The Christmas Message: The Innkeeper

Now, despite the many, many, many Christmas plays showing the innkeeper, he is actually not listed in any of the Gospels. Yet, since we were told there was no room in the inn, a businessman, or maybe several, surely had to interact with Mary and Joseph that night.

In fact, I can see in my mind Mary and Joseph finally arriving in Bethlehem. It’s late in the afternoon for this trip has taken longer than expected due to Mary being so very pregnant.

They come to an inn, and there are no rooms. Because of the decree, they are full. They move from inn to inn, and there is still no room for them.

More than once in my own travels, I’ve come to a local hotel only to find they are sold out. You go to the next one, and the next one. It’s dark and cold and no one has any room. In those times I’ve felt just a portion of the frustration that Joseph must have felt that night.

He just wants to provide shelter for his pregnant wife. He doesn’t know when the child will be coming, just that it will be soon.

He’s starts to get frantic as he goes from place to place, each one turning you away. “There is no room…”

I see Joseph begging for a place, “just any place, we’re a small family, we don’t need much. My wife is pregnant, don’t you have anything to spare?” You can hear the desperation in his voice.

Mary waits on the donkey, unable to get up and down in her condition. She might be in the beginnings of labor now, either not knowing it as this is her first child, or trying to hide it from her husband so he doesn’t worry even more.

The innkeeper’s wife sees her. She looks at her own kids running around and remembering her own pregnancies, takes pity on her. I can see the innkeeper’s wife coming up to whisper in her husband’s ear.

“We have no rooms,” he says slowly. “But,” he pauses, not really wanting to offer it. “But if you want, you can stay in our stable. It’s not too warm, and it will smell, but it will keep the wind out and you can sleep in the straw, which is softer than the ground.”

Joseph feels like he’s just won the lottery and takes the innkeeper’s offer. He settles down with Mary for the night, not knowing what the night will hold for him.

Before long, Mary will give birth, and baby Jesus will lay in that manger.

Next: The Shepherds