The holidays are an interesting time for many college students. After spending many restless hours studying for final exams at the end of the semester, many college students return home for Christmas. However, it is a strange limbo time for students, because they are making the transition from living at home to being on their own. Many college students move around a lot, moving from home to dorms back to home and then maybe to an apartment. For many they never feel like they have a place to call their own. The irony is that many of these college students have something in common with the Christmas story. Jesus wasn’t born in a hospital, and then taken to a home where there was a Christmas tree and room waiting for him. In fact Jesus wasn’t even born where his parents were from. They lived in Nazareth and had to travel to Bethlehem for a census. While there Jesus was born in a feeding trough for animals, because there wasn’t even a room in an inn. Today that would be like saying Jesus was born in a dirty janitor’s closet of a hotel, because there were no rooms available. As if this wasn’t enough, Mary and Joseph then had to travel to Egypt to protect Jesus from being killed by a jealous King. Jesus was constantly moving throughout his whole life. He never had a place of his own. Yet, Jesus was never without a home. For Jesus, his home was the presence of God. Jesus never moved from place to place without taking the presence of his Father with him. Likewise our home is found in the presence of God. Our home is first seen with Adam and Eve who communed with God in a garden. However, the garden was not their home; their home was and is the presence of God. When we sinned we became homeless, because we lost the presence of God. However, Jesus came to give us a new home in the presence of God by sacrificing his life on the Cross. His very name, Immanuel, means “God with us” or in other words “God has made his home among us.” When I was in college I remember being so glad to go home over Christmas break. Christmas break meant a chance to stop studying and just relax with friends and family. However, I also remember becoming lazy in spending time with Jesus. I remember thinking spending time with family and friends at my house was where I could find rest. Family and friends are good and should be enjoyed, but they are not your true home. Only in the presence of Jesus will you find rest this Christmas break. Only in the presence of Christ are you truly home. I encourage you as you go home over the break that you go to your true home, which is the very presence of Jesus. Spend time with him in solace and prayer. Meditate on the words of the Christmas story and consider a God who gave up his status as God to become a man, so that you can come back home. As you celebrate the birth of Jesus in your houses this Christmas, my prayer is that you remember the home Jesus extends to you, which is his very presence.
Check out Matthew 1 & 2