It is a strange year to be celebrating Christmas. 2020 has stirred the pot and shaken things up for Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving… Christmas is no exception.
It’s the season of giving, of joy, of hospitality and kindness and it stands in stark contrast to the messages of social distancing that we’ve been hearing for months.
This year, there aren’t many “kids jingle belling and everyone telling you be of good cheer” The “holiday greetings and gay happy meetings when friends come to call” are happening less and less and “parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting and caroling out in the snow” is becoming frowned upon.
If you search the web for “social distanced Christmas”, google brings up 11,000 results. There is an absence of Christmas spirit in the air, and an absence of festive activities on my calendar, and I won’t lie, it puts a small damper on the season as I know it.
Because of this however, I’ve had more time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas; the coming of the Messiah. And as I’ve been doing so, one phrase has rung clear in my mind.
Prepare Him Room.
This year, more than anything, we’ve been told to distance ourselves from people, to not welcome others into our homes, to stand six feet apart and to avoid social gatherings.
It makes me wonder, if Mary and Joseph were alive in today’s times, and desperate to find a place to stay, would we shut them out as well?
As Luke’s account of the birth of Christ says, “she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
It’s easy to read those words and become angry. No room for the Christ! Surely someone could have opened their doors!
But would you?
Would you, in 2020, welcome in a tired and dirty stranger who has literally never heard of hand sanitizer, is most likely not wearing a mask, traveling from far away and carrying a young woman in his arms who is clearly distressed and crying out in labor pains?
I fear we’d be like the people of Bethlehem.
I fear we’d find no room.
Jesus was the long awaited Savior of the world, and yet when he finally came to save the world, we shut him out.
We still need Jesus today. More than ever. And during this pandemic people have been desperately praying, and hoping and wishing for an end, for a miracle, for a vaccine!
But are we still turning away from what truly can save us? Is there still no room for Jesus at the inn of our hearts?
The first Christmas was so unlike the Christmases of today. It was a desperate moment for Mary and Joseph, and our whole world. Jesus came, not to drink egg-nog and pass out stockings and decorate a Christmas tree. He came to die for the sins of mankind. And Mary and Joseph weren’t looking for the perfect Christmas party or perfect Christmas Eve service to attend, they were literally just looking for a place to give birth to their son.
We live in seemingly desperate times too. But that doesn’t mean we’re unfit to celebrate Christmas. If anything, it qualifies us for it.
” Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20)
Jesus isn’t afraid of Coronavirus, or germs, or the darkness and pain of your life. If he was, he never would have come, and he most certainly would never have chosen to be born in a stable, full of dirty animals, to a couple of no wealth or importance or class.
I know it’s strange to talk about, in a time where we’re told the most thoughtful thing we can do is distance ourselves from others.
But it doesn’t matter that others aren’t knocking on your door this year. Christ is.
And he doesn’t require you to be full of Christmas cheer. He doesn’t require you to wear a mask. He just asks for one thing.
To prepare him room.
