No Room In The Inn

No Room in the Inn

Introduction: When my son, Cody was younger before we moved to McAlester, Ok. He was only in one Christmas play. It was at the rural Assembly of God church and he played the inn-keeper and he had one line . . . and he forgot it. When the time came for him to say his line we all saw the door slam shut and everyone heard, “Oh man what was my line again?!” (I remember smiling) and someone whispered him the line, and he said it and everything proceeded with some chuckles from the audience. Its usually those kind of things that make Christmas plays memorable, fun, and special. However we must remember that the story they are portraying is not only true, but a serious one. And when you consider Cody's forgotten line: “there is no room for you here in the inn.” is there better thing to be forgotten than “Sorry I have no room for you Jesus.” If the LORD were to say to us, what he said to the laodicean church: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock..” the last thing we want to say is “there is no room for you here." The very thought of dismissing the greatest gift we could ever receive should be totally forgotten. We should not only accept the greatest gift but celebrate the fact that God gave us his greatest gift: the gift of his son. That is what Christmas is about.

Back in this time, an inn was not like our hotels. They were more like a free bed and breakfast voluntarily given to weary travelers. In simpler times when it was very rare to see someone outside your community, it was considered an honor to host and entertain a stranger. As traveling became more common, lets just say that many desired to shift that honor to their neighbors. Then it became common for just one person in town to represent them all and host strangers, until eventually the only provision made was a square building with rooms for people and stables for animals with some water and chopped straw, but the good news is it was free to everyone, especially the stable.

In that free provision we see a great analogy, as the manger was free to Joseph and Mary, the child born to them is also born to us and his salvation is free to all those who will have him.

Luke 2:7 - “and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

No room in the inn

Keep in mind that Mary was close to having the baby, and instead of allowing her a more comfortable and more appropriate place to give birth, we read that she gave birth to Jesus in a manger. Why? Because there was no room for them in the inn. This is what we will be exploring together this morning, that there was no room in the inn for Jesus.

As a baby, Jesus should have been greeted with the greatest pomp and celebration that all man could afford. The extravagant royal weddings in Britain should pale in comparison to what should have been offered to Jesus at his birth. All of the grandeur and opulence possible should have been offered by all mankind, even wicked Herod, should've been giving gold and incense and myrrh and whatever his royal treasury could afford but instead Herod was scheming for a way to kill him and as Jesus grew up, nothing changed. He should have been embraced by the Sanhedrin, Pharisees, Saducees, teachers of the law and all the well respected people in Israel but instead they too, tried to kill him. Jesus told them “you are looking for a way to kill me because you have no room for my word” There was no room for him in the inn, there was no room for him in the tabernacle, or temple, or synagogues, and they had no room for his word in their hearts. His whole ministry was spent looking for room, a space to plant a seed in the hearts of men, room in their ears to hear what he had to say to them. Instead of choosing Pharisees, he chose fishermen for his companions and his disciples, instead of lying in a bed he had no place to lay his head, even a palace would have been beneath him, but instead he was born in a manger.

Sadly, it has become too common for there to be NO room for Jesus!

Even after the story has been told millions of times in a million ways. Even though Christ's miracles have been well documented and recorded. Even though the life, death, and resurrection of Christ has been preached for more than 2,000 years. Even though the mysterious works of Christ have been experienced by believers for centuries. Even though many have been healed, delivered, saved, and blessed by Jesus, and yet remarkably, Christ still struggles to find room in many peoples lives.