What was the mindset of the forgotten one in the Christmas story — the innkeeper

I’VE BEEN THINKING

Carol Goodman Heizer is an author who moved to Hood County from Louisville, Kentucky, in 2019. She has had short stories and articles published in six editions of “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books. Her column for the Hood County News will appear every two weeks. She was a public school teacher for 17 years earlier in her professional career.

The season is upon us that focuses on the Christmas story and the event that took place in Bethlehem that affected the entire world – even centuries later. As we look at that word “Christmas,” we immediately see that it begins with “Christ,” the focus for many of us of our annual holiday season, along with the remainder of the year. We find it interesting that He is often referred to as “The Bread of Life,” while the very word “Bethlehem” means “breadbasket.” More than coincidental, I believe!

As we consider the age-old story, we immediately think of Mary, Joseph and the shepherds. We also recall the reason for their long journey from Nazareth with Mary being “great with child” – to satisfy an imperial command that all individuals return to their ancestral towns “that all the world should be taxed.”

With the distance between Nazareth and Bethlehem being approximately 70 miles as the crow flies, the journey is estimated to have taken five days – meaning the couple needed to cover approximately 15 miles each day. Although tradition pictures Mary riding a donkey, nowhere in Scripture does it say that. Perhaps she walked, keeping in mind that people walked nearly everywhere they went back then, meaning that both parents-to-be were in much better shape physically than those of us today. However, those of us who have borne children can only imagine the trial of such a journey for poor Mary – either walking or riding. Historians estimate that Mary and Joseph were in their teens, most likely between 16 and 18 years old.

Yet now we leave the main characters of this story and focus on one character who is often forgotten. Have you ever considered the innkeeper? In his defense, we must remember that he was a businessman whose purpose was profit, and the town was filled to capacity with taxpayers. He was, perhaps, being sincere when he told the couple he had no room for them in his inn.There was probably not a room available in the little town, and he did show his kindness by offering them shelter in his stable.

The only available space was certainly not the best accommodations possible, but it did provide protection from the elements and privacy from passersby. We might believe that the innkeeper should have somehow instinctively remembered Isaiah’s prophecy about a coming king. But we must also remember that it had been foretold several centuries prior. And we must conclude that people then were no different than people today. Once an announcement is made of a coming event and it does not occur within our expected timeframe, we tend to forget about it or believe it was inaccurate.

As time passed and the poor innkeeper perhaps realized his terrible mistake, did he grieve over having turned the couple away from more comfortable surroundings? Did he possibly, as hotel managers do today, hold one or two rooms in reserve for the highest-paying-customers available – thus making it possible for him to actually make such a situation more tolerable? At some point during the night, did the innkeeper somehow know Mary’s hour had approached and offer the help of a midwife?

Yet the Christ Child was born in the humblest of surroundings, accompanied only by the sounds of the expected stabled animals bedded down for the night. And who were the first to hear the news of the royal birth? The shepherds – one of the lowest-considered and least-appreciated occupations of the day.

As we consider today’s royalty with all their wealth and luxury, we know they have no realization of how the common man lives. Yet the Christ Child, having His beginning in a stable, being raised by a carpenter and later enduring rejection and torture by those around Him, can understand the trials we endure today.

Someone once observed that His life went from the cradle to the cross.

I am blessed beyond measure! Perhaps you are, too!

May the true joy, peace, and blessings of this Christmas season be upon you and your family.

cgheizer@gmail.com