Making Room for Jesus

Having just gotten through the after Thanksgiving weekend, I feel a bit torn between two realities.  One reality has been so thoroughly portrayed and focused on in the media.  Everywhere for days has been filled with either the ads or the news about the great deals and sales before and leading up to “black Friday” (the day after Thanksgiving) which some stores beat out by beginning on Thanksgiving Day; the sales on Friday and Saturday and Sunday and “Cyber Monday”.  Have we bought and sold enough?  Spent enough money?  Waited in enough lines? 

And then there is the other reality that I was reminded of in several ways this week.  In the midst of all of the focus on spending and having way more than we need, the same economy trying to get us to spend our way into debt has created a lot of people who are truly in need.  Groups like Salvation Army, the New Life Center, shelters and food pantries are seeing a big increase in the numbers of people who need help.  There are a lot more people who are un or under employed, people who are homeless, living in substandard housing, and who are hungry: not just in New York or Chicago but also here in our county and in our town and surrounding small towns.  People are hungry and food pantry shelves are nearly empty all over.

What does this have to do with us or with Christmas?

“And she (Mary) gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn.”  (Luke 2:7)

Oftentimes we treat people in need or talk about them as if it is their fault that they are jobless, or homeless, or hungry.  The assumption is that it is somehow their problem that they need to fix.  If they would just try harder, pray harder, be better people, they could salve their own problems.  After all (as I have heard people say), “nobody helped me”.

Have you ever given a thought to Mary and Joseph that December night so long ago?  As Mary groaned in labor, as Joseph worried, what do you think they were praying for but a safe, clean, and welcoming place for Mary to have her baby?  Who more deserved a fine place to be born and good care than God’s own son and the parents that were so faithfully doing what God had asked of them?

But for Mary that night, there was no room but the stable and no bed for Jesus except the hay in the feeding trough.

Near the end of his ministry, Jesus teaches his followers that when he comes again in judgment, people will be divided into the righteous and the cursed.  It should come as no surprise that the king, born in such humble beginnings, cares for people just like him.  “Come, you that are blessed… for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”  Then the righteous will say, ‘When did we see you like this and help you?’.  And the Christ answers, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters you did it to me”.

What Jesus is teaching us is that far from being those who aren’t praying enough or working hard enough or being good enough, the people in need around us are Jesus’ family.  And in fact, in meeting them and in caring for them, we meet Jesus face-to-face and care for him.  To love Jesus is to love and care for those in need.  And if that instruction is not clear enough, Jesus goes on to say that those who did not care for those in need, did not care for Jesus.  To know Jesus is to care for others.

It can be easy to get so caught up in the excess of indulgence around us, that we lose Jesus in the wrappings of Christmas.  We can get lured into wanting so much that it becomes impossible to find any joy.  Take some time to step away from the lights and glitter to make way to the manger.  Make room in your heart and your life this Christmas for seeing Jesus and helping him and those in need.

Bring food for the food pantry.  Make donations to the ELCA Hunger Program, Lutheran World Relief, and other programs.  Volunteer your time and effort.  Visit.  Reach out to someone who is facing Christmas alone for the first time.  Reach out in love not judgment and meet Jesus.  Join me in making room for Jesus this Christmas.  Read Matthew 25:31-46