We have all seen Christmas
pageants with the little boy who comes in as Joseph dressed in a bathrobe and
sneakers. He anxiously taps on the door to the inn and the innkeeper, dressed
in a toe-sack robe answers, indicating that there is no room in the crowded
inn. The innkeeper looks at Mary, shrugs and Joseph and Mary are turned away.
But what if…what if there is an interruption in the Story? What if a
voice calls out to the innkeeper asking him if he knows who he is turning away?
Does the innkeeper really want to be known through history as the one who
turned Jesus away? But we can’t change the scene can we? If we did, so much
else would change, too. No angels singing in the sky. No announcement to
shepherds to look for the Savior in a manger.
John 1:14
“The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His
glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and
truth.”
‘The Word became flesh’
The Greek word for Word is Logos. About 500 years before Jesus’ birth a
philosopher by the name of Heraclitus from Ephesus made this famous statement.
“You cannot step twice into the same river.” By the time you step into a river
and then step out of it, and enter again, the river has changed. It’s the same
way with life, it is always moving, always changing.
Plato once said, ‘some day there will come forth from God a logos, a
Word, who will reveal all mysteries and make everything plain.’
300-400 years latter John writes these words.
John 1:1-3
“1 In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He
was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created
through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.”
John is placing Jesus in the beginning. He is letting everyone know
that Jesus Christ did not begin in Bethlehem. Jesus has existed as long as God
has existed. This was a new thought back then, as long as God has been, Jesus
has been.
How did God create the universe, ‘with words.’ He would say ‘Let there
be’, and there was. John is saying, do you know who is saying ‘Let there be?’
It was the Word, the voice of Jesus speaking. Paul would later support this by
writing.
Colossians 1:15-16
“15 He is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was
created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether
thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created
through Him and for Him.”
Think about it, we have spent 21 weeks reviewing the Old Testament, did
Jesus’ life begin in Bethlehem?
When Abraham gave an offering to Melchizedek, some scholars say he was
giving an offering to a manifestation of Jesus.
Was it Jesus who was wrestling with Jacob and made his hip come out of
its socket?
When Joshua fell on his face and worshipped the one who called Himself
the commander of the armies of the Lord, was it Jesus?
In the fiery furnace who was the 4th guy with Meshach,
Shadrach, and Abednego?
Jesus with Abraham, Jesus with Joshua, Jesus with Jacob, Jesus with
Daniel’s friends, and now Jesus with us. Jesus, the Word, became flesh and made
His dwelling among us. He isn’t part man and part God, not ½ man and ½ God, He
is 100% man and 100% God. He is at once fully man and fully God. So pure, that
He could be born of a virgin.
Luke 1:34-35
“34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?” 35 The angel replied to her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.”
What a perfect beginning for the earthly ministry of Jesus. He was divine enough to enter a womb entirely on His own, yet He was human enough to have no room in the inn.
His father, Joseph, was just a regular guy. He did not have any clout, very little cash, no strings to pull, and no friends to call. Jesus, the maker of the universe, the One who invented time, the One who gave you the breath you just took, was so humble that His parents could not get a room in Bethlehem. Even though His mother was obviously pregnant and ready to give birth, there was no room for them. How humble is that for a beginning?
Jesus is humble enough to know what you’ve been through this week. Humble enough to know what keeps you awake at night. Humble enough to know the hunger pains of every child who goes to bed without dinner. Humble enough to understand the prayers of the sick, the homeless, the rejected, and depressed.
Our Lord Jesus does not sit around watching us saying ‘I wish they would get their act together.’ He remembers the pain of a hungry belly and the chill of a cold night. He knows the story about how his parents were turned away and rejected when in need.
The Word became flesh. He entered our world to feel what it was like to be you and me. He truly knows what it feels like to be cold, hungry, beaten, and crucified. Jesus is God who became flesh.
How did the world respond to the God who became flesh?
John 1:10-11
“10 He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not recognize Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.”
The innkeeper wasn’t the only one who turned away Jesus, just the first. Wouldn’t you love to talk to the innkeeper and find out what he was thinking? Why put a pregnant woman in a barn with animals? Couldn’t he find some place in his inn for them?
Maybe he thought it was too crowded already. After all with the census going on, there were a lot of people heading to Bethlehem. The town was jam packed as was probably every inn in it. He may have been thinking if I let them in and she gives birth I will have a horrible mess to clean up. Letting them in and the birth of the baby will most definitely wake up everyone and that will upset my customers who have already paid me. Maybe it was just too late and the innkeeper was already in bed and did not want to get up.
Heck, maybe the innkeeper looked at Joseph and Mary and thought they were nothing special so he decided not to trouble himself. After all they were humble peasants not wealthy royalty. It could have come down to them not having enough money to pay for the room and the innkeeper not wanting to give them a break.
In the Book of Luke it tells us, ‘there was no room for them in the inn.’ Bethlehem was crowded.
Even now, the world is still so crowded that Jesus is pushed away. The demands of life get in the way. Crowded with things we need to do and crowded with things we wish we had not done. Crowded with headlines which may make our hearts, spirits, and minds feel overwhelmed. There are also deadlines, phone lines, and long lines, full itineraries, full schedules, jam packed lives, and even concerns over our waist lines. Crowded, our lives are packed, our calendars are full, and our list of responsibilities continue to grow.
Mary and Joseph knocked at the innkeepers door and Jesus comes in the midst of our crazy lives and knocks on the door of our hearts. Too often our response is I don’t have the time, my life is too busy, I have kids to shuttle around, a job that keeps me busy, a spouse who needs me, doctors appoints to keep, homework to do, house to clean. I don’t have the time with all these responsibilities. Life is crowded and what the innkeeper did not realize and what we need to get into our hearts, minds, and spirits, is the fact that Jesus Christ does not come into our lives to complicate them, He comes to simplify them.
Your life is already complicated enough. The presence of Jesus in your life does not make things complicated; it is the absence of Him in your life that adds the difficulty. When we invite Jesus into our hearts he brings Love and Peace, not a long list of things for you to do.
Jesus does not come into your life telling you what you have done wrong and what you need to do to get your act together. He comes into your life because we cannot get our act together on our own. He comes not with a to do list, but a list of things that He has already done for you.
2 Corinthians 5:21
“He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Jesus comes knocking with your sins forgiven, because He dies on the cross and received the punishment for your sin. Every sin you have every committed or will commit, Jesus has already paid the price for them.
Jesus’ list of things He has already done for you is His Christmas gift to you.
John 14:27
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful”
Jesus has given us peace beyond our understanding to take away our troubles and fear.
John 15:11
“11 I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”
Jesus does not want us being dragged down, He has given us joy.
John 15:12-13
“12 This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.”
The Love of Jesus is complete and He laid His life down for us.
Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The most important gift Jesus has given us is that He paid for our sins and given us eternal life. This gift allows us to spend eternity with Him!
Jesus is offering these gifts, all you have to do is let Him in to your crowded life. Don’t be too busy or too full to let Him in. It is never too crowded or too late to open the door to Jesus.
It is never too late to invite Jesus into your life. We don’t have to clean up our act first. It was not too late for Abraham at 100 years of age, not too late for Moses after 40 years wandering in the desert, it was not too late for Jonah running from God, it was not too late for Saul of Tarsus who persecuted Christians, it was not too late for Peter who denied Jesus, or for Thomas who doubted.
It is not too crowded and it is not too late to meet Jesus, the Word, our King and Savior. He came to earth as a little child for every single one of us so that He could give us the gifts of Peace, Joy, Love, and Salvation.
Merry Christmas and God Bless!
Robert
PS. We are back on The Story please read along with us. Chapter 23 is next.
PS. We are back on The Story please read along with us. Chapter 23 is next.
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