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Joy for Those Who Wander

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“Joy for Those Who Wander”

Luke 2:1-7 (2:4-5) – December 14, 2025

            When some thing or some reading or some sermon is so familiar, so recognizable, are you tempted to tune it out? Turn it off?

I am preaching from an alternative lectionary, enlarging our Advent meditation on Dr. Luke’s so-familiar chapters. Today, I preach from the beginning of Luke chapter 2. Such a recognizable narrative! It has everything a story needs! Not only promise and heritage, not only memory and mystery. But, hearing an old story yet again brings its own kind of anticipation!

Although, the familiarity surrounding today’s reading is a particular problem for preachers. How do we make the reading fresh, bring it to life again, imbue it with that something extra special enough to cause people to tune in rather than tune out?

            Let us listen again to a portion of today’s reading: “And everyone went to their own town to register.4 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. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.”

            Joseph and Mary began to travel from Nazareth in the north of Galilee up to Bethlehem. A suburb of Jerusalem, really. A small town on the outskirts of the capital city, a good ways to the south of Galilee. We find Mary and Joseph (probably without a donkey – sorry to all of the lovers of traditional Christmas cards, everywhere) on the road, walking south to register for the census. And, they were not the only ones on the road.

            Can you see yourself – can I see myself – on the road? Are we all in transit, traveling along, not anywhere particularly fixed? Even those of us who have lived in the same place for a long time, is there something about your life, about our walk with God that makes you think that we all are on the road? Could it be that we all are wandering from one place to another, and not having a definite place to call home?

            The apostle Paul speaks of the temporary nature of this world, of this earthly tent we all inhabit. He says in 2 Corinthians 5, “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” So, with that to look forward to, it gives us all a heavenly perspective to view our earthly tents, and the journey each of us is on, in this wide world today.

            Which brings us back to considering: the long trip for the census. And, since Bethlehem was the ancestral home of King David, that meant there were quite a lot of people who had to be counted who were descended from David. Including Joseph. Remember the genealogy written in the Gospel of Matthew?

            Speaking of descendants of David, I am sorry to prick the other balloons of belief in the traditional Christmas carols and traditions. “It would be unthinkable that Joseph, returning to his place of ancestral origins, would not have been received by family members, even if they were not close relatives.” Presbyterian missionary and pastor Dr. Kenneth Bailey, who is renowned for his studies of first-century Palestinian culture, comments:

“Even if he has never been there before he can appear suddenly at the home of a distant cousin, recite his genealogy, and he is among friends. Joseph had only to say, ‘I am Joseph, son of Jacob, son of Matthan, son of Eleazar, the son of Eliud,’ and the immediate response must have been, ‘You are welcome. What can we do for you?’” [1]

            I know this might be news to you – and it was to me. Jesus was not born in a cave or far on the outskirts of town, out adjacent to the field surrounding Bethlehem. However, this still does not let us off the hook for considering the larger question. Mary and Joseph were traveling, and were on the way, in between. According to Biblical record, they did not have very much money at all. (Although, because of the generous dictates of hospitality, they must have been put up in some cousin’s home while they were sojourning in Bethlehem.)

            I still would like to know! Our position as believers in the one true God makes us sojourners in this world; and this position is so similar to Mary and Joseph’s position as sojourners or travelers, too. Is there any solidarity for others today who are transient, who are traveling or sojourning, especially young families? Perhaps with mothers who are great with child at this time of the year, and are looking for even a temporary place to lay their heads?

             We can take this unexpected look at the Holy Family one step further. I remember a suburban church I attended a number of years ago. One of the smaller trees near the front door to the sanctuary was practically covered with blue ribbons. A sign was posted next to the tree, saying “While celebrating One homeless Family, these ribbons ask us to remember the homeless with us today.” I had never thought about the Holy Family in that way before. It’s God’s unexpected manner of opening our eyes, and displaying the new or different way we can look at Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus.

            As we consider the birth of the baby Jesus in Bethlehem, as the Holy Family was traveling through, we can see this birth as so much more than simply a claim or confession of the church. As you and I are sojourners through this world, so we also are traveling through. Jesus, God’s eternal Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, emptied Himself. He willingly put Himself in this human flesh and became incarnate of the Virgin Mary. And, this is the most important part! This miraculous birth shows us the truth of our God. Our God loves us so much that the only way to really, truly show us how much was to become one of us. The Baby born in Bethlehem. [2]

            The baby Jesus, His parents Mary and Joseph – the Holy Family was on the way, traveling. Sojourning, and so are we. We are travelers, looking forward to that heavenly home, prepared for us in heaven. Are you on the road with us? On the way with Jesus?

            I close with two verses from a much beloved Christmas carol, collected in Appalachia by John Jacob Niles around 1900. Listen and hear the words of traveling, of being on the way.

 When Mary birthed Jesus, ’twas in a cow’s stall/with wise men and farmers and shepherd and all.
but high from God’s heaven a star’s light did fall, /and the promise of ages it did then recall.

I wonder as I wander, out under the sky, /how Jesus the Savior did come for to die
for poor ordinary people like you and like I; /I wonder as I wander, out under the sky.

            Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!)

[1] https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/once-more-jesus-was-not-born-in-a-stable/

[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/christmas-preaching

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On the Road!

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“On the Road!”

Luke 24:13-35 (24:31) – April 18, 2021

            We are all on this journey called life. Putting one foot ahead of the other, step by step, one day at a time. Each of us – whether on an easy, smooth road or a more difficult, twisty-turny path – is proceeding along, steadily, through life.

            The Gospel lesson today comes from the Gospel of Luke. It’s about two of the disciples of Jesus on the road. Isn’t that a metaphor for all of us?

            Luke chapter 24 says: 13 On that same day two of Jesus’ followers were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. 15 Jesus himself drew near and walked along with them; 16 they saw him, but somehow did not recognize him. 17 Jesus said to them, “What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along?”

            Walking and talking often seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly. I know my husband and I love to go on walks, and we have wonderful talks while we are traveling. These two disciples of Jesus certainly had a lot to talk through, and to process – intellectually, psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Notice that Jesus – the risen Lord Jesus! – comes alongside of His two friends, and initiates conversation. To continue from Luke: 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have been happening there these last few days?” 19 “What things?” he asked.” So, Jesus asks a leading question, too!

You and I very well know their response; and Dr. Luke provides an excellent synopsis for us. “The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “This man was a prophet and was considered by God and by all the people to be powerful in everything he said and did. 20 Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and he was crucified. 21 And we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free! Besides all that, this is now the third day since it happened. 22 Some of the women of our group surprised us; they went at dawn to the tomb, 23 but could not find his body. They came back saying they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he is alive. 24 Some of our group went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had said, but they did not see him.”

Some commentators say that these two disciples were running away, compounding their problems by heading away from Jerusalem. I don’t know about that. Perhaps they very much needed to walk, to talk, to process all that had gone on in the past week. And, Jesus was there with them, walking at their sides.

“Walks like this restore balance to the soul.  Lives are shared, complaints are released into the winds, concealed fears become revealed insight.  Burdens are shared, questions asked, reality checked, evasions give way to revelations.  Then hearts heal, ideas flow, plans are made, compassion is rekindled, harmony is restored and change is possible.  That is how it goes on a long walk with a good friend.” [1] 

To continue with Dr. Luke: 25 Then Jesus said to them, 26 “Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?” 27 And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets.

            I don’t know about you, but I would have loved to be along for that walk! I would love to have Jesus tell me all about mentions about Himself in the Hebrew Scriptures!

That would be such a boost to my understanding about Jesus! But, wait – there is more to come.  28 As they came near the village of Emmaus, Jesus acted as if he were going farther; 29 but they held him back, saying, “Stay with us; the day is almost over and it is getting dark.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 He sat down to eat with them, took the bread, and said the blessing; then Jesus broke the bread and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Wasn’t it like a fire burning in us when he talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

Don’t our hearts burn within us, from time to time? When the risen Jesus comes close, when we have an especially cherished encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ, doesn’t that cause our hearts to burn especially bright? It’s not my faith tradition to have regular ecstatic experiences with my God, but this reading today makes me wish for one, certainly!

It is sort of like that devotional reading “Footprints.” I know many, many people receive much encouragement and comfort from that reading. When I was a chaplain in the hospital, patients and their loved ones would regularly ask me for copies of that reading. Walking and talking on our journey, whether difficult, easy, or somewhere in between. Our Lord Jesus may very well be carrying us some of the way, too.

Jesus is walking by our sides, no matter where we are in our walk. We may be resting on the side of the road, off on a long detour, or altogether in the wilderness, a long way from the road, but Jesus is still right by our sides.

Dr. Luke ends his Gospel with the end of chapter 24, but he will go on to write the Acts of the Apostles. Many of the great events in that book are going to happen out on the road. A disciple named Phillip meets a eunuch from the Queen of Sheba while traveling, and that official is among the first to be baptized.  Saul is on the road to Damascus, has a vision of the Risen Christ, and becomes a world traveler and itinerant missionary.  Faith emerges as we walk the road together. [2]

The earliest covenant of the Congregationalists in New England 400 years ago goes like this, “We doe bynd our selves in the presence of God, to walke together in all his waies.”

I invite you, the hearers of this word, to walk the road to Emmaus with me and with the disciples of Jesus. Come along with us – on the road. We’ll be in for the adventure of our lives!

Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://withallmysoul.com/2018/04/09/walking-and-hoping-with-jesus/

“Walking and Hoping with Jesus,” Todd Weir, With All My Soul, 2018.

[2] Ibid.