Inn Keeper - The Dilemma of Belief

Introduction

Video: Inn Keeper: The Dilemma of Belief

The last of the four biographies of the life of Jesus in the Bible is called the ‘Gospel of John” and it ends with this interesting summary verse that seems to allow for, even invite, all kinds of wonder and imagination concerning the life of Jesus. It says...

John 21:25 ESV

25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

While John and the other gospel writers of Matthew, Mark, and Luke have selected for us significant highlights from different scenes of Jesus’ life as it was lived out here on earth... many people, places, and encounters including every detail and circumstance are not recorded.

However, it does not mean that they did not happen. And it does not mean that we cannot wonder, imagine, and think about what might have taken place in the margins of what we know of Jesus’ life. Of course we should never become dogmatic over something that the Bible is silent about, but still we do no violence to the text to wonder or imagine about these other things that Jesus did in the life of other people that were not written down in the Bible.

Tension

The reason that I share all that is because the “Inn Keeper” is not a character in the Christmas story that the Bible directly speaks about…but that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn something from considering what one holding that role might have experienced. And maybe it is best to just consider him as representative of an observer of all that we ARE given in Scripture about that night. While we are blessed to be able to read many of the details here in our Bibles, it can be very helpful to consider how a first hand “eyewitness” to these events would have been impacted by them.

You see unlike you and I, this “Inn Keeper” would have carried the perspective of a 1st century Jewish person. The Jews had been waiting for 400 some years for the Messiah, but there was an increased expenctancy during this time because of the prophecies of Daniel that pointed to this time frame. This is historically evidenced in the many revolts that kept popping up in this region and it made Jerusalem and the surrounding region a very dynamic place…especially during a crowded census.

But he also came face to face with Joseph and Mary who was carrying the Christ child within her. He must have saw something different. He must have saw something exciting and yet still simple. Maybe he would have expressed it even as something “holy”. We certainly do.

As he tried to reconcile his long held expectations with these new experiences we have to wonder if this night had any lasting impact on his life. Since his role is only assumed in the story we have no way of knowing for sure, but we hope for him as we hope for all people that any experience with Jesus will bring a lasting, even an eternal change.

The biography of Luke chapter 2 give us just enough to stir our imaginations about how someone like an Innkeeper may have experienced the arrival of Jesus that Christmas. We read there that...

Luke 2:1–7 (ESV)

1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Links grounded in History

Luke was a highly educated man, a Doctor actually, so he grounds the story of Jesus’ birth within a specific historical time and place. So even though there is a simple sweetness to this story it doesn’t begin like so many other bed time stories. It isn’t “Once upon a time in a land far away...” It was at a particular time in a particular place …

You see the locations Luke mentions can be found on a map: Syria, Galilee, Nazareth, Judea, Bethlehem. These are all specific places with exact coordinates that can be verified and traveled to today.

And Luke also gives us the specific names of people, people in very high positions that we can trace back in the books of history. The decree went out from the highest office in the land: the emperor of Rome, Caesar Augustus. But among other things, the Romans were very efficient at taxing people so they declared one of these census’ about every 14 years or so. So Luke tells us that all this happened during a specific census ”when Quirinius was governor of Syria.” (v.2)

Luke invites us into the story of Jesus through some very concrete historical anchors, like the Emperor in Rome and the governor of Syria and the city of David, but then, as if to say this is just as real…maybe even more so, he focus’ us into the experience of a young couple named Joseph and Mary all the way to the specifics of her “firstborn son” whom, as it says, she “wrapped... in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” (v.7).

Someone had to open the door

So on the backs of all this history and authority we are then invited to infer and wonder and dream and consider what this young couple would have experienced in their journey at this particular place in history. It is healthy to stay curious when we read the Bible. To take what we know for sure and then ask questions like:

How did Mary and Joseph know the Inn was full?

How did they know to make their way to a stable?

Is it too much to think that someone answered the door to the inn when they sought a room for the night?

And that someone led them to consider staying somewhere that they could “lay their baby in a manger”?

It makes all the sense in the world to acknowledge that just because the Bible specifically does not mention an innkeeper at the sold-out shelter in Bethlehem, there likely would have been someone there to open the door and interact with the young couple who were about to become parents of the Son of God.

Somebody figured something out that night in Bethlehem when Joseph and Mary came knocking as her water was about to break. The inn was full, but the stable was usable to make some room for them to bed down for the night. There was a place for them to be placed. And the rest is history.

But even within history, real emotions, thoughts, considerations and the unnamed characters that were present on that night still occurred. Again, we don’t have specifics, but we can wonder. And maybe it is even a little easier for us to put ourselves into the position of an onlookier than in the role of one of the other specific characters in the Christmas Story. Especially when considering what the birth of Jesus means to us when it comes to what we believe.

APPLICATION

You know every portrayal of the “Inn Keeper” that I have encountered has had one thing in common…regret. We saw this even last Sunday in the kids musical when they sang the song, “If I knew then what I know now...”. And whether the Inn Keeper existed or not, this Dilemma is worth our consideration. Now that we know who this one born in a manger really is…what difference does it make?

To “believe”, as the Bible talks about it, is to put your faith and trust in something or someone. It is not like the sentimental believing that is present in so many of the other Christmas Stories. Where believing in the existence of Santa is enough to make the sled and reindeer magically fly. Believing in Jesus is about submitting to who you found out that HE really is and then seeing yourself through that lens.

Believing in the existence of God is one thing, but to put your faith and trust in Jesus is something very different. The Bible says that even the demons believe in the existence of God. James, who was born to Mary and Joseph much later, put his faith and trust in his half brother JEsus and then as a leader of the early Church wrote the book of James in the Bible. In that book he is very careful to make that important distinction between just believing in God and putting your faith and trust in him. He says to the early Christian Church...

James 2:19 (ESV) You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

Now I am sure that none of you expected to come hear a Christmas Eve service where the pastor talks about Demons. You probably thought you would be hearing about beautiful angels and frightened shepherds and the quiet soothing sounds of a barn where a new Mom and Dad looked lovingly over the edge of a manger at their bright eyed new born baby. And certainly that is a beautiful part of the Christmas Story...

...but make no mistake, the advent of Jesus the Messiah was a declaration of war on the devil himself. Demons shuddered because the first cry of the Christ-child that night, was the shot heard round the world as far as the kingdom of darkness was concerned.

The second half of 1 John 3:8 says “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” Did you hear that? It wasn’t a nice side effect, the reason that Jesus came was to destroy the works of the devil, the opposer and enemy of God. That is quite a statement, but it can feel like it is a little disconnected from our expeirience until we look at the first part of the verse where he says...

1 John 3:8 (ESV) Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

To destroy the works of the devil is to destroy sin! What both James and John understood and were trying to teach the early church was that the mission and message of this one born in a manger is all about saving us from the effects of Sin. Sin is never safe. Eventually it always harms. It always destroys. It always lies to us telling us that there is a better way to be human than the way that God designed us to be. And Jesus came to destroy all of those things that the devil is working in our world.

The “Anointed One” of old

And certainly I would not assume that an innkeeper would not have been operating with the full scope of that reality, but he was probably closer to it than any of us are. Remember that the word “Christ” is just the Greek way of saying the Hebrew word “Messiah” and the Jews had been waiting for generations for the coming of their Messiah, the anointed one. This “Annointed one” would be great and would sit on David’s throne and restore Isreal to it’s former glory and rid them of all their oppressors.

So they sang songs like...

Psalm 24:7–10 (ESV) 7 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! 9 Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah

The arrival of this long awaited Messiah was to bring light into the world that would push back the dark oppression that every Jewish person felt the strain of. His arrival would mean victory was on the horizon, but is wasn’t earthly human powers that were necesarily in Jeopardy. God had is sight set on something much bigger. It was our sin and the works of the devil that were in the cross-hairs of the Creator on the night that there was no room for Jesus in the Inn. The plan from eternity was now in place and unfolding.

Perfect Time

Don’t overlook a specific detail that Luke gives in the text when he says: Luke 2:6 (ESV) 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.

God’s sovereignty means He does just the right thing in just the right way at just the right time, for His glory and for our good. Maybe an innkeeper did not have a clue that the timing was right, but God did. In fact, the Apostle Paul later wrote about the birth narrative:

Galatians 4:4–5 (ESV) 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

The innkeeper probably had no idea he was “in-keeping” with the perfect timing of God from all eternity’s perspective. Even the fact that the inn was full and the stable was about to be the maternity ward was all part of the plan. For Jesus the King of Kings to come into this world in such a specific and humble way gives hope to any of us.

Romans 10:17 (ESV) says “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

and the Greek word used for “word” in this verse is not the Greek word logos like it in John when it says: “In the beginning was the word” nor is it the Greek word “graphe” meaning the written word of God, the Bible. This is the Greek word “rhema” and it means that which is spoken or declared. A statement. The idea here is that faith comes from hearing the statement that Jesus is the Christ and in that hearing, God does something in the heart and mind of the hearer to draw him or her to Himself.

So that, as it says back in verse 9 and 10 of the same chapter: ..., if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Saved from what? Saved from the destructive and devastating power, presence and punishment of Sin.

You see the acknowledgement of Jesus as the Christ is a declaration that we have a problem that we cannot fix. Humanity has tried with everything it has - technology, government, military force, entertainment, science, - you name it…none of those things have the power to fix our primary problem…which is our Sin.

The Christmas story is not a light and sentimental one. It is, in fact, the most serious matter that a person can ever consider. It is wrought with the most significant Dilemma of all. The Dilemma of belief. Do you believe, have your placed your faith and trust in this baby born in the manger or will you find yourself saying at the end of your life, If only I knew then what I know now? Romans 10 continues to say....

For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” Romans 10:9-11

This would or could include an innkeeper who would have had something of a front row seat as he provided space to start the greatest rescue mission ever instituted. If there was an innkeeper, then perhaps his Dilemma of belief brought him to confess Jesus as Lord and place his faith and trust in him.

But that “everyone” extends all the way to each one of us. If you haven’t heard me say it yet, let me be clear…Jesus Christ is Lord, he was born in a manger, lived a sinless life and died the death that was rightfully ours. The manger was the beginning, but the cross was not the end. For God raised Him from the dead and now offers the gift of new life in Christ to all who believe in Him.

What are you going to do with it?

As my family has been listening to Christmas songs this year, one particular new song has really captured us and I asked my daughter Chara if she would join me tonight to sing it for you. Please consider the words as you hear them (?and as they appear on the screen?)