Luke 2:1-7 - Peter Ervine

Today we come to the birth of Jesus. The event that defines the very year we are in. No doubt we’ve heard the story many times before- Joseph and Mary travelling in haste with Mary on a donkey then searching for a place to stay until eventually an innkeeper takes pity on them and gives them the only spare space there is – a draughty stable where Jesus is born that very night.

The problem is that none of this is in the passage and it’s also highly unlikely to have happened in quite that way. This is a passage which we really need to stop and read in order to see what is really there and what isn’t. I remember how shocked I was the first time I discovered that a stable isn’t even mentioned in the account of Jesus’ birth, only a feeding trough. It is natural for us to want to fill in the blanks but it’s all too easy to assume something that’s not accurate and we cannot know for certain what has not be revealed to us by God through his word.

Today we can be thankful that God the Father has revealed himself through Jesus. The Word became flesh to show us the Father and show us the way to the Father. How wonderful it is that we don’t need to guess what God is really like and we don’t need to try to figure out our own way to him. He has done the work for us.