A Sort Of Homecoming (with thanks to U2 for the title!)
Homecomings are not always what we hope they will be. The expectation often is that we will be welcomed with open arms, much joy and happiness- that people will be glad to see us. Unfortunately, this is not always the case- just ask anyone what their homecoming was like last Christmas, and you will probably get a very mixed response! The reality is, homecomings are sometimes painful, opening up old wounds, promising false and unrealistic expectations which often get dashed. Sometimes, the Hero’s Return we expected feels more like the Walk of Shame!
Over Christmas, I was reflecting on the story of Jesus’ birth as lived out by Joseph. The excitement of betrothal to Mary, the lead up to the marriage, all the preparations turned upside down and inside out by the earth-shattering news that Mary was already pregnant! The confusion and courage as Joseph decides to do the right thing, the thing that he knows will lead to further pain, the very thing that God is asking him to do. And then….
…The journey home; Mary and Joseph travel back to Bethlehem, Joseph’s hometown! Surely there will be a welcome here, the family support network will kick in, and a good time will be had by all! But no, when Joseph and Mary arrive there is no welcome committee, no balloons and banners, nothing- not even a bed! One can only imagine the pain, the dejection, the loneliness, the isolation that Joseph experienced at that time- and that many of us have experienced in our own situations.
But another homecoming is taking place, even in the midst of Joseph and Mary’s story; a bigger homecoming which embraces all the pain and shame of our personal homecomings, and transforms them; a homecoming that restores the original intent of God to “make home” with us - the Homecoming of God to dwell with man, purposed in the birth of Jesus. And this homecoming is no triumphal return, but the messy, painful birth of a vulnerable baby of questionable parentage in an insignificant city under foreign occupation. A birth announced not to the mighty and powerful, but to marginalised shepherds and misguided seers. A homecoming that enters the depths of human pain, confusion and disappointment, and welcomes us home to rest in Him!
In Christ, God has truly come home, and so can we!
As we face the New Year, which for many of us may carry painful homecomings , transitions that leave us confused, hurting and disorientated, my prayer is that we will enter more into the transformative Great Homecoming of God; and that we will be a people who live in that homecoming in such a way that many others will find the way home!
“Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them…” Revelation 21:3
