It Wasn't Strangers Who Left Mary and Joseph out in the Cold

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. - Luke 2:1-7

Today we want to do a bit of midrash. Wilda Gafney defines midrash as using the sanctified imagination to “look and listen for the Word of God in, between, over, under, behind, and beyond the words in the Word.”

Think about who was in Bethlehem when Joseph and a very pregnant Mary showed up. According to the text, ‘the whole Roman world’ was enrolled in this census and every person went to their familial home. David’s home was in Bethlehem, and that was 14 generations before Joseph. So that means that all of David’s descendants would have travelled to Bethlehem - that’s a lot of people, so no wonder there wasn’t a lot of room!

But let’s press this a bit further. Joseph’s relatives on his father’s side were all descendants of David as well. It’s not hard to imagine that Joseph and Mary would have been about the slowest family members to return to Bethlehem… but when they showed up, all their brothers, cousins, parents, and uncles were already there. So what does it mean that there was no room available for them?

Can you sense the family shame of Joseph staying with his ‘adulterous’ fiancé? No wonder they wouldn’t have welcomed them in to the places the were staying - they were embarrassed by Joseph and Mary. Ouch.

Isn’t that how some of us are feeling heading into the holidays? We feel unaccepted by our families, left out in the cold, or shunned. Perhaps you can find in companionship in the Holy Family this season - who were not welcomed into their family’s home either.