No Room at the Inn #1

Welcome to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hello, I'm Bill Wright. Thanks for joining us as we continue teaching God's people God's Word. Don begins a new message today, so without further delay, let's join him right now in the Truth Pulpit. It's that wonderful time of year as we remember our Savior's birth, and as we were singing a verse just kind of flitted across my mind as we speak about that amazing love that died for us. It's that God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. And we get a measure of the humility that God honors, that God blesses, that God receives when we consider the nature of the humiliation of our own Lord.

And Christmas gives us a good opportunity to do that. I invite you to turn to Luke chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. We're going to read verses 1 through 7.

Luke chapter 2, verses 1 through 7 for our text. Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Carinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee from the city of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David. In order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son. And she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now tonight I just want to focus on that last clause of verse 7. There was no room for them at the inn. It's common, at least it used to be in some circles, to embellish that brief statement to spin a Christmas story that tugs at the heartstrings. Some would speculate about an innkeeper who refused admittance to Joseph and Mary, and he was too busy to help them. Let me give you a couple of quotes along those lines.

One writer said this. Said, that night in Bethlehem, an innkeeper was confronted by a man and his pregnant wife. He turned them away saying he had no room for them.

And so he missed Christmas. Not only did he turn Mary and Joseph away, but he apparently didn't even call for anyone to help a young mother about to give birth. The innkeeper was busy.

There is no indication that he was hostile or even unsympathetic. He was just busy, that's all. And so you get this picture of an overwrought innkeeper turning away Mary as she's about to give birth to the Son of God. Another writer says, and I quote, The first of the men who missed Christmas was quite obviously the innkeeper. In the hustle and bustle of the season, the innkeeper missed the most important birth in history.

He should not have missed it, of course, simply because he was so close to it. The child was born in his stable almost under his nose, and yet his preoccupation with his business kept him from it. End quote. Now, those accounts are fun to read, and you'll find some that are very harsh critics of that kind of speculation.

I don't think we need to go overboard in being too severe in our thoughts about these things. But the truth of the matter is, as you read the passage from Luke, is that it actually says nothing about an innkeeper at all. It does not allude to an innkeeper. It simply says there was no room for them in the inn. Well, what I want to do with that little bit of introduction and setup for you here this evening, what I want to do tonight is simply stay a little closer to the biblical text, and in what I intend to be a fairly simple, straightforward message, bring some things out to you that are more in keeping with what I think the intent of the author is when he says there is no room for them at the end. Why is it significant to us that there was no room in the inn? Why does Scripture say repeatedly that Christ lay in a manger?

We'll see that three times in Luke chapter 2, a manger is referred to, explicitly referred to in the text, when nothing is said about an innkeeper. That piques my curiosity. That makes me say, well, what's going on here?

And what I want to do tonight is take an indirect approach to answering those questions. Why is it significant? What can we draw from the fact that there was no room for Mary at the inn, for Joseph and Mary in the inn? Why is that significant and what does it tell us about our Lord? That's the key thing in my mind. And so what I want to do is take this indirect approach to answering the question, but first I want to clear your mind of those modern depictions of the story that we've all kind of grown up with and Christmas traditions and all of that that aren't necessarily tested by the biblical text.

And as we do that, we're going to be able to see better what's most important about it to us. What's important in this story is not the innkeeper. What's important in the biblical narrative and what's important in redemptive history is not an individual's response to Christ during his earthly time on our sod. No, Christ is always the center of it and I want to see what we can find out about Christ through that phrase, there was no room at the inn. So that's where we're going here this evening. It's simple, this is not like some of the heavy stuff that I've preached in recent Tuesdays on controversial issues. This is more a meditation and a devotion than anything else.

I want to answer three questions about it. The first question is what about this inn? What about the inn? And it's interesting, when we think of an inn, we tend to think of something like a hotel that has a desk clerk and people can come in and rent a room and all of that.

That's what the word inn naturally evokes in our 21st century mind. And there is a term in scripture for an inn like that. It's found in the Good Samaritan story. If you look over at Luke chapter 10 later on in the text, I told you this was going to be indirect and a roundabout way of getting to what we want to say. You remember the story of the Good Samaritan. How Jesus told a story about a man going down, falling among robbers. And there was a kind-hearted Samaritan who showed kindness to him. In verse 33 it says a Samaritan who was on a journey came upon him.

And when he saw him he felt compassion and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. And he put him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. There's an actual innkeeper actually mentioned in the text.

How about that? The innkeeper and said, take care of him and whatever more you spend when I return I will repay you. So in verse 34 you see the word inn. In verse 35 you see a related word innkeeper. And an inn like this was where a traveler might find a knight's lodging. And the word innkeeper is related to that. If you break down the original word in the original language it refers to a man who receives everyone. He'll receive you even if you're not part of the family. And we see from this passage in Luke chapter 10 that he was paid for the lodging and care that he provided.

So that's all very good and well and all of that. But here's our challenge, beloved, and you won't see this directly from the English text. Those words here for inn and innkeeper from Luke 10, where it's clear that a man is receiving someone for pay, those words are not the words that are used in Luke chapter 2 verse 7.

And it's hard to see the difference in English and that makes our job a little bit difficult. So just stay with me and let's go back with that little bit of said to Luke chapter 2 verse 7 again. Luke chapter 2 verse 7, as we keep the text fresh in our minds, says that she gave birth to her firstborn son.

She wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Now, beloved, I realize that most of you have not had the opportunity to study the original languages, but the word for inn in Luke chapter 2 verse 7 is a different word than what's used in Luke chapter 10. This word here in Luke chapter 2 verse 7 is a Greek word, kataluma. And this word is used in two other places in the New Testament.

And they're parallel passages so we're only going to look at one of them. Luke chapter 22, look over at Luke chapter 22 with me, where you see this actual word used in a different portion of Scripture, interestingly used in Luke's account of Christ. Luke chapter 22 verse 8, we'll pick up the story, the disciples are going to find a place for Jesus and the disciples to celebrate the Passover. And on verse 7, let's start there, chapter 22 verse 7, then came the first day of unleavened bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. And Jesus sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare the Passover for us so that we may eat it. They said to him, where do you want us to prepare for it? And he said to them, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house that he enters. And you shall say to the owner of the house, the teacher says to you, where is the kataluma? Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples?

And he will show you a large furnished upper room, prepare it there. Guest room there in verse 11 is the same term that's translated in in Luke chapter 2 verse 7. That's very interesting, especially when within the gospel of Luke, there is a description of an inn with an innkeeper for pay. And yet elsewhere in Luke, we see a reference to a kataluma, a room in a house that makes no reference of being paid for it. And that, I believe, is significant. And if we just rely on the biblical text and what is said for us, we can come to some conclusions about the circumstances of our Lord's birth. Because the word used for inn is different, I don't think we should be thinking about this as something that was, you know, like there's a hotel with a neon first century no vacancy sign flashing outside.

That's not likely to be the situation as it actually happened. For our purposes, in relying on the use of the word in Luke 22, the inn at which there was no room for Jesus, the inn was likely a large room in a house. It was not a standalone business for travelers. And so, when it says that there was no room for them at the inn, it's simply indicating that the guest room was occupied when they arrived.

There was no place for them to stay at this house that they had chosen for, that they had gone to, to try to find lodging. And so, beloved, stay with me. I said this was indirect, and you're saying, yeah, yeah, you're delivering on that promise. This is all very indirect.

My only point is that maybe it's not best if we're picturing a busy clerk turning away cold-heartedly a woman who is heavy with child. If it was meant to be the emphasis, Luke would have talked about an innkeeper. He would have mentioned it.

He would have said something about it if that was to be our focus. The fact that he's silent about it, and we have other scriptures within the Gospel of Luke giving us a different picture, I think we need to look elsewhere for what the significance of that is, because it's certainly not the emphasis of Luke's account. He does not mention an innkeeper specifically, even though he did mention one in Luke chapter 10. So what about this alleged innkeeper and about the inn? Well, it seems, if we're using the words in similar ways in Luke 2 and in Luke chapter 22, picturing a room and a house, not a traveler's lodge, that was not available when Joseph and Mary arrived.

Now, let's just hold that thought there. Now, secondly, what about the manger? What about the manger if we go back to Luke chapter 2 verse 7? Luke places more prominence on the manger in Luke chapter 2.

He mentions it three different times. In Luke chapter 2 verse 7, he says that she laid him in a manger. And in verse 12, this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in claws and lying in a manger. And in verse 16, they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as he lay in the manger. Now, that's interesting. Three times the manger is mentioned when the innkeeper is not mentioned at all.

If you're keeping score at home, that's a shutout for those of you that think in those kinds of terms. As you read some background material about this manger, the truth of the matter is we don't really know exactly what it's like. Despite all of the figurines that you've seen and purchased and put up on your mantle over the years, we don't exactly know what this manger was like. One lexical source says it could perhaps be the stable, a place to keep horses or even a feeding place under the open sky. Another lexical source says it could refer generally to the enclosed space for domestic animals such as horse or oxen, or more specifically to the food trough for the animals within the general space. Now, one ancient church history tradition says that Jesus was born in a cave that was used as a livestock shelter behind someone's home. And a modern authority goes on to say about that, that with all of Joseph's scattered family members returning home at once, it would have been easier for Mary to bear and care for the child after birth in the vacant cave outside. And so you get this picture of something that is animal-related, whatever the specifics of it may have been. Animal-related, hang on to that thought for a while. The respected biblical commentator Leon Morris says this, and I quote, he says, that he was laid in a manger has traditionally been taken to mean that Jesus was born in a stable. He may have been, but it is also possible that the birth took place in a very poor home where the animals shared the same roof as the family. A tradition going back to Justin says it occurred in a cave and this could be right.

We just do not know. Here's the point, beloved. We've taken the indirect route and now we've arrived at the scenic viewpoint. Morris says this, we know only that everything points to obscurity, poverty, and even rejection, end quote. Beloved, that's the point that I want you to see this evening and that's what I think we should take away from this. When we speak of the inn, the room in the house was occupied.

There wasn't a place for them to go within the normal hospitality that would have been given to family under those circumstances. So instead they're in a manger. And whether it's Jesus lying in a food trough, whether the manger is a word used more generally for a stable in which the animals are kept, here's the point, is that Jesus was born in humble circumstances in an obscure place where everything speaks of humility and lack and poverty and even being set aside, even being rejected. And that is the emphasis that I want you to see.

Right here's the money point that we want to make. The circumstances of Jesus' birth testify to us of the nature of the work that he came to do on behalf of sinners just like you. Let me say that again. The circumstances of his birth testify to the nature of the work he came to do on behalf of sinners like you. Rather than trying to get back to something that is utterly unrecoverable, what exactly did this manger look like and what exactly was the room from which they were turned away, it's enough for us to recognize that Jesus was born into circumstances where there was not room for him, where he was not expected, not wanted you could even say, so that he was pushed to the margins in a way that left him associated with animals and left him associated with isolation, loneliness, and poverty. That's what I want you to see here.

There was no room for him at the end, and so he was left with that. My friend, I want to let you know of a special ministry that we have at thetruthpulpit.com that's very near to my heart. We have a ministry to those who are in prison, and in the nature of life sometimes we have loved ones that go astray and find themselves behind bars and spending significant time in incarceration. Well, we have a ministry to them. We send them transcripts of messages that I've preached from the pulpit of Truth Community Church. We do it on a weekly basis.

They get mail every week. If you have a loved one in prison that you would like to have us reach out to in that way, do me a favor. Go to our website, thetruthpulpit.com. That's thetruthpulpit.com. That's thetruthpulpit.com. Click on the link that says About, and you'll see a drop-down menu that will take you to our prison ministry. You can fill out the form, and we'll be happy to respond and join in with you in ministering to that one who is outside the normal course of society. So that's thetruthpulpit.com, the About link for our prison ministry.

That will do it for today. We'll see you next time on The Truth Pulpit. That's Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank you so much for listening to The Truth Pulpit. Join us next time for more as we continue teaching God's people God's word.