Missing Christmas: The Innkeeper Series

No one wants to miss Christmas. “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire and Jack Frost nipping at your nose” – who would want to miss such a magical experience?

But how do you get the most out of Christmas – the full experience of Christmas? Yes, you’ll watch your favorite Christmas movies, and you’ll decorate the house with tinsel and lights. Yet, you can do all this and still miss Christmas.

When we turn on the TV, we are told the message of Christmas is when the Christmas Classic Rudolph triumphs over bullying…

… or when George Bailey realizes his life really matters after all,

… and Clark Griswold recognizes that Christmas is really all about family.

In order not to miss Christmas, you will have to know what is the essence of Christmas. To discover the heart of Christmas, we are traveling back to the original stories of the first Christmas.

Before I go any further, let’s pause for a moment and have you take a quick Christmas Quiz. Pull your phones out if you will, please. Let’s see how well you know the Christmas story, shall we?

1. Joseph was from: (A) Nazareth (B) Bethlehem (C) Arimathea (D) Russia

2. Joseph & Mary traveled to Bethlehem by: (A) Camel (B) Donkey (C) Walked (D) Minivan-stopping every hour for a bathroom break (E) We don't know

3. There was no room in the inn because: (A) the cold-hearted innkeeper (B) online reservations were lost

4. Jesus was born in a(n): (A) inn (B) hostel (C) guest room (D) Holiday Inn Express

5. A manger is a(n): (A) feeding trough (B) stable for animals (C) (D) Joanna Gaines' Restored Farmhouse CoffeeTable

Thanks for doing that quiz with us. We will share the results on social media tomorrow. And listen carefully to the message in the coming moments for some answers.

We’re doing this little three-part series entitled The Characters of Christmas in order to see the magic of Christmas in the faces of those who first experience its warmth and joy. To experience the fulness of Christmas, look at the faces and reactions of those who were first involved so many years ago. Having looked at the shepherds near Bethlehem, we turn our attention to the Grinch of Christmas, the Innkeeper. If you want to avoid missing Christmas, pay close attention to the reflection of joy, awe, and wonder of the faces of those who first experienced the magic of the holiday. To prepare you for the upcoming Christmas season, let look at the Grinch of Christmas, the Innkeeper.

1) Don’t Miss Where Christmas Took Place

Look again at verse 7 with me: And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

1.1 Thomas Jefferson

It was during his term as Vice President to John Adams, it was said that Thomas Jefferson asked for a room at the main hotel in Baltimore. The hotel manager, Mr. Boyden, did not recognize Jefferson as he had no servants with him and was dressed in dirty working clothes. The manager turned Jefferson away. After Jefferson left, someone informed the manager that he had just turned away the Vice President of the United States. The manager was mortified. He sent the hotel servants out into the city to see if they could find Jefferson and offer him as many rooms as he desired. One of the servants finally found Jefferson, who had registered in another hotel. When he gave the offer to Jefferson, the response was, “Tell Boyden that I value his good intentions highly, but if he has no room for a dirty farmer, he shall have none for the vice president.”

A story like this makes us think immediately of Christmas and Jesus’ birth, doesn’t it.

1.2 The Traditional View of the Christmas Story

Generally, the traditional view of the Christmas story goes like this: the local hotel was full in Bethlehem that Christmas night. Joseph and Marry arrive late in the night, and they see the “no vacancy” sign above the inn. The heartless innkeeper wouldn’t allow pregnant Mary to even come inside. All the rooms were full due to the census, and the innkeeper was more worried about profits than a pregnant woman. With no other option, Joseph takes his pregnant wife to an animal stable where the child is born. But we have the Christmas story wrong because we want to include an extra character that wasn’t really there: the mythical innkeeper.

Myth #1: Jesus Was Born in an Inn

1.2 No Motel 6

Inns and hotels did exist in Jesus day, but you probably wouldn’t find a Marriott in the small town of Bethlehem. Bethlehem was not on any major road in Jesus’ day and probably did not have an inn. It was a town that had a real small population of only a few hundred people, and inns existed in cities that attracted a lot of travelers. I doubt there was even a Motel 6 in ancient Bethlehem, much less a Marriott. And if there was no inn, then there was no innkeeper in the original Christmas story.