It’s funny how despite the fact that no such character is mentioned in Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus, we have created a whole story of the Innkeeper. It’s also a bit sad.

Over the years, this guy ¹ has gotten a bad reputation as someone who peers out the door and, upon seeing Joseph and a quite pregnant Mary standing there, growls, “No Room!” He then slams the door in the young couple’s faces, leaving them to bed down with the livestock.

My picture, however, has mellowed. I see someone who finds himself at the confluence of the Super Bowl, Final Four, and World Series. ² He’s just overwhelmed. There’s no room, the pantry is getting bare and, “Oy Vey, we have these kids show up and she’s about to have a baby!”

Assumptions lead to stories we create,

Maybe, as my pastor Dock Hollingsworth said one Sunday, the poor guy actually did the couple a favor by letting them bed down in the back, away from the crowd. After all, who wants to have a baby in the middle of an inn full of people? The stable, cave, or whatever it was, gave them privacy for a very personal time.

It also meant the shepherds had a destination without distraction where they could marvel at this new baby. They would never have been allowed in the inn. Not that the Innkeeper was thinking of them at the time. It’s another one of those “Funny how God works” kind of things. But back to that Innkeeper.

that hinder us from loving each other.

His story is something I struggle with. After all, we often take bits and pieces of information and impressions we have of others and build our own stories about them. Doesn’t take much to make a person someone we think we really like…or someone we think we really dislike.

If only we could put our stories about folks to the side, discover their stories, and learn who they are, maybe we could begin to love them as we are told to do.

One of my lessons this Christmas is that this baby—who knows us better than we know ourselves and loves us anyway—encourages us to get past the stories we make up and love each other!  ³ And maybe, just maybe, that isn’t for just this one day.

Praying there is room in all our lives for God’s stories of Himself and others.

 

Drew

 

 

Drew Kelly and his wife, Nancy, have lived in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, for more than 40 years. Drew retired after more than 30 years working with bank regulatory agencies. When he is not engaged in one of several volunteer activities he has undertaken in retirement, he embarrasses himself with bad puns on Facebook. Nancy and Drew have a son and daughter-in-law, Rob and Melissa, in the Atlanta area and a son Kevin in Texas. They also provide a comfortable living for a dog and three cats. Nancy and Drew are active in Atlanta’s Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church.

 

 

 

Footnotes: The original version of this Note of Encouragement (The Innkeeper) was published December 29, 2014. (1) Or gal. (2) Imagine the confusion and demands of crowds of such major sports events all coming together at once. (3) Read John 13:34-35.

Pictures: Banner:  (1) No Room in the Inn, created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (1982). (2) Love One Another, creator unknown, from the blog “The One Anothers” (8-19-2023), CoramDeoBibleChurch.org.