journey. Joseph's young wife Mary sat with all their provisions on a donkey. She begins labour pains and Joseph is desperately seeking a place for his wife. Imagine, if you will, a young Galilean carpenter going to the Bethlehem Inn trying to get a room.
"We are sorry
there is no room,"
"But sir, my wife is having a baby,"
Inside there is the noise of family reunions, only the best known and best families have a place to sleep in the overcrowded village.
The innkeeper looks around "Sorry, but no one will give up their room… Perhaps the stable… It's the best I can offer,"
You wonder if the innkeeper ever said, "If only I had known."
On the surface there is absolutely nothing about this 2000 year old story that would have made it something to remember much less that it should be remembered and celebrated all over the world every year. Yet the Church has set a whole season (we call Advent) to ponder the mystery of what took place when Jesus was born. Advent and Christmas remind us of God's most important message to us and Heaven’s most treasured gift, The Lord says at Christmas,
"Open your hearts and let Jesus be born in you,"
God wants the Christ-child born in the Inn of your life and mine.
A Life Like Mine
"But," many of us would say, "How can Jesus, the Son of God be born in a life like mine?"
God knew that this question would be foremost in our hearts, so it was answered it before we could ask it. God knew that when you and I would think deeply about divine goodness, purity and holiness, we would feel unworthy. But, in what happened at that first Christmas, God wrote an answer into history. Little could Mary and Joseph have known that all the trial and tribulation they went through was for a Divine purpose, so grand in its design, that we wonder at it even today.
Where was Jesus born?
In a palace amid the splendour of servants and the comforts of ease? Was He received on a silken pillow and adored by a royal household? No, He was not born in a palace, and I am glad of it; for if He had been born there I could not hope that He could be born in my life, in my soul – because my soul is no palace.
Was Jesus born in the Inn, in a swept and garnished room with an attendant to help the mother in her labour? No. All the world knows that there was no room in the inn. And I am grateful that He was not born in some cosy room, because my heart, my soul is not swept, comfortable and orderly. If Jesus needs a well-kept hotel in which to be born, then He couldn't be born in me.
Was Jesus born in the simple, but clean home of some kind villager? Was the Virgin waited on by some motherly peasant in her warm and friendly home? No again. And I am thankful, because my soul is so often not even as well kept as a poor peasant's hut.
No, Jesus was born in a stable: a rough, crude, foul smelling stable. As humble a place as the mind of a human can conceive. This particular stable in Bethlehem was made for the oxen and donkey, for the animals and brutes; and it housed them none too comfortably.
Such was the place where Jesus was born, and it is a great consolation to me and to every honest heart, for my soul is more like this stable than it is a palace or an inn.
God with us
You see, if Jesus can be born in that place where the animals lived and was placed in the feeding trough where the animals ate, then He can be born in my soul! No one need ever say, "I am not good enough for Jesus to live in me!"
The strange thing is this Jesus doesn't seem to be born very often in palaces and inns and high-class homes. Somehow Jesus shuns the palaces where people view their lives as self-sufficient and adequate and satisfactory. No, Jesus is usually born in stables where people are not satisfied with their lives and cannot seem to make them what they wish, He comes to the heart that is hurting and searching and longing for the peace of God.
Is the Inn Still Full?
Is there a place in the Inn of your heart for him? Can Jesus be born in your life and have a place there, or is the Inn still full? Is there a "No Vacancy" sign hung on the entrance to your soul?
At Christmas we celebrate the angels' message to the shepherd and, with the shepherds we go, in our minds to Bethlehem to see Jesus, wrapped in cloths and lying in a feeding trough for animals.
That baby wrapped up in tight fitting clothes is the one who will unbind our lives from all that drags us down. Whatever drags us down in life, be it our lifestyle, the bottle, drugs or any other addiction, Jesus, bound tightly in cloths, will unbind us. A baby wrapped in a nappy is born to unbind you from whatever habit it is that is destroying your life. The addictions that make us feel like we're stuck in nappies need to be changed. So the angel says, "Jesus is here. A new life is yours!"
Christmas Blessings
There are new kinds of beatitudes that come with Christmas:
Blessed are the stables, for in them Jesus is born.
Blessed are those whose hearts are more like a stable than a palace
for in them Jesus may be born.
Blessed are you heavy-laden, and in sorrow, need, sickness or any other adversity, for in you Jesus may be born ... if you will let it happen!
Conclusion
So this Christmas, I invite you to swing open the doors of the stable of your soul, and don't worry about the stench and the squalor of it. Open your hearts and let Jesus enter in. Open wide the gates, He will come in no matter who you are. This He proclaimed once and for all when He came to us in the stable of Bethlehem. He is this very moment outside knocking - outside the stable of our souls. Can you hear the soft, persistent knocking?
You may find the following notes useful as you follow and complete them.
No Room at the Inn
The journey Mary and Joseph took from Nazareth to Bethlehem was a long and arduous one. The "no room at the inn" sign is perhaps the most famous "no vacancy" sign in history. In one sense the story about two people hunting for a room is mundane, in another it is a most powerful story, because the story invites us to ______ our hearts and let Jesus be born in us.
A Life Like Mine?
But how can Jesus be born into the mess and business of my life? If Jesus had been born in a palace with the splendour of _______ he could not be born in my life as my soul is no ______. If Jesus was born in a nice clean _________ with an attendant to help his mother, he could not be born in my life as my soul is not _____, _________ or ___________. If Jesus was born in a simple clean ____ of a villager, then he could not be born in my soul as my soul is not even as well _____ as a poor peasant's hut.
Jesus was born in a stable, a rough crude, foul smelling place. A humble place. This is a consolation for my soul is more like a stable than it is a ______ or an ______.
God with Us
If Jesus can be born in the dirt and squalor of a stable, he can be born in my life. No one ever need say "I am not good enough for Jesus to live in me". At Christmas we celebrate the birth of the child who is wrapped tightly in cloths; the child who will unbind our lives from all that drags us down. Whatever drags us down: our lifestyle, the bottle, drugs or any other addiction, Jesus, bound tightly in cloths, will unbind us and set us free.
Christmas Blessings
Blessed are the stables, for in them _______ is born.
Blessed are those who ______ are more like a stable than a place, for in them Jesus may be born.
Blessed are you, heavy-laden, and in sorrow, need or sickness, or in any other adversity, for in you ____ may be born - if you let it happen.
So swing open the doors of the stable of your soul, and don't worry about the stench and the squalor of it. Open your hearts and let Jesus enter in. Open wide the gates, He will come in no matter who you are. This He proclaimed once and for all when He came to us in the stable of Bethlehem. He is this very moment outside knocking - outside the stable of our souls. Can you hear the soft, persistent knocking?
Monday 23rd December - The God Who Is Vulnerable
Scripture Reading:
There were shepherds camping in the neighbourhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly God's angel stood among them, and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified.
From St Luke chapter 2
Thought for the Day:
St. Luke tells us the shepherds, "…were terrified…" The old King James version has the familiar, "and they were sore afraid." The words used to describe the shepherd’s experience are from the Greek words "mega" and "phobos". What the shepherds felt was "mega fear!" Fear that rates as "big time fear!" When the shepherd’s were quaking in their boots and covering their eyes from the brightness of God’s glory, the angel says, "Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people." God wants us to know that Jesus has come to bring us good news of God’s love and grace. He brings salvation, not condemnation – renewal, not retribution. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, not of punishment. God wants us to rejoice in not hide from, the glory of heaven.
The whole Christian message begins with…
Parents who are poor.
A mother in labour with no place to go.
A newborn child with no crib for a bed.
Visitors who come to see the child who have no influence.
So you see, there is no reason for fear. There is no barrier to overcome. No person is too poor, or too uneducated, or too insignificant to come to the Christ child who is sent by the God who is vulnerable.
Such a wonderful truth can only be contained in an open, receiving, adoring heart.
Action:
Tuesday 24th December - Christmas Eve - All Is Not Calm
Scripture Reading:
... she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
St. Luke2:7
Thought for the Day:
At Christmas time we sing the beautiful hymn “Silent Night” in which we say, “All is calm, all is bright.” But if we read the story of the first Christmas, we see that all was not calm, all was not bright. Jesus’ conception caused a terrible strain in the relationship between Mary and Joseph. In addition, Jesus’ birth occurred not at home in comfortable Nazareth, but in a stranger’s stable in a foreign town. Worse was to follow, as Herod killed innocent children in his desire to remove any threat to his hold on the throne.
We must guard against romanticizing the Christmas story. As beautiful as it is, the story warns us not to expect our lives to be calm and bright simply because God is with us, Emmanuel. The truth is, sometimes God comes into our lives not as a gentle rain but as an earthquake, not as a mild breeze but as a wrecking ball. Christmas does not guarantee us serenity and clarity of vision. Mary and Joseph had only their faith to sustain them, that is, their deep, abiding trust in God’s love. That’s all we have too.
This Christmas open your heart to the One who was not born in peace or calm or beauty, but who was born in the mess and smell of the stable. This child, Jesus, will be used to the mess and pain of your life. This child, wrapped in clothes, will unbind you from everything that binds you.
Action
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.