The Sojourner

You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. They shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.  Ezek 47:22 (ESV)

We tend to think of Christmas as family time and indeed much joy is derived by close relatives anticipating getting together for dinner and gift-giving.  The biblical story that inspires this holiday tells us of a God who comes into a world as a sojourner, sometimes referred to as a stranger or an alien depending upon your Bible translation.  The Savior of the world comes to a human-inhabited planet in human garb, but is not welcomed by his own (John 1:11).   Jesus repeats this theme of being on the outside in the parable of the sheep and goats.  The true Israel found a stranger, naked, hungry and thirsty and welcomed him (Mat. 25:35).  The banished ones were those who could not see the sojourner as worthy of their time, their hospitality and a seat at their tables.  

On a crowded plane returning home to Alabama from Chicago, strangers held fast to their seats and with diverting eyes made it difficult for me and Lauren to find a seat (as we returned from visiting Wheaton College). A small inconvenience on a flight is nothing compared to the refusal to welcome and make space for Mary and Joseph as they sought a place for rest on their journey home.   Finally, they find a place among the common livestock of a sleepy village.  It was there in a small and forgotten corner of Bethlehem, that the Savior of the world came as a child, born of a woman, yet son of the Eternal God.  People still refuse to welcome him and to make room for the sojourner who comes to us, more often than not as an inconvenience to our schedules, or an unexpected guest, as Savior and Redeemer.  Even in the season of Christmas, if we are not careful we can ignore him once again.  If we do, then we forget that the stranger who came to Israel is the sojourner who comes to us not to disrupt our Christmas but to give it meaning and restore it to the biblical fulfillment that Ezekiel envisioned as when the stranger is treated as a native-born and the Kingdom is a river that runs to the sea and gives life to all.   

Finally, the sojourner of the Christmas story is the Savior King that awaits us on our journey home.   This season before Christmas has traditionally been a time to focus on what we long for and anticipate.  Not presents under a tree, but the final and blessed home with Jesus, who gave himself on a tree.  J.I. Packer said heaven is “an unknown country with a well-known inhabitant.”  Until then, we all are sojourners on this planet, and from time to time we find welcome among those who realize they are looking toward another home as sons and daughters of Abraham living in a foreign land but looking forward to a city and a home whose “designer” is God (Heb. 11:9-10).