To
save our false heroes, we make villains of the wrong people.
In
our telling of the Christmas story, we vilify the innkeeper in Luke 2: 7. The innkeeper has become the symbol of
heartless profiteers who reject the gospel for the love of money.
Neal
Maxwell said, “Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for
Jesus.”
I
disagree. The innkeeper is not the
villain.
He
really didn’t have any empty rooms, and it would have been totally unethical to
evict travelers who had already paid him for the night’s shelter. In those days innkeepers and their families
lived in their business. Did we expect
him to put his own wife and children out in the cold?
The
innkeeper literally had no more room, but such as he had he gave. His stable was warm. Not pretty, not that clean, but it was inside
and warm.
The
innkeeper wasn’t the bad guy. We want
him to be so we don’t have to face who the real villains were.
Joseph
and Mary were both descendants of King David.
Bethlehem was full because the descendants of David were in town to
register for the census. It was a big
family reunion. Yet, not one uncle,
aunt, cousin, or parent in Bethlehem would let Joseph and his
9-month-pregnant-going-into-labor-right-now wife come into their house.
Back
up and ask yourself why Mary was even on the road with Joseph at the end of her
3rd trimester? Why didn’t the
women of Nazareth insist that Mary stay with them while her husband travelled?
It
was because no one believed her and Joseph’s story about this baby being the
Son of God conceived without sex. Mary
was dishonored.
And
Joseph, by marrying her after she was 3 months pregnant, had taken full share
in her public shame.
The
village elders agreed not to stone them as the law allowed, but their families
summarily declared, “You are both dead to us.”
The women in Nazareth, including the women in Mary’s family, refused to care
for her, and away from Joseph’s protection, the men might still have attacked
her.
Mary
had to walk to Bethlehem with Joseph, but the family who outpaced them from
Nazareth and filled all the rooms in the inn and spread the word that no one in
the extended family was to give shelter to the marked couple and their
illegitimate child.
Their
family were the villains. The innkeeper was the hero.
We
don’t want to think of it that way because we recognize that in this land of
churches, TBN, and Bible apps, WE ARE THE FAMILY; and we want to be the heroes
who saved Christmas from all those heathens who say “Happy Holidays.”
But
when Jesus shows up in a teenage mother instead of a gaudy Christmas sweater,
who makes room for him?
When
Jesus shows up broke and homeless and (worst of all) not on our Christmas party
guest list, who makes room for him?
When
Jesus shows up as a dirty kid with a stepdad (Well we think that’s his stepdad
but are they even actually married?), who has room for that drama this time of
year?
When
Jesus is swaddled in rags, not robed in white, when He’s screaming about food
and warmth and love, not teaching eloquently about deep doctrinal debates-----
are you really gonna make room for that?
The
God’s honest truth is that strangers have often been more willing to receive
Jesus that way than we in the church family.
Jesus
told the scribes and Pharisees (His people) that ancient Assyrians had a better
ear for the raw gospel.
The men of Nineveh
will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they
repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. (Matthew 12:41)
In
exasperation Paul gave up trying to preach to his own people.
But when the Jews
opposed Paul and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your
blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the
Gentiles.” (Acts 18:6)
Basically,
Paul said, “I’m done. I’d rather deal
with idolaters and cannibals than you church-folk.”
The
Jesus offered that silent night in Bethlehem came forth through pain, and
labor, and water, and blood, and social shame.
We,
the family, must decide this Christmas if we are willing to share in Jesus’ pain and labor, to be covered in His
water and blood, to share in His shame.
Or
will we just shut our doors, plug in our lights, and wish “Merry Christmas” to
those already inside? Will this be
another Christmas when only strangers make room for Jesus?
He
came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. (John 1: 11)
---Anderson
T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and
consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield,
Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking
Organization (SAYNO); and director
of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human
Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
You
can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button
on the right-hand sidebar.
Support
by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles
Chapel CME Church
P
O Box 132
Fairfield,
Al 35064
