Our greatest gift we can give

So my thoughts move quickly to those traveling, crossing mile after mile during upcoming days. And more specifically, I think of family members making their way as they return home. While snow makes for beautiful Christmas card scenes, out on the highways, the challenges of ice and snow can make for rough passage!

And then once people arrive, our four-bedroom house quickly begins to feel small. During the Christmas season, it begins to seem so reasonable to suggest to my church council that a larger parsonage just may be in order! But there will be room for all. After all, that’s what family is about — a place for all to feel at home and loved.

Throughout scripture, extending hospitality was a sacred act — obligation and privilege. All of which leads me to be puzzled by the lack of room for Joseph, Mary and their baby boy who was on His way! After all, Joseph was returning to the hometown of his ancestors. Surely someone there would have known him or would have known of him and made room for his family at a critical time.

Consider if you had lived in Bethlehem with Joseph searching for shelter. Wouldn’t you have opened the door wide and welcomed them, even if it meant sleeping for awhile on the floor to make way for mother, child and father, too.

Martin Luther addressed this issue in a Christmas sermon he delivered in 1543. His words:

“The inn was full. There are many of you who think to yourselves — ‘If only I had been there! How quick I would have been to help the baby!’ Why don’t you do it now? You have Christ in your neighbor. You ought to serve your neighbor, for what you do to your neighbor in need you do to the Lord Christ Himself.”

Luther’s words, which challenged his listeners in 1543, have been preserved. So, what about our present time? Will we make room in our hearts for Christ? Will we make room in our lives as He comes to us in the lives of those in need — or will we be so turned in upon ourselves that we end up sending Him/them away?

The Christmas Story is an ancient narrative relating what took place long ago. But in a deeper sense, it continues to unfold, drawing each of us into its movement. In a mystical way, Bethlehem reaches forward to become a part of our story — and with it the awesome question is raised before each one of us. Will we make room for Jesus? Will we make room for Him as He comes to us not only during the Christmas season, but each and every day?

So here’s the opportunity to extend gift-giving beyond a particular day or season. Offering to Christ Jesus an open heart and open hands ready to serve would be our greatest gift — received and given wherever life may take us in the new year about to begin.

Blessings to you along the way!