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Jesus Was a Refugee: An Advent Calendar Devotional

Global Refuge Staff

November 26, 2024

“All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
‘Look, the young woman shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’”  (Matthew 1:22-23)

In this season of waiting and hoping, displacement is at the heart of the Advent story. At the time Mary was to give birth to Jesus, the people were required by Caesar Augustus to return to their hometown for a census, for fear of persecution – traveling during a time of anticipation and uncertainty ahead of childbirth.

Was Jesus a refugee?

The Holy Family was famously not invited into anyone's home, despite their vulnerable state. They needed shelter for a safe birth of Jesus, but “there was no room for them in the inn.”

Shortly after Jesus' birth, King Herod was jealous that the rumors about this Baby born might be true, so he ordered all infants similar in age to Jesus be killed. This was called the Murder of the Innocents. Jesus’ family fled to Egypt to escape. They were displaced once again.

For the over 120 million people currently displaced worldwide, this sacred story has similarities to their lived experiences. After all, Jesus was a refugee, God with us as the most vulnerable among us, an infant without a safe place to call home.

We invite you to download our Advent Story Calendar. Each day of Advent, as you reflect on the Holy Family's journey as a displaced people at the vulnerable time of childbirth, experience stories of immigrants, former refugees, and supporters in their own words as together, we build a more welcoming world.

Each story has an accompanying prayer and reflection question for your daily devotional time. May this resource be a blessing and reminder of our enduring call to welcome the stranger, God within our midst.

Download the Advent Story Calendar

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