There is something special about being home for Christmas.
When I was ordained (over 30 years ago now) Heather and I went up to the Armidale Diocese,
Just before Christmas in 1979.
Our families in Sydney and Wollongong were devastated,
– they wanted us to come home for Christmas.
I remember, we flew home for that short Christmas period.
Every Christmas we were far away we tried to get back as soon as we could after Christmas.
Kenneth Bailey, a Middle Eastern expert who lives near Bethlehem,
wrote a book that gives us a different understanding of the story of Jesus' birth in Luke 2.
Bailey says that it was really a story of going home.
He says, "there was no place for them in the inn,"
the word for "inn" is the Greek word kataluma, which meant "guest room" rather than a public inn.
In Luke 10, in the story of the Good Samaritan,
Luke uses a different word to describe the public inn to which the Good Samaritan took the wounded traveller.
In other words, Luke knew the word for "public inn," but didn't use that word to describe the place where Jesus was born.
He used the word for "guest room" instead.
Bailey explains that,
in the typical Middle Eastern house,
the living room doubled as a guest room.
An adjacent room,
not finished as nicely as the rest of the house,
but part of the house,
served as shelter for livestock during cold nights.
The animals would be led outside during the day,
and the room would be cleaned.
When Heather and I and family were in the township of Mungindi
– up on the Queensland border,
We were so far out that in the Rectory (or the Vicarage, was what they called it)
they had a special room for the Bishop when he came,
It was rather spartanly furnished,
And to our amusement all the furniture was screwed to the floor.
We are still not sure if the Parish thought we were going to steal it,
Or the Bishop was going to take it home with him.
It wasn’t like the middle eastern room,
In as much we didn’t keep any animals in it at night
and put them out in the day.
We only kept the Bishop in it at night AND put him our in the day!
When we were visiting Kathmandu once,
Just up the street from where Matthew lived
In one of the houses,
They used to keep a huge cow in the front room,
You could see it through the window.
In his book, Bailey reminds us that Joseph and Mary had gone to Bethlehem to register for the census,
because Bethlehem was their home
––at least it was their home of origin.
They would have had family and relations living there,
and they would have been expected to stay with their relatives.
As you are!
But the census affected everyone, and others must have already occupied the guest room.
So Joseph and Mary occupied the outer room,
The room where the animals stayed at night.
This puts Jesus' birth in a new light.
Instead of being rejected by an impersonal innkeeper,
Jesus would have been born among his extended family as they gathered in Bethlehem for the census.
In other words, Jesus Himself came home at Christmas.
He was born in a real home among aunts and uncles and cousins
––and parents––who loved him.
That gives this story a whole different feel doesn't it?
We don’t know for sure that that is how it was, but it is an interesting possibility.
We have always felt sorry for Joseph and Mary
––that they were in such a lonely place when Jesus was born.
That they had been rejected.
But perhaps it wasn't lonely at all.
Perhaps they were at home.
We know that feeling very well at the moment.
Our son, Matthew home (with his new wife- Rupa) for the first time in 18 months keeps saying,
“Gee, it’s good to be home!”
Jesus knew the value of home.
He grew up in an ordinary family in an ordinary home in the little town of Nazareth. He knew how good it felt to go home
––to walk inside and close the door and shut out the dangers and anxieties of the world outside.
He knew the comfort of a father and mother and brothers and sisters who loved him. Jesus understood the meaning of the word "home".
And Jesus came to be born in a manger so that he could provide us a home.
In John 14, Jesus says:
"In my Father's house there are many dwelling places.
If it were not so,
would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and will take you to myself,
so that where I am, there you may be also."
Jesus was talking about our heavenly home,
he has gone there to prepare it for us.
We will be there one day,
and we can look forward to that.
But the home that he has prepared for us is more than a heavenly home.
We are part of a Christian family right here on earth.
People often speak of a "church home,"
because they find a true sense of belonging to a family.
We come to worship,
and we have our brothers and sisters in Christ by our side.
That is why it is important to come regularly,
To get known – and to know others.
That is why – on regular Sundays we have breakfast and morning tea together.
And that fellowship extends beyond St Mary’s.
When Heather and I travel, we always go to church on Sunday.
It is usually a highlight.
Nearly always, we don't know anyone,
but we feel a connected with the people,
because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ.
We feel like we are with family.
The point is that the Christ understands the word "home"
And has created a home for us right here on earth in the church.
But for us to be a member of Christ's family,
we must create a home for him in our hearts/in our lives.
He can't help us if we keep him outside.
Andrew Silesius put it this way over three hundred years ago:
Though Christ a thousand times
In Bethlehem be born.
If he's not born in thee,
Thy soul is forlorn.
You have probably seen Holman Hunt's famous painting of Christ knocking at a door. It is based on Revelation 3:20, where Christ says:
Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking;
if you hear my voice and open the door,
I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.
When the artist showed that painting to friends, one said,
"You have put no handle on the door."
The artist replied, "We must open the door––the handle is on the inside."
The same is true for us…
When it comes to Jesus, WE must open the door.
He doesn’t go anywhere that He is not wanted.
He waits to be invited in.
This Christmas could I encourage you to:
• Open your heart to Christ,
so that he may take up residence there.
• Open your heart to Christ,
so that he might find a home within your heart.
• Open your heart to Christ,
so that you might be a part of his family.
• Open your heart to Christ,
so that he might dwell in you and you in him––forever.
The amazing thing is, that if you do that,
Then it will be like “coming home”.
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