The Christmas story, in many ways, reminds me of the story Jesus tells about the Great Banquet (Luke 14), where a man prepares a feast, only to have his invited guests bow out one by one. With everything ready, his servants go into town to bring “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame”. Still having room, the servants are told to “go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full”. Now with a full house of folks not accustomed to inclusion, the party was on.
The Christmas story tells of God’s coming to us in earthly form, on God’s own terms of vulnerability and humility. Who are invited to the party? A teenage couple far from the safety of home with a scandalous pregnancy. Next came some earthy shepherds from the bottom rung of Jewish society. Finally, in this week’s gospel,* the wise men arrived – three Gentile strangers from somewhere east of the Roman Empire, outsiders according to all definitions of “civilization” of that time and place. God came to us unfettered by the confines of human convention to embrace kinship and belongingness, with everyone, everywhere. The heavens rejoice.
Isn’t the Christmas story another way of God showing us how to belong to each other? God’s manner of belonging is a lesson I must learn over and over again. Perhaps that’s why there are so many biblical examples of God’s vision for relationship. The openness of God’s generous hospitality exuberantly extends to whoever wants to join in. Through the coming of Jesus, the words of Hosea are fulfilled: “I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ All are invited. It’s time for a celebration!
