This post is “Christmas – Day 16”, if you haven’t already read Day 1, please click here.

Please comment below with your own thoughts about each verse and how you will be acting on each thought. Also, if you haven’t yet signed up to receive the notifications of new studies, please do that today (the form is at the bottom of the page).

Christmas – Day 16

Luke 2:6-7

While they were in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to have her child. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there wasn’t any room for them in the inn.

The Thought

While they were in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to have her child. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there wasn’t any room for them in the inn. We don’t have the whole story.

We so often have a picture of poverty in our images of the Christmas scene, because there was no room at the inn. And that is what is stated here, but what if that wasn’t exactly the case? We certainly don’t have the whole story.

I hope I am not talking heresy here, but I have wondered about this situation many times. What if there was no room because of the innkeeper’s attitude?

I could be wrong and it is certain that hundreds of people were flocking to Bethlehem at that time because that’s what the census required. The hotels were not lacking in custom, and could have been full to overflowing.

BUT…

What if Joseph’s family were ashamed and hurt that Mary was pregnant before marriage? What if they rejected him and Mary, not wanting to condone what they thought had happened? What if they rejected Mary and not Joseph, if they would let him in because he was family. The way we judge people is often not the way the Lord sees things.

Action

Whatever the reason for the stable birth, can you give thanks today that Jesus’ birth happened in accordance with Old Testament prophecies? Ask the Lord to show you the truth of the Biblical story and to help you not rely on the Christmas card images we see.

Ask Him too to show you if you are judging any situation without understanding what is really happening. Ask His forgiveness for the wrong judgements you are in danger of making or have made in the past.