Kingdom U // The Characters of Christmas // Luke 2:7

Scripture

Luke 2:7 CSB

7 Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Luke 2:7 The Message

7 She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

New Testament 2:1–7—Journey to Bethlehem

2:6–7. The “swaddling clothes” were long cloth strips used to keep babies’ limbs straight so they could grow properly (cf. Wisdom of Solomon 7:4). Midwives normally assisted at birth; especially because this was Mary’s first child, it is likely (though not clear from the text) that a midwife would assist her. Jewish law permitted midwives to travel a long distance even on the Sabbath to assist in delivery.

By the early second century A.D. even pagans were widely aware of the tradition that Jesus was born in a cave used as a livestock shelter behind someone’s home, and they reported the site of this cave to the emperor Hadrian. The manger was a feeding trough for animals; sometimes these may have been built into the floor. The word traditionally translated “inn” probably means “home” or “guest room”; with all Joseph’s scattered family members returning home at once, it is easier for Mary to bear (or care for the child after birth) in the vacant cave outside.

Observation

Mary & Joseph where on a journey to deliver the baby. (The Promised Messiah)

99 mile journey

Modest Shack

When they excepted the assignment they could not have imagined the journey.

The Lord is born on earth, and he does not have even a cell in which to be born, for there was no room for him in the inn. The entire human race had a place, and the Lord about to be born on earth had none. He found no room among men. He found no room in Plato, none in Aristotle, but in a manger, among beasts of burden and brute animals, and among the simple, too, and the innocent.1

Darling, Daniel. The Characters of Christmas (p. 85). Moody Publishers.

To prevent you from thinking that his coming to earth was merely an accommodation, and to give you solid grounds for truly believing that his was real flesh, he was conceived, born and nurtured. That his birth might be made manifest and become common knowledge, he was laid in a manger, not in some small room but in a lodging place before numerous people. This was the reason for the swaddling clothes and also for the prophecies spoken long before. The prophecies showed not only that he was going to be a man but that he would be conceived, born and nurtured as any child would be.2

Darling, Daniel. The Characters of Christmas (p. 85). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

The Innkeeper was caught off guard

God often comes to us in unusual ways

A shepherd boy was busy tending sheep when he was summoned inside and a priest named Samuel poured oil on his head and whispered in his ear that he’d be Israel’s next king (1 Sam. 16:1–13).

A pagan farmer was minding his herds when God called him to leave everything and take his wife to a land called Canaan (Gen. 12).

A fallen prince was working the backside of the desert when God appeared in a flaming bush and told him to go to Egypt (Ex. 3).

A high-ranking member of the Sanhedrin was on his way to Damascus, putting down this new religious cult, when Jesus met him in a blinding light on the way to Damascus (Acts 9).

Before we judge the innkeeper lets examine our own hearts.

Applications

How do you accommodate God’s divine disruptions

Is there room for him INN your plans?

Adjust according to God’s plan

Prayer

Dear God, allow me not to live a life so full that theres no room for you. I surrender the spaces in my heart that have cluttered your dwelling place. Lord give me the strength to remove the things that don’t allow you to rest comfortably in my life. In Jesus Name, Amen