It’s getting dark. It’s cold. You have nowhere to sleep. This is something we don’t want to experience. While it is fine to be wandering around during the day, at night we need a safe place – a home. It’s because when we sleep we are most vulnerable. And so, if we have no place to sleep we feel exposed and unsafe. We feel like we have no place where we belong. Jesus had no home. He said to someone who wanted to follow him, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20). And so it was that he was always in danger, never able to rest in peace as he went about sharing his message of hope and love. The same Greek word (klino) for “lay” his head, is used one other time about Jesus, this time translated “bowed”. He is dying on the cross – “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he BOWED his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30). It’s only at the end that Jesus finally finds rest – a place to lay his head. And with his supreme act of sacrifice he opened the way to an eternal home, a safe house, a place of rest for everyone. “GOD’s a safe-house for the battered, a sanctuary during bad times.” (Psalms 9:9 – MSG). You never need to feel homeless, God invites you to live in his care, in his home, in his safe-house forever.
