Jesus in the Caravan: Advent Day 2 (Numbers)
Dec 01, 2025“The number of forcibly displaced people has increased from 42 million in 2009 to 123 million in 2025. This number fell to 117.3 million in late 2025....The number of forcibly displaced people worldwide increased by 7 million between January and December 2024. Until late 2025, the number of displaced people has increased every year for 13 years.” https://iafr.org/refugees101
Be silent and consider that number. How does it compare to the size of your church? Your city? Your country? The population of the world?
117.3 million is a shockingly large number of people who are not safe in their homes all around the world. Set against the number of people we meet in our daily interactions this number is overwhelming.
Yet it is not actually an impossibly large number, especially when compared to the population of the world. It is possible for us to conceive of ways to welcome, house and help displaced people. The space and the resources are in fact available around the world. It becomes more difficult to imagine this, however, when we think of refugees and displaced people as a “faceless mass,” a “mob” or “invasion.”
Numbers can be dangerous. Jesus’ parents were caught up in a numbers game:
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. (Luke 2:1-3)
Caesar caused the known world to get up and move in order to tax them. But he could not know that in so doing he was helping fulfill a prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph were just two of many people forced to travel by this decree, but they were of eternal significance. They weren’t lost in the “mob.” They mattered.
So it is with every single one of the 117.3 million displaced people in our world. So it is with you, too. God knows every single one of us by name and circumstance, and he loves us. We are not faceless to him. And each of us is more significant to him than the whims of Empire that continue to cause displacement.
Read: Luke 2:1-7
Study: Our IMBY course offers an innovative solution that individuals, families and Churches can engage with to help welcome newcomers.
Prayer: Find a news source talking about refugees, and search for the name of an individual or family mentioned in the story. Pray specifically for that one person or family today, that they would be brought to safety and know the love of God. Continue to pray for them for the rest of the Advent season.
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