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December 17 
Luke 2: 1-7 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. Today, we are focussing on the invisible man. He isn’t mentioned in scripture at all, he doesn’t have a name. Yet he, and often his wife, feature regularly in our retelling of the ancient nativity tale. If you were to head out today on a journey such as that undertaken by Joseph and Mary, you would certainly plan ahead, check the distance, the best route, where to stop along the way, book accommodation at the other end, but in our world of technology and instant communication that has become incredibly easy. It wasn’t easy back then and possibly unheard of to plan ahead like that. So the couple found themselves nearing the end of their journey on a town that was crowded out. Did they knock on doors asking for a room? We don’t know. Did a kindly innkeeper take them to his stable? Did an innkeepers wife challenge her husband blunt,’ Sorry, no room!” ? We just don’t know. Was the couple directed to an outhouse, or did they, in desperation just find the place for themselves? We will never know. But this we can be certain of. Though the story of the birth of Christ is populated by a number of figures, for each one of them, there are countless others who must have walked those difficult dusty miles with Mary and Joseph, perhaps encouraging them on, sharing the load when Mary tired; offering reassurance to Joseph, comfort to Mary. God took ordinary folk like you and me and created a family for himself in which he became completely dependent and vulnerable. He did it through Joseph and Mary, but in the cast of hundreds are numbered the unnamed, the unmentioned, the unidentifiable, because God’s story depends on folk like you and me. |