No Room at the Inn, Jesus Is Born

The emperor in Rome wanted to count all the people in his kingdom. So he gave an order: everyone must go back to the town their family came from and write down their name.

Joseph’s family came from Bethlehem, the town of King David, far away from Nazareth. So Joseph packed what they needed, and he and Mary set off. Mary was going to have her baby very soon.

The road was long and dusty. It went up hills and down valleys, past olive trees and fields and sleepy villages. They walked for days. Each night they rested under the stars, and each morning they started again.

At last they saw the little town of Bethlehem. But the streets were crowded with travellers who had come to be counted too. Joseph knocked on door after door. Every place was full. “There is no room,” the people said. “No room at all.”

Mary was so tired, and the baby was coming. Finally they found a place where the animals were kept, a stable with straw on the floor, a donkey, maybe a cow and some sheep. It was not warm or fancy. But it was a shelter.

And there, that very night, Mary’s baby was born.

She wrapped Him snugly in strips of cloth, the way mothers did, and laid Him in a manger, the wooden box where the animals ate their hay. Joseph stood close beside them. They named the baby Jesus, just as the angel had said.

That same night, out on the hills outside Bethlehem, some shepherds were keeping watch over their sheep. The lambs were curled up asleep. The stars were out. It was an ordinary night, just like a thousand other nights.

Then, all at once, a bright light blazed across the sky. An angel of the Lord stood in front of them, and the glory of God shone all around. The shepherds were terrified. Some covered their faces.

“Don’t be afraid,” said the angel. “I bring you good news of great joy, and it is for all the people.”

“For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

Luke 2:11

“This is how you will know Him,” the angel went on. “You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly the whole sky was filled with angels, more than anyone could count, all praising God together:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to the people He is pleased with!”

Then, just as suddenly, the angels were gone. The sky was dark again. The sheep went on sleeping. The shepherds looked at one another.

“Let’s go to Bethlehem!” they said. “Let’s go and see this thing the Lord has told us about!”

They hurried down the hill and through the quiet streets, until they found the stable. And there was Mary, and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger, exactly as the angel had said.

The shepherds could not keep the news to themselves. On their way back to the fields they told everyone they met, and the people were amazed. They went home singing and praising God for everything they had seen and heard.

The King of heaven was not born in a palace. He was born where the animals slept, to a family who had nowhere else to go. And the very first people to hear about it were not kings or rulers, but ordinary shepherds working through the night. God was showing the whole world that His love is for everyone.