The first chapter of Luke’s big story – “makes it clear”…that “this story” is all about the “power of the family.”
Never underestimate “the power of the family.” It is huge! It is immense.
We can lay down our differences. We can actually hold back our comments. We can avoid talking politics or religion or any of the “hot button issues” of the day. We can avoid the uncomfortable.
The elephant in plain sight in the middle of the room remains unspoken of…
We can be civil toward one another…
We can be open and accepting of others…we can even be welcoming…we can be “big enough” to lay some things aside. We can be celebrative…
Family can be seen at their worst, but they can also be viewed at their best.
Animosity can be put on hold or shelved. It can be “all about the family.”
“Family” can indeed take precedence. Family can override all else. For the good of the family…we say.
“Family” is important and very powerful, and should never be underestimated.
We are smarter than we sometimes appear.
Families can be loving and supportive. Families can be giving and caring. Family members can be helpful and comforting. Family can actually BE “FAMILY-LIKE.”
Even if it is just a façade, even if it is for a few hours… Family can “make nice.”
So, starting with chapter one of his first book, Luke or the gospel author lifts up “the power of the family.” The family IS powerful.
When the young girl – Mary faces potential danger, she goes to the family and is sheltered. That’s what family does. We prayerfully protect.
When Caesar Augustus seeks to “demonstrate his power” and “dominate his world,” unbeknownst to him, he actually reunites families.
Families that have been separated, families that have been divided, families literally miles and miles apart are now being reunited.
When Mary and Joseph, along with the rest of the world, are “ordered back” to their “home-towns,” they are linked with family and friends and will be sheltered. That’s what family always does, at least – when it works the way that it should.
That’s why it is important to note that, although the New Revised Standard Version translates the place where there was no room as “Inn” we should probably read the word differently.
Scholars have pointed out that the same word as “Inn” is later translated as “guestroom” in Luke 22.11. There it is talking about the place where Jesus will celebrate the Passover with his disciples. The famous “Upper Room” is not an “Inn at all,” but in an “upper guest room.” Both incidences should probably be read as “guest rooms.”
Mary and Joseph are sheltered with the animals, not because all the motels and hotels were full…and they were alone and friendless…
But rather, because the family guest room was already occupied and full…
There was no room in the guestroom.
But family, being family, does not turn away family. You make do, you do what you can. You compromise. You keep a stiff upper lip, as the British say!
Quite the contrary…
In the “narrative world” opened to us by the storyteller, family always provides shelter and support. That is what family does. We support one another.
That’s why Mary and Joseph were not concerned twelve years later when they were returning from their annual Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
They supposed for an entire day…that Jesus was with family and friends. That is also why at the end of Luke’s narrative, “the daughters of Jerusalem” come out to mourn for their brother, Jesus – as Rome leads him out to his execution.
Family is family. That is what families do we support one another in the good and in the bad times. We are there for one another, because we are family.
So Jesus is born, surrounded by family and friends in Bethlehem, the city of David. An angel appears to shepherds in the fields, guarding their flocks. The angel says, “that a baby is born TO YOU.”
The angel could have just as easily said, “that a baby was born to Mary or to the family of David.” But the angel says, “the baby is born TO YOU.”
The good news of the birth is shared with family. Immediate and extended… because that is what we do and who we are. We are family.
And in this place, we are now and forever “the family of God.”
Amen.
Merry Christmas, to you and your family, immediate and extended!