And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:1-7 KJV
The very first Christmas involved an 80 mile trip that most likely took a week for Mary and Joseph to get from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Today, we make such a big deal about the trek to Bethlehem. Yet, AAA estimates that over 92 million Americans will travel farther than 50 miles this Christmas. The average round trip distance covered is over one thousand miles. Most of this traveling will be done in an effort to get home for Christmas. This effort to get home for Christmas is not a new phenomenon. Perhaps traveling at Christmas has roots in the story of Mary and Joseph’s travels, but there are other examples in history:
In November of 1783 after eight years of war, General George Washington was impatient to return home to Mount Vernon for it had been his home since he was three years old. Washington had only been home once for a few days during the war and that visit over 2 years earlier. Washington had retaken possession of New York from the British and had plans to say farewell to the troops and resign his commission to Congress before going home to Mount Vernon and Martha for Christmas. The best laid plans become less likely as every town on the way caused him to stop so they could honor the victorious general. With the war over, doesn’t the soon-to-be President Washington have more pressing matters to take care of rather than worry about being home for Christmas?
In another historic instance, Wilbur and Orville Wright finally achieved their historic airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on a mid-December day in 1903. They then sent home a telegram reporting their success. The telegram concluded with the words, “Home Christmas.” This common message – Home Christmas – seems a bit anticlimactic for one of the most revolutionary inventions in human history?
In the scope of history aren’t these events more significant than getting home for Christmas?
And yet we who have traveled to get home for Christmas, we who have spent that first Christmas away from home, we who have been delayed in an airport, stuck in traffic, stranded at a bus station – we understand.
We all want to be home for Christmas. Even as adults who can no longer return to their childhood home (for one reason or another) – we seek ways to escape to home through our memories captured in kept traditions, on-going rituals, and the purchase of retro-toys! Our desire for a connection to home at Christmas comes squarely in the face of the first Christmas which takes place in a ‘hotel’ far away from a place considered home.
Back to our story - this ‘hotel’ with no room wasn’t a ‘hotel’ as we think of hotels. This was probably a shabby sort of place, perhaps even several hundred years old. It was like the other hotels in the area – dirty, uncomfortable, badly kept, and badly managed. Innkeepers were known in this day for their unsavory reputations – most likely because their places were often used for immoral and criminal purposes. This type of hotel is the sort of place that Mary and Joseph came to tired from their travels.
Now, it would have been obvious that Mary was ‘with child’ and that they had been travelling. This is when the news comes, “no room” (Luke 2:7).
Ever been there? stranded? tired? weary?
I still believe this story is still filled with good news for us! I am glad that all of this is part of the Christmas story - the hotel, the innkeeper, travel, no vacancies. They are all important parts of the story that bring us Good News. We need not clean up this part of the story because the story as it is has much to teach us:
Christmas came in the midst of life as usual. When we think of Christmas, we like to think of angels singing, cattle lowing. and a no crying baby. But the reality is that business was usual – including the unsavory, unsightly not talked about side of the hotel business. Later in life Jesus would bring the message of God’s love to the unsavory, the unsightly, and the never talked about people of life. The message of Christmas is for everyone – in every situation.
There is more Good News. Jesus was born away from home. This should serve as a reminder to us about our true home. Perhaps one of the reasons we are so restless in pursuit of the comforts of home is that we have yet to realize that this is not our home – our home rests in the eternal – and we will not be fully at home until we are with Christ in Heaven.
Finally, one last important bit of Good News comes in this Christmas story:
Christmas comes to those who aren’t even looking for it. As a matter of fact, Christmas comes to those who don’t even want it. The innkeeper gets a bad rap in this story. I believe the innkeeper didn’t refuse a room because he was rude. I believe the innkeeper refused because he was filled up. The inn was probably full in part because of the government officials and soldiers in town due to the census (who btw would have been staying for free). The innkeeper would have undoubtedly preferred the paying customers. Besides who would want the bad publicity for refusing a room to a pregnant woman? I don’t know if it was the same innkeeper who refused the room that gave them shelter in the manger – someone did and that is the important message for us today.
At this time of year, we become so busy with activities, so preoccupied with things and stuff that we inadvertently shut out God. We shut out God – not out of open hostility towards God, but we shut out God simply because our lives are so filled up that there is no room.
That is the tragedy of most of our lives – they are filled up.
We shut out Christ because we are preoccupied. (Even now many of us our thinking of all that things we still need to do, or get done, or shop for, or , or , or).
We are filled up beyond our capacity.
And yet here is the Good News of the Christmas story revealed in a filled up hotel.
This Christmas Jesus will still come saying to you, “I love you. May I come in?”
The question is - Will you make room for Christ this season?
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