Which version of The
Best Christmas Pageant Ever do you know and like? The one I love has the little boy playing the
innkeeper. Half way through his scripted
line, “There is no room,” he stops and blurts out, “Oh come on it—we’ll make room!”
The Gospel of Luke is about making room for a birth. There was no innkeeper. Joseph leaves because the room is not
suitable for the birth of a child. Inns had one large room, an open air center
ceiling for ventilation, and everyone huddle close to the fire in the middle of
the room. Hardly a place to birth a
baby!
So Joseph finds the stable, or as one tradition says, a
cave—and there he makes room for the birth.
The Gospel is all about using our lives to make room for
others—especially those who differ from us.
This year we memorialize Nelson Mandela for the act of pure
grace of making a space in a closed culture for a new birth. He opened his life up to those who imprisoned
him and emerged with a life to embrace everyone—and that enabled others to
follow him. In Jesus Christ, God makes a
space and place for everyone—all who are far off, as the Scripture says, are
brought near breaking down the wall of hostility.
May God bless our lives as instruments for the
Kingdom—making a space and place for others for the new birth of Jesus Christ.
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