Some Room at the Inn

We don’t often think of the Christmas passages or birth narratives from Scripture as stories of hospitality. Tradition holds that for Mary and Joseph, there was no hospitality. We are told that the Holy Family was turned away, not welcomed in at all. The Gospel according the Evangelist Luke is the only Gospel that tells the story about the Holy Family facing no room at the Inn. There is no mention of such an inhospitable experience in any other Gospel.  And yet despite the fact that the story of being turned away only appears in Luke, these simple words - -  no room at the Inn- -have become the ubiquitous if not the defining Advent/Christmas narrative.

Both Mathew and Luke speak of Christ being born in Bethlehem. Mathew puts the family there from the start; Luke creates a reason for the Holy Family to travel to Bethlehem.  According to Luke

Caesar Augustus decrees that every person living in the great Roman Empire had to return to their familiar city of origin So Joseph, being from the line of David, takes his young bride and heads to Bethlehem, the City of David.

While there is no real evidence of a census at the time of Christ’s birth, Luke probably used the idea of mandatory census to convey that Christ was born under the dictates of Roman rule.  So the family travels to the City of David because Joseph is from the line of David, a line of kings.  In essence, Joseph is bringing his family home and would therefore have been related to many of the families and households within Bethlehem.  We do know that the cultural tradition of the ancient people of Judea was one of hospitality, especially if you were family. 

As good Jews, the people of Bethlehem knew that Scripture called them to welcome the friend and the stranger alike: “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” Lev 19:34.  Indeed, Leviticus is replete with directives to be hospitable, to share food and lodging with those who appear at your door. The ministry of hospitality abounds throughout the Bible.  Abraham opened his tent to those he thought were strangers. Abraham’s story reflected a formal code in the desert, people were expected to provide some comfort for the Bedouin in return for safety, that is the community would rally to ensure harsh punishment should someone take advantage of one’s hospitality.  Hospitality is the likely response for people returning to their familiar home in the time of Christ’s birth. Doors would be open, not closed. A meal would be set; feet would be washed, the donkey given hay and so on. 

Despite what tradition tells us, we do have some evidence that in fact the Holy Family was welcomed in and even given a special place in someone’s house. It is likely that the term Inn for  Luke’s referred to a guest room and not a B&B. The guest room of that particular house may have been full so the relatives had to make do with other available space.

We know that Mary “wrapped the infant is swaddling clothes and placed him in a manger…” Luke 2:7. A manager could, and often was, built into the family’s home. Many homes in that day were built so that the animals were kept within the confines of the household.  One might envision something a kin to what we would call a loft, although the loft would be a bit lower than modern lofts. Animals were kept in the lower part of the dwelling and people slept in the loft area, a guest room, what we might even call an upper room. The manger was at the end of the loft for animals to feed.

What does this all have to do with me…beyond existentialism?

About a year ago we moved to an area that could be considered our familiar town of origin in that we spent our childhood summers here (Erskine Lakes). We bought a house which we thought would meet our needs but after we settling in we realized that it wasn’t quite our dream home.  We were concerned that while it was plenty big for the two of us, it became a bit tight when all three kids came for a visit. 

Our concerns grew as we thought of future husbands/wives/kids coming to visit…was this a place that could accommodate all comfortably?  We thought possibly not, and so attempted to sell the house but unfortunately the market didn’t support the sale.  And here we are three weeks before Christmas…in the same house after we decided it wouldn’t work for us…

This Christmas Eve, the three kids, one boyfriend, and a cousin-of-the-boyfriend will be again returning “home”; or at least to their parent’s somewhat new home. (Actually, like Joseph, for my oldest step-child Elizabeth, Erskine is her city of origin! She was indeed born here and lived her earliest years in a house a few tenths-of-a-mile from this one).   And while there is no “upper-room” there is guest space.  And we will make it work. We do have two full baths, we do have three bedrooms (though one is more of a storage room), and the family room has a pull out couch and plenty of room for air-beds.  Which is to say , we have a great deal more room than what was offered to the Christ-child.

In fact, we will more than make this Christmas work. We will have plenty of food, drinks, warmth, and love. It will be our second Christmas Eve in this home; the second time ALL of the kids/friends will have spent the night or nights here, together (they have all been here other times as well, just only one other time ALL together).  Each time we inflate the air-beds, fill the fridge to watch it empty, and see the towels pile up on the bathroom floor, our house becomes more of a home. 

And making this house a home is a big deal for my family because we are a step-family and as such we may be a bit more fragile than traditional families, especially when it comes to things like home.

It seems that especially at Christmas, I might do well to focus less on the actual square-footage and more on the hospitality, because I am welcoming in some very important children to celebrate the birth of one very important child.