Save The Innkeeper!

So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.  Luke 2:6-7

The season of the celebration of our Lord's birth has come this year, and as usual I get to save the innkeeper. Often I and many other writers and preachers do this by pointing out that the scriptures do not say that there was one. However, for those who like to add a greedy innkeeper to the story, there certainly could have been one. The opportunities available to the residents of Bethlehem when that decree went out from Rome may well have allowed a man of a certain, shall we say, business sense, to seek a position as keeper of the guesthouse or inn in order to fleece the tourists coming back to register. This same man may have gone on to a lucrative career as a tax collector in the following years.  It is possible that no room at the inn may have been due to Joseph and Mary not being able to pay quite as much as other guests in town. Of course debating whether there could have been an innkeeper takes away from the important part of the scripture: God came down and was born in Bethlehem. 

And there in the verses is that cute little baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. 

Have a sweet and happy Christmas in Christ our Lord!

Bucky