From
The Rectory
The
recently sacked Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, caused controversy, amongst
other things, by Tweeting (are we meant to call it X-ing, now?) that: “The British
people are compassionate. We will always support those who are genuinely
homeless. But we cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents
occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a
lifestyle choice.”
The Matt cartoon in The Daily Telegraph quipped that the message in Suella Braverman’s Christmas Card might say that “being born in a stable is a lifestyle choice”. I think Christians would agree!
Luke’s
gospel tells us that the Emperor Augustus had issued a decree that a census
should be taken. So Joseph and his betrothed, Mary, had gone from their town of
Nazareth in Galilee to register in Bethlehem, the town which great King David
of old had been from, because Joseph was of the house and line of David. While
they were there, Mary gave birth to Jesus and placed him in a manger because
there was no room for them in the inn. But the circumstances of Jesus’ birth
were more than the result of historical accidents. The Bible sees them as the fulfilment
of God’s plan and of the prophecies that the long-promised Rescuer-King would
be born in Bethlehem, the city of his ancestor King David.
In
a sense, the Son of God could have remained in heaven without blame. But for
him to be born in a stable was a lifestyle choice. He came to our broken world
and shared our mess that he might be our Saviour. The Bible says that Jesus did
not consider equality with God something to cling on to but made himself
nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being found in human likeness. He
did not leave the glory of heaven for a splendid earthly palace. As the Carol
says, a stable-place sufficed for the Lord God Almighty Jesus Christ. The Bread
of Life was placed in an animal’s feeding trough. Eventually he would die on
the cross in our place that our sins might be forgiven.
As
another hymn addressed to the Lord Jesus puts it:
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
All for love's sake becamest poor;
Thrones for a manger didst surrender,
Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
All for love's sake becomes poor.
Indeed,
John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among
us. Literally he pitched his tent, or tabernacled amongst us. In Old Testament
times, when God’s people were travelling through the desert to the promised
land, they worshiped God in a tent, The Tabernacle. And during his earthly
ministry, Jesus was an embodied Tabernacle, a kind of mobile walking talking
Temple. Jesus was the place to go to meet with God, where the glory of God was
revealed. Jesus’ own body would be the place of sacrifice by which sinners like
me and you could come into the presence of a holy God.
Soon
Jesus and his family would be refugees as they fled from the murderous King Herod
to the safety of Egypt. Later, speaking of himself, Jesus would say: ““Foxes have dens
and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
Jesus was made homeless and chose to dwell in the tent of human flesh that we
might come home to God.
The Revd Marc Lloyd
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