SS is for Somebody, Somehow

Remember how Robert Frost defined home: "that place where, when you get there they have to take you in." But if that's true, the kind of homecoming we find in The Christian Story looks like just the opposite, like homelessness.

At least homelessness for God. By decree of Caesar Augustus, Mary and Joseph and the soon-to-be-born Christchild were sent off to Bethlehem, their hometown. But when they got there, there was "no room in the inn." Some welcome. Or take Jesus' words to a would-be follower: "Foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." (Mt. 8:20) Some homecoming. Jesus' homelessness is a sign, really, of how homeless and estranged God was from the world and, vice versa, the world is from God.

But then, consider the words of another poet, Wendell Berry. He begins by agreeing with Robert Frost, especially with those often overlooked words of Frost where he describes home as "something you somehow haven't to deserve." But then Berry adds this insight, "If home is to exist for long as a refuge for those who don't deserve it, then somebody...is going to have to deserve it,...somebody is going to have to be there...before you arrive," somebody who qualifies to make it a home.
		Robin Morgan

That's the key for understanding not only the biblical talk about the homelessness of Jesus but also the good news of God's gracious homing with us in Christ. Jesus Christ came not to find a home already waiting for him, even though the world was created through him. "A house does not a home make," so the old adage goes, "but love," undeserved love. And that's what God is up to in Jesus Christ. I'm reminded of all the times Jesus entered into someone's house as a guest and then took over as though he were the host. He came into this world to establish home for you and me, where none before existed, where none was deserved.

Through his death and resurrection Christ deserved the right to make "children of God" of all who believe. (Jn 1:12) It may seem strange that "the Son" should have such a central role to play in bringing new children into the household of the "Father." But, then, who are we to quibble about "parent traps." If home is where you hang your hat -- or rather, your heart -- then home for us is a matter of being in Christ. For to be in Christ is to be at home with God.

The calling of the Christian in the world is rooted in this homing ministry of Jesus. We, too, are now God's kids with a calling: not to flee the world or disparage it, but to love it with an undeserved love, claiming it in Christ as home. What would our families, workplaces, schools and communities look like if the God in Jesus Christ were at home in them and they in God? The answer is clear: make ourselves at home there and see.

steven kuhl