Where Christ Comes Home for Christmas: Luke 2:1-20 - Christmas Eve

Chances are, you know the song “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”

Kim Gannon and Walter Kent wrote the song from the point of view of a soldier stationed overseas during World War 2. But nobody wanted to record the song because it was too sad, especially in its last line “I’ll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams.” So, Gannon sang it to his friend Bing Crosby during a game of golf, and he loved it. Crosby recorded the song in October of 1943, and it quickly rose to the top of the charts.

It has stood the test of time, because everyone can relate to the pain of being away from home at Christmas and separated from the people you love, for any number of reasons.

Baby Jesus in the Rubble at Christmas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. Source: Facebook

According to the United Nations Council on Human Rights, 110 million people have been displaced from their homes due to persecution, famine, and war. In fact, this is the worst global refugee crisis since World War 2. And this 110 million doesn’t include the those who are fighting on the front lines of global conflicts, many against their own will. It doesn’t include anyone hospitalized or imprisoned; nor does it include children in foster care or nursing home residents.

Photo credit: churchart.com

But if we listen very closely to the Nativity Story, we find that Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus have much in common with them.

Emperor Augustus decreed that all persons must return to their ancestral hometowns to be registered for taxes. Joseph and the expectant Mary dutifully obey, leaving their home in Nazareth to make the ninety-mile trip to Bethlehem.

Click here to read the Scripture text

When they arrived in Bethlehem, it was night, and the time came for Mary to deliver her child. Unfortunately, she was forced to give birth to Jesus in a manger, because “there was no room in the inn.”

To be clear, hotels and motels didn’t exist back then. If they were going to find lodging, it was going to be with relatives. Still, either nobody could take them in, or nobody would take them in. It appears that Joseph and his family were not welcome in his own hometown.

To make matters worse, they won’t be returning to Nazareth once the registration is completed. When King Herod learns from the Magi about the birth of the King of the Jews in Bethlehem, he murders all little boys under the age of three. It is only by the grace of God that the family escapes to Egypt. Thus, Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus became just like our modern world’s 110 million refugees. Though they will eventually return to Nazareth and resume their lives, Jesus will be expelled from his hometown shortly after he begins his ministry. The entire earth will reject Jesus when he’s nailed to the cross.

It's sad as these facts may be, there is good news which gives us hope: Jesus is born into the displacement and disorientation we all face in life. He is born to those who don’t belong; those who get left behind; those for whom daily life is anything but heavenly.

Simply put, Jesus makes his home with those who will not be at home (or feel at home) this Christmas. This includes the more than 110 million people around the world displaced from their homes, and the millions more wandering the streets hungry and homeless. And Jesus will enter the grave in solidarity with all people throughout history who’ve been denied God’s gift of life.

Christmas may be a painful reminder that things aren’t the way they used to be, or the way they should be. But that doesn’t mean that Jesus isn’t here. Christmas awakens us to the reality of Jesus, who takes on all the loneliness, the pain, the rejection, and the powerlessness we all experience in life.

When Jesus shows up, things change. People change. You change.

Christmas is a time for all of us to be reborn into a living hope. You have hope because you have Jesus. Christmas happens every time you bow your head in prayer; every time you open your Bible; every time you put yourself aside to receive the gift of Jesus.

The number one reason to come to church is to receive Jesus in the word, in the sacraments, and in the people of God so that you will see him at work in your daily life. Like the shepherds, your work will become worship and an occasion to bear witness to Christ. God doesn’t use manger scenes to show Jesus to the world. God uses people like you to bring Christ alive. People will notice that you are kind, generous, and patient. They will notice your forgiveness.

You may be anxious about the changes and challenges the new year may bring. But by faith, you will witness Christ being born in them. To truly know Jesus is to experience him not in the absence of adversity but amid adversity. Hard times are the mangers where you are reborn with Christ into a new creation.

Even if you’ve been more naughty than nice, you are forgiven. In Christ you are dead to sin and risen to new life and a new beginning.

This Christmas may God’s Holy Spirit awaken you to the Christ who makes his home with you. When you see Christian love changing lives, when you have strength to do things you couldn’t do before, when you endure and overcome the unimaginable, it’s not a dream. It’s Jesus. It’s Christmas.