Daily Bible Reading 22nd March 2026 // Luke 2:1-7
1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
We have already seen, in our study of chapter 1, that there is a theology of Christmas, which may be summed up as follows. In the Incarnation of the Son of His love, God has bridged the gap between Himself and mankind, and He offers men in Him and through Him the knowledge of salvation, the remission of sins, light for darkness, and peace with God. When the angels announced to the shepherds the good tidings of great joy, this is what they meant. The 'good will toward men' in their song is not good will shown by man to man, but good will shown by God to man - the good news that He has turned His face towards them in love and pity, assuring them that He is not willing that any should perish, but that all may come to Him and live. It is in the light of this, the theology of Christmas, that we need to understand the highly significant and symbolic words of Luke, 'no room in the inn'. For this is what there was no room for! There are different ways of interpreting the words. They are, of course, a symbol of what the theologians call His humiliation, and as such are some indication of how real His self-emptying was, and how low He stooped for our sakes. But they are also a symbol of the kind of conflict that the message of Christmas, rightly understood, brings into the world and into men's lives. What we see in these verses is no accident of circumstances, due to the crowded state of Bethlehem at the time of the census. God meant this to be a parable, a symbol - 'He came unto His own, and His own received Him not'. More on this theme in tomorrow's Note.