The Inn Keeper Who Missed Christmas Series

THE INNKEEPER WHO MISSED CHRISTMAS

Luke 2:7

Text: “. . .and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in strips of cloth and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them

The man who ran the motel in Bethlehem, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, where millions of Jews had come for the census, is used as a representative of the human soul who slams the door in the face of Jesus and does not allow Him in. He, it is often said, looked at a young woman about to give birth and her terrified husband - all men are terrified at the moment of birth! - and callously said, “Go away!”

Maybe, however, this fellow has received a bum rap. Maybe he never saw Mary or knew she was pregnant.

Maybe Joseph never even asked him because he knew the inn was full. Maybe this man, with no power to give a room, went with Joseph and Mary to the motel stable and helped find them the nicest, cleanest, warmest spot possible.

The end result, whatever his attitude, was that on a lower floor, in the courtyard, in someone’s barn or shed and perhaps, as ancient legends have it, in a cave where animals were quartered, the Son of God was born. He was placed in a feeding trough, manger, probably made of wood or if, in a cave, carved out of stone.

We have beautified and sentimentalized this beyond imagination - but, ladies and gentlemen, in a city overcrowded to the breaking point, a stable is not a place to walk in, much less be born in.

Leslie Flynn in “Christmas Messages” tells of a missionary who visited in a home and slept in the barn. The smell was nauseating, every step he took he feared he would step in manure or be stepped on or kicked.

I believe the one hurt the most was Joseph. He probably wept as much as Mary did as he saw her pain, the stinking surroundings, their poverty, the indifference of people and his utter helplessness.

That, said R. Kent Hughes, would make any man want to curse or cry. Let’s zero in amidst all this madness and busy-ness on the man or woman who ran the motel in Bethlehem and listen to what he or she might say to us in the rush-rush-rush, madness and busy-ness of the Christmas season. He or she might say. . .

I. LISTEN UP

Through the noise of the crowds and the cash registers, remember God has done and is doing something wonderful and special in the earth. He is sending His Son. He is coming in the person of His Son. And He is doing it personally, for you and for me.

Don’t get lost in the crowds. You and I are not just “one more” in the masses that are pushed and pulled through the season. He came to reveal God and to redeem or deliver you and me from the guilt, power and eternal penalty of sin. And He came in a dirty stable.

1. The Stable Speaks of Hostility.

Jesus, from that day to this, is on the outside looking in to a hostile world that wants no part of Him.

John 1:10-11 says, “He was in the world, and though the world did not recognize him He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”

The world has its place for Jesus Christ - outside! They are in the inn being comfortable and joyful and having their needs met, and Christ is in the stable they think about at Christmas time.

2. The Stable Speaks of Humility.

Paul said that when the eternal God, in Jesus, came to this planet He hurled out in space that “He humbled Himself” (Phil. 2).

The Creator could have ridden in on a comet or been born in a palace made of pure gold, but He was born in a barn. This points to the humility of His incarnation - God took on all the burdens of humanity except our sin nature.

But Jesus also took on the added humility of voluntary poverty and was reduced to borrowing - something most of us are too proud to do. He borrowed a stable for his birth. . .

- a bed, for He said He had none.

- a basket of food to feed His hearers.

- a boat to stand and preach in.

- a donkey to ride on.

- a room to eat His last supper in.

- a coin from a fish to pay taxes.

- a grave to be buried in.

We are, as I suppose we should be, self sufficient and Independent. We earn our way and pay our way. But our Lord, to do the Father’s will and give Himself to His mission, humbled Himself and lived on the generosity and kindness of others.