Just to think

that some obscure

baby born of

working class parents

in a backwater like Bethlehem

could cause such fuss and bother,

and all the tinsel,

and frantic shopping,

and the celebration

we take for granted today.

 

I mean, really, think about it!

 

His parents didn’t have anywhere

to stay, so they birth him

out there in some smelly shed

with all the animals

and all the poo.

 

Not a midwife in sight,

or a fancy birthing suite.

 

Imagine the scene:

Mary giving birth and

Joseph out of his depth

and out of his role

as Jewish male,

there among the

animals and the filth.

 

And this is the child

that’s going to change

the world?

 

To become the greatest

teacher and saviour

to us all?

 

Hardly credible,

isn’t it?

 

“Silent, night,

holy night”?

 

Smelly night, more like it!

 

Homeless.

 

Ordinary.

 

Extraordinary?

 

A family you would pass

by without a second thought.

You’d probably avoid them

in the street today.

 

And this is what the travellers

from the East came to see?

 

Really?

 

They should have come

for a king or a queen,

or some great leader or prophet

visible and widely seen.

 

But instead they made

their offerings in a shed

to a desperate family

with dust and blood on their feet

and sweat on their head.

 

And to be honest

I think Joseph and Mary

needed all the offerings

they could get.

 

I mean, they were not

exactly rolling in it.

 

Well, actually,

they were,

If you know

what I mean!

 

So there you have it:

homeless family,

living on the streets,

desperate for money

and a place,

and willing to take

anything they could get,

for nobody really cares.

 

No baby Jesus

meek and mild here.

He was probably lucky

to survive.

 

Sound familiar?

 

And what has come

from this?

 

13/12/2016