Kenneth E. Bailey

The shepherds were welcome at the manger. The unclean were judged to be clean. The outcasts became honored guests. The song of angels was sung to the simplest of all.

At his birth the holy family was welcomed into a peasant home. These people did their best and it was enough.

The more familiar we are with a biblical story, the more difficult it is to view it outside of the way it has always been understood.