As I lay awake the other night (I’ve been doing that quite a bit lately!) I was thinking: How many different places I’ve slept in! Of course, I prefer a nice, warm comfortable bed—and I expect you’re the same. Not many people would prefer some bed of nails or a wet park bench in winter.

Now in my youth I did experiment with other sleeping places. Once on one of our trips, a friend and I were trapped by a snowstorm near Colchester in England. We spent the night in one of those red telephone boxes! Let me tell you that you cannot sleep in a phone box! Camping one time in Ireland we found that we had sited our tent in the wrong place. As the rain poured down during the night, we found a river flowing through the tent. We got completely soaked and spent a miserable night wet and shivering.

Then there was one barn in Norfolk (England again) that a couple of friends and I tried as “overnight accommodation.” Needless to say we were on another of our hitch-hiking trips, with no money and no place to stay.

So we tried this barn. Appropriately enough a barn owl flew out screeching as we approached. It was pouring with rain, and the wind was howling—so we were glad for any shelter. We unwrapped our sleeping bags and settled down for the night. It wasn’t long before everybody was asleep.

In the middle of the night I woke up. My toe was feeling sore! Something was chewing away at it! I sat up and a large rat ran off, closely followed by my boot. I didn’t sleep much more that night! And I can’t say that was one of my favorite sleeping places. But I tell you the story to help you consider that despite all our pleasant beds, things are not always so pleasant in this world.

Nowhere to lay his head. For there are many in this world, this country, who do not have anywhere to sleep. Nowhere to lay their heads.

In Luke 9:57-62 Jesus is talking about the cost of following him. That he himself has no real home—and that his followers are not to expect material benefits from following him. No nice clean, warm beds!

And so he makes it very clear: The Son of man has no place to lay his head. Nowhere to call his own. Nowhere to rest. Nowhere to lay down and sleep. For he came unto his own...and his own received him not. Isn’t that the real message behind the manger. The “No Room in the Inn” story? Jesus, glorious God, assumes humanity and is born—not even in a comfortable bed, but on a hay-strewn floor of an animal shelter. Unrecognized, unwanted—the divine Son of God comes to us.

If you go to the supposed place now, you’ll find a tarnished brass star on the floor, which is meant to mark the birthplace of Jesus. Nobody knows for sure, of course. Over this point is built the Church of the Nativity—three churches in one, really, because parts of it are run by three different religious organizations. And they don’t get on…

Yet finally there’s recognition for Jesus—centuries late! The birthplace—or even just the sleeping place—of famous people is often recorded by a plaque on the wall. You know the type: “Mary Queen of Scots slept here” or “Birthplace of Charles Dickens.”

Jesus finally was deemed worthy to be remembered—long after his death. But what he really wanted was recognition during his lifetime—of who he was. He wanted no plaques, no memorials, no churches of remembrance. He wanted people to see God, their only hope of salvation, and come to him before it was too late. But so few came.

And still today, Jesus is unrecognized and unwanted. Still no place to lay his head.

© Jonathan Gallagher