There’s more than one way to be homeless.
We see it in the plastic bag of possessions positioned outside a shop doorway. We see it in bombed out apartments of war torn countries. We see it in the frightened eyes of those fleeing their own countries in the not unreasonable hope of finding refuge in ours.
We see it in the bruises of those who know they’re not safe behind their own front doors. We see it in the averted gazes of those who never feel understood. We see it in the tears of those who, for reasons that perhaps they don’t quite understand, feel that they somehow don’t fit in.
There are many, then, who today are looking for somewhere they can call home.
But the Christmas story is not insensitive to those who find themselves in that position. For as well as being denied an appropriate bed on the night that He was born [Luke 2:7], Jesus Himself was taken, by His parents, from Bethlehem to Egypt – to escape the persecution that would likely have cost Him His life had He remained at home. [Matthew 2:13-15]
And whilst, when Herod died, and the immediate danger was over, Jesus was able to return to Israel, He still knew what it was to be homeless. For as He Himself said:
‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ [Luke 9:58]
And so it is significant that when Jesus calls those who would be His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him, He is calling them to a life that makes them no longer at home in this world. [Hebrews 13:14]
Christians then are ‘foreigners and exiles’ in a distant land. [1 Peter 2:11] – those who, together with their brothers and sisters in Christ who travel with them, have a God-given longing to be home with Him, and are waiting for the day when they will make it there safely. Not, paradoxically perhaps, by avoiding death, but by passing through it, safe in the everlasting arms of God – with Jesus who walks alongside them through that long dark valley. [Psalm 23:4]
Which is why Jesus encouraged His disciples with these words:
‘Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.’ [John 14:1-3]
So then, without for a moment minimising our responsibility to help those who are struggling with homelessness today, these are deeply reassuring words for all those who do indeed believe.
For the one who was born in the little town of Bethlehem grew up, and His substitutionary death on a green hill far away paid the debt that was rightly ours to pay. Which means that, with our sins forgiven, we can look forward with absolute confidence, not only to our own resurrection from the dead but an eternity spent in the presence of our loving Heavenly Father, who has already adopted us into His family as His much-loved children.
And there, in that heavenly home, we will rest – safe and secure – accepted, loved and understood – never more to roam.
To read Day 20 from 2023, click here
To read Day 20 from 2024, click here
Some musings 