Jesus’s birth is a welcome invitation to everyone—the poor, unknown, rich, men, and women.

To those who recognize Him as He comes, He brings hope, peace, joy, and love.

 

I want us to look at a few things this morning:

  • Responsible Joseph
  • Welcome Invitation
  • Jesus’s Birth
  • Hope

Luke 2:1–6

Being of the line of David, Joseph had to go back to his family’s town to register.

The family of David was so famous in Bethlehem that local folk apparently called the town the City of David.

Being of that family, Joseph would have been welcome anywhere in town.

Joseph was a responsible man who had already shown a great deal of wisdom in bringing Mary with him for the census.

He would have known how to find accommodations for his family.

We have become accustomed to assuming that Mary and Joseph struggled to find a place to stay when they arrived and then suddenly gave birth to Jesus.

Luke’s text does not say these things.

According to cultural traditions, Joseph would likely have found a place to stay in plenty of time, and if not, they were not far from Elizabeth and Zechariah’s house, so they could have gone there.

We’ve painted this theme in movies and Christmas pageants frequently portraying that this was a stressful, running-out-of-time type of situation. However, the Bible does not say this.

Joseph and Mary found lodging in a private home in Bethlehem (as opposed to a commercial inn).

The word Luke uses in 2:7 for “inn” is katalyma, meaning “upper room,” a space for guests in a private room.

All of the commercial inns were full, all of the guest spaces in private homes were full, so a private family offered Mary and Joseph their space in which the animals were kept.

Mary and Joseph had traveled approximately eighty miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

The first Sunday of Advent typically focuses on the hope that Jesus’s birth story has brought us. (November 28th, 2021)

But those who haven’t heard the story aren’t able to experience that hope.

Hope is not lost.

As the year comes to an end, we sometimes feel sad about the goals or dreams that were not met, or the people or things we lost.

Christmas is a wonderful time to reflect on the hope Jesus brings us.

Jesus came for all of us, and we can expect to find Him when we look for Him.

We will find Jesus when we look for Him with all of our hearts.

Doing so requires our action.