Welcome back to the Meridian magazine podcast. This is Scott and Maureen Proctor. We're

excited to be with you again this week. If you read Loot 2 and Matthew 2, we certainly

don't want this to replace your reading. We had some interesting comments from listeners

this week. One was from Susan who said that she was using this for her home school for

her children and it was really great help to their family. We also heard from another

reader, Ali, who was a recent widow and she said she'd been really struggling with studying

the scriptures on her own and this was a nice aid for her. That made us really happy.

We know Luke 2 and Matthew 2 really well because we talk about them so much at Christmas,

but we hope today we can find some hidden gems there. So the world that Jesus was born

into was a desperate one in the barren land, in the absence of revelation, in an oppressive

country that dominated Israel. Oh, how they needed the Messiah. But what they were looking

for was a conquering king who could oppress their enemies and set them free and he would

come a little baby in a manger to set them free from another kind of bondage.

We know the story. There was not room for them in the end, but let's look at it more

carefully. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, one impression which has persisted with me recently

is that this is a story in profound paradox with our own times. That this is a story of

intense poverty. I wonder if Luke did not have some special meaning when he wrote not

there was no room in the end, but specifically that there was no room for them in the end.

It cannot be certain, but it is my guess that money could talk in those days as well

as in our own. I think if Joseph and Mary had been people of influence or means, they

would have found lodging even at that busy time of year. I've wondered if the inspired

version also was suggesting they did not know the right people and saying there was none

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