Devotional 12-22-22

Luke 2:6-7:  While they were there, the time came for Mary to have her baby. She gave birth to her firstborn child, a son, wrapped him snugly, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guestroom.

Who is the most overlooked figure of the Nativity?

I remember a sermon over 20 years ago when the pastor asked that question at the beginning of his sermon. It wasn’t a rhetorical question. The pastor paused until people in the congregation starting calling out answers. “The shepherd!” I heard one woman call out. “The animals!” said another. Still others, including myself, called out “Joseph.” 

It seemed like there was nearly a consensus on Joseph when an elderly man said confidently “The Inkeeper!”

The pastor was looking for Joseph to illustrate his sermon on the example of faith set by Jesus’s earthly father in accepting the unbelievable story of his pregnant fiancée, fleeing home with his new family to avoid Herod’s death threats, and raising the boy Jesus to follow in his own chosen craft of carpentry.

It was a good sermon, but I couldn’t quit thinking of the old man’s answer. Who is the most overlooked figure in the Nativity? “The Innkeeper!”

Until then, I had never thought much about the innkeeper. He is generally negatively depicted in Christmas stories and pageants for shutting his doors and refusing to extend hospitality to the couple. What is the truth about the innkeeper?

The biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus do not even mention the innkeeper. In fact, the only reference to a manger or an inn is in the verse above from Luke. On the basis of that single sentence, we convict the innkeeper of shutting Jesus out. Perhaps we have been too hard on him.

Perhaps the innkeeper is an improbable hero. He had no reason to know that the strangers at his door were about to bring the Messiah into the world. Had he known, perhaps he would have made room by displacing a less prominent guest. Yet, rather than making excuses, the innkeeper was resourceful, and gave what he could give—not a room or even a corner in his already crowded inn, but the stable that demonstrates that the King of the world is at home with the humblest of the humble. 

The arrival of the long-expected Messiah stood out in contrast to peoples’ expectations. He did not come in a manner befitting of a king. No pomp and circumstance, no great earthquake, no thunder and lightning, no burning bush, but humbly and anonymously in a barn to a young unmarried woman. The Jesus born in those surroundings would grow up to teach us to believe the unbelievable, to be prepared for the unexpected, and that the poor and meek will occupy a prominent place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Less prominent than even the lowly shepherds and animals, the innkeeper is neither mentioned by the writers of the gospel nor placed in the crèches that adorn our mantels and tables during Christmastime. Rather, he was and is behind the scenes, humbly and anonymously playing a major part in God’s great plan. He serves as a reminder to us that God can use what we offer. Perhaps we should be more like the innkeeper.

Prayer:  Dear God, Give me the compassion of the innkeeper. Even when circumstances indicate that I have used up everything I have to give, give me the courage to stand out in contrast to the status quo, and the awareness and the resourcefulness to make room for Christ. Amen

Rev. Jeff Taylor