Articles
No Room
One day, long ago, Joseph and his very pregnant wife, Mary, went on a journey and needed a place to stay. They ended up in the barn (likely a cave with a wide open entrance) “because there was no room for them in the inn” (Lk. 2:7). The word “inn” invokes a picture of a hotel for modern readers. More likely, it is just a reference to a guest room in someone’s house. The only other times that word shows up in the Bible is when Jesus sends His disciples into Jerusalem to prepare a “guest room” for them to observe the Passover (Mk. 14:14; Lk. 22:11). Regardless, the house was full, so the couple were sent to be with the animals. Sometime afterwards, a child was born.
I have wondered what that night in Bethlehem looked like. I can understand that if the guest room was occupied that you wouldn’t want to kick the guests out, but who would offer to a pregnant woman, as an alternative option, a place with the sheep and goats? I suppose it was better than nothing. But what if that landowner had known who had really come to their front door? If they knew that the Son of God, the eternal king, was about to be born, would they have made different arrangements? Wouldn’t they have given up their own bed?
Imagine if the place where Jesus was born became a tourist site a few years later and people came from far away to see the place. Every morning the landowner would wake up and look out his window to see a crowd of people gathered not too far away. They would have come to see a manger (a stone food trough for animals), but while doing so wouldn’t they also notice the landowner staring out his window at them? They wouldn’t see the reason for his decision. The house guests who filled the room that fateful night would have long been gone. Who could possibly have been so important? While some stayed in the home, Joseph, Mary and the Son of God were sent out to be with the animals. What an embarrassing choice. Of course, there was no way the landowner could have known at the time just how significant that pregnant woman was. If he had, then it wouldn’t have been an embarrassing choice, it would have been blasphemously evil.
How easy it is to judge the landowner who had no way of knowing what mistake they were making. But are we innocent?
Today Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). The home that Jesus cares about isn’t in Bethlehem, it’s inside us. He wants a place in our hearts. Will we make Him Lord (I Pet. 3:15) or will we not find room for Him because there are too many other things that we love (Mt. 6:24)?
Do we make time for Jesus in our lives, or is our daily schedule full and so there is no room for Him? No time to listen to Jesus’ teaching. No time to do His work. No time to spread His word. No time…
The landowner couldn’t have fully known who was standing at His door. We, on the other hand, do know. We are without excuse if we don’t. He has risen from the dead and received the testimony of our Father in heaven. This is the Son of God who knocks at our door. Will we make room for Him?
