Christmas: Do I Have Room for Christ?

 

Deacon Dave · Do I Have Room for Christ?

Homily for the Solemnity of Christmas. Gospel of St. Luke 2:1-14. Theme: Do I Have Room for Christ? 

 We all know the Christmas story as recorded in St. Luke's Gospel and many of us can probably recite it by heart. Leading up to the story, Mary and Joseph traveled from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea so that they could be counted in a census ordered by the Roman Empire. This meant that they journeyed 90 miles in about 4 days, with an uncomfortable Mary ready to deliver her Child at any moment. Most likely she was on a donkey while Joseph walked, leading the way. And then we enter the part of the story that we just heard from St. Luke: “While they were there…she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” 

 Joseph was from Bethlehem, so when he got there he would have naturally gone to his family home to claim a place to stay. The Greek word that Luke uses for "inn" really means a place to the home where one received and housed visiting guests. So, Joseph would have certainly expected to be welcomed there. But Mary and Joseph didn’t get that welcome. They were relegated to a rustic segment, of the property where their animals lived, and that’s where the Baby Jesus was born. We’re not quite sure why that happened. Maybe there were other relatives from other places who had also come for the census and they claimed the available spaces first? But if that’s true then consider what else this might mean: that those relatives looked at Mary, who was nine months pregnant, and decided not to give up their place for her. Not a one of them. This would have been a great affront to Jewish hospitality. I think this rude action would only make sense, so to speak, if Mary and Joseph were being shunned by his devout Jewish family because of their premature pregnancy. 

 Recall that the Gospel of St. Matthew informs us that Mary miraculously conceived Christ while she and Joseph were betrothed but not yet living together as husband and wife. And while this meant they were legally married, it did not yet grant them in Jewish law the right to physical intimacy. So without knowing the truth of how it happened, maybe Joseph’s relatives decided not to have “that kind of girl” in their house. Remember, only Joseph and Mary knew how Jesus came to be within her…the others simply assumed what most of us would have also presumed. 

 So perhaps that is how the Son of God was first received into our world. As St. John puts it in the beginning of his Gospel, “He came to his own people and his own did not receive him.” The late Pope Benedict XVI wrote about this rejection of Jesus by his own relatives and thought that this story should be a challenge for all of us. He urged each one of us to ask ourselves, “What would happen if Mary and Joseph were to knock at my door. That is, the door of my heart? Would there be room for them to bring Jesus into me? Would I have room for Christ when He seeks to enter under my roof? Would I make space for Him in my life?” Or am I more like those who refused Him entrance and shelter? Just as Jesus' untimely conception brought out the self-righteousness of his relatives, do He and His Gospel of love cause me to falter as well? Am I scandalized by His commands to take responsibility for the poor, to forgive my enemies and put myself in the last place in life? Does that make me not want to welcome ”that kind of Messiah” into my heart, into my home? 

 The Birth of Jesus is fun to observe what with all the food and parties, the lights and decorations, the sights and sounds of the Season. But the first Christmas was not a time for sentimental celebrations. It was a time for making a decision that would reveal what was within the heart. Christmas offers a choice for each one of us. It can be an invitation a brand new life or it can come and go without changing us whatsoever. The decision is totally ours because God always respects our free will power to choose. 

 Ultimately, Christmas asks us if we want Christ as Lord and Messiah of our lives. May our celebration of Christmas this year become the time when we really and truly ask the Lord for the grace to welcome Him with open arms when He comes knocking at the door of our hearts. May we hear St. Joseph knocking and welcome the Blessed Mother,. They bring us the Holy Child and asks us to make room for Him within ourselves, within the our lives.