Teaching Point: Making Room for Jesus

Imagine it: Mary – fully pregnant – traveling on a donkey to her husband’s ancestral hometown. Why go to Bethlehem? It was a political decree to return to the family’s home to be counted – a census. Not too different from the census our own government makes today, but nowadays we can stay in the home we own! Back in the days of Jesus, they had to return to their ancestral home. Joseph was a descendant of King David, as was Mary, so they had to travel back to Bethlehem to be counted for the census. God used this royal decree to fulfill the prophecy written in Micah 5:2, “But you Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” When the three wise men came to King Herod, this was the verse the scribes recited to King Herod to substantiate what the wise men were saying.

From what I've read, the houses in Bethlehem are built on the slope of a limestone ridge. Many of these have a cave-like stable hollowed out in the limestone rock under the house. And…the rest of the story is familiar to us all: Joseph and Mary try to find a place to stay but there literally is “no room” for them anywhere, so they settle on a humble cave, where the homeowner’s animals were kept, to sleep and ultimately to give birth to the Savior of the world. What can we learn from this?

1. No person is too lowly or too “dirty” with sin for Jesus to come to. No matter how dark a persons’ past or how cold and unfeeling his heart is, Jesus will come into his heart, forgiving and cleansing him of all sin.

2. No matter how impossible our situation may be and no matter how unlikely we think it is for Jesus to show up, He will come to us and help IF we make room for Him.

I’ll be praying for each of you this week as you, like myself, busy yourself with the activities of Christmas: the shopping and wrapping; the school programs and church responsibilities; the stress of money, or expectations, or relationships. It’s all so “busy” and "crowded" and we sometimes don’t have room for Jesus, or worse don’t make room for Him. Allow Jesus to enter into all your Christmas activities this week and celebrate His birth with overflowing Joy that God is with us! Jesus is Emmanuel – literally “God with us”.