Luke 2: 6-7
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
December 9, 2018
Second Sunday of Advent
This Advent we are looking at the bit parts of the Christmas story in Luke’s Gospel. Last week I shard with you that a bit part is a seemingly minor role which has direct interaction with the lead actors and has just a few speaking lines. However, each of the bit parts in the biblical Christmas story are silent. And yet each one adds something pivotal to the anticipation of the Christ Child.
Last week we focused on Joseph. Uncertainty clouded the way forward for Joseph and yet God’s faithfulness calmed Joseph’s fears of the unknown. Joseph kept walking forward into the future of God’s hope. Joseph was obedient to the promise that in Christ all things hold together.
Joseph’s part gives us a poignant reminder: Hope that is seen is not hope. Instead we hope for what we do not see. And we wait for God’s perfect plans to be revealed with patience (Romans 8: 24-25).
And so, Joseph and Mary continued to follow God as Mary carried the womb of God’s grace. The holy couple walked in God’s faithfulness until God’s faithfulness became their lived reality.
After 9 months of crazy food cravings, mood swings, and stretch marks, Mary’s pregnancy ended with a rather long journey. The couple traveled from Mary’s hometown of Nazareth to Bethlehem. It is about 100 miles and it would have taken about 8-10 days to travel on foot. More than likely they caravanned with other families making the trek for the Roman census.
In our Western culture we tend to read the Christmas story through the lens of our own context. The unexpected always happens at the wrong time, does it not? As soon as the holy couple arrived in Bethlehem, Mary’s water broke and the contractions began. Of course, there were no hospitals to rush Mary into Labor and Delivery.
And so, we arrive at the next bit part of the Christmas story: the inn. Listen to Luke’s words in Chapter 2: 6-7:
While Joseph and Mary were there in Bethlehem, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
We find ourselves a bit miffed that when Joseph knocked on the door of the Bethlehem Holiday Inn, the innkeeper clicked the neon light saying, “No Vacancy.” I don’t want to burst your Bible bubble, but when we dig a little deeper that is not really what Luke is saying.
There are actually two different words in Greek which can be translated as “inn.”
In the parable of the Good Samaritan Luke uses the traditional word for “inn,” meaning “a place that welcomes all.” The Samaritan took the injured man to the closest Motel 6 where they always leave the light on for you (Luke 10:34).
But here in the Christmas story Luke uses a different word for “inn.” It is actually best translated as guest room. My commentary says, “Luke’s audience would have understood Jesus was born in a private home, crowded with other guests" [1].
Bethlehem was probably flooded with traveling families returning for the Roman census. But remember Joseph’s family roots were from Bethlehem going back all the way to King David. When Mary cradled her baby bump, knowing it was time, Joseph would have knocked on the door of his relatives’ house. Even if a distant relative had opened the door whom Joseph did not know well, the holy couple would have been welcomed because Joseph was a descendant of David.
Middle Eastern culture has long been deeply rooted in hospitality. In Jesus’ time if a traveler knocked upon your door for a place to lodge overnight, the homeowner had an obligation to provide food, water, and shelter [2]. To completely turn someone away would have been contentious, breaking the greatest commandment of loving God and loving neighbor as self.
A Palestinian home in the first century was commonly a square stone structure. The exterior had a white washed stucco material. Typically, multiple generations lived in one home. Inside there would be one large multipurpose room to serve as a living room and sleeping quarters [3]. Another room would serve as a guest room, And downstairs a room would have served as a first century garage to park the ox and donkey so they would not be stolen. Kitchens and bathrooms would have been outside of the home; an open fire to cook and an outhouse respectively.
To stand in Luke’s story with biblical imagination, we begin to get a different picture, don’t we?
The holy couple were not shunned and all alone. While they were told there was no proper guest room to unroll their sleeping mats, Joseph’s relatives made do, as we say in the South. That household used what they had in the best possible way to welcome Mary and Joseph and bring them peace.
You see, the bit part of the inn, or more accurately “the guest room” adds something pivotal to the anticipation of the Christ Child. It reveals a sure sign of God’s mysterious hospitality.
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet an incredible woman in Lancaster. Her name is Miss Jackie and she is in her eighties. She lives on Brooklyn Avenue right next door to the reading park that is being created by Promise Neighborhood volunteers. Everyone on Brooklyn Avenue knows Miss Jackie.
She is a woman of faith who does not have a lot, but she has a big heart for Jesus and for the children in her neighborhood. For the past 35 years Miss Jackie has invited the neighborhood children to her house everyday after school. She gives these children food, water, and place to call a second home. Many of these children have very little. And Miss Jackie feels God has called her to bridge the gap.
One of the Promise Neighborhood volunteers asked me last month if I would like to meet her. We knocked on the door and I was welcomed inside. The three of us stood in the middle of Miss Jackie living room. She had collected a lot of items over the years to provide for the needs of others.
Miss Jackie told me one story of feeling God had called her to prepare and deliver meals to a few neighbors in need. However, the recipe she had in mind was missing the ingredients of onions, cabbage, and potatoes. She prayed to God. And then throughout the morning three different people knocked on her door. Each one had been out at the store. In their own way, each friend said that God told them to pick up a bag of onions, another some cabbage, and another some potatoes. It was amazing how God provided all of this!
Miss Jackie radiated God’s welcome, love, and hospitality. After talking with her for about 15 minutes I asked Miss Jackie if I could say a pray for her before we lift. And with tears in her eyes, she said that she had never had someone ask her that.
Holding hands in a small circle, we prayed together, and it felt like God was birthing a new sense of peace over Miss Jackie as she makes do to make Christ known in her neighborhood.
Last Sunday afternoon, a small group of us drove to the homes of our homebound members and a few neighbors to sing Christmas carols. Each one we sang to had such a look of hope and peace on their faces as they sang with us. Even Miss Flo next door was like a kid at Christmas.
But it was the last neighbor that we visited that got each of us emotional. Upon saying our goodbyes at the last neighbor’s house, our neighbor said with tears in her eyes, “Thank you so much for coming. Do you know I have never had someone come and sing carols at our house before? I cannot tell you what this means to me in this very hard time.”
You see, when the neighbor had opened the door, God birthed a new sense of peace among us as we stood together around the front porch caught up in God’s welcome, love, and hospitality. What a gift our neighbor and we ourselves received.
There is only one other place in Luke’s Gospel that he uses that word, “guest room,” as he did in this Christmas story. The time is nearing for Jesus’ betrayal and arrest. But knowing what time it is, Jesus sends out his disciples Peter and John to prepare for the Last Supper. And Jesus says:
When you enter the city of Jerusalem, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters and say to the owner of the house, “The Teacher asks you, ‘Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make the preparations for us there (Luke 22: 10-12).
It was in that same guest room where Jesus and his disciples shared the Last Supper that Jesus Christ prayed for God’s peace over the disciples. And that first evening of Easter, the Risen Lord breathed a spirit of peace upon them too (John 14: 27; 20:22).
You see, the inn or rather, the guest room, is an in-between space where we encounter God’s hospitality in a radical way.
This Advent season you and I are walking in the steps of God’s faithfulness until God’s promises of hope become our new reality. And with each step we encounter these in-between spiritual spaces that meet us in our disappointments, our lack, and our pain.
God always honors our attempts of faithfulness. God’s radical hospitality meets us where we are, gives us a place of belonging and connection, and provides what we need. Friends – this is where we encounter God’s holy moments of peace.
In this Advent season, may God’s hope and peace be yours as it was for Mary and Joseph.
But never forget that the Risen Christ sends us out into this broken world to be that in-between space for others. You and I are called to do the work of Advent to shine the light of hope and welcome others in God’s radical hospitality.
As we prepare to go back out into this bleak midwinter’s day, may the peace of Christ be with you.
In the name of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.
Sources Referenced:
[1] David Barr, “New Testament Story: An Introduction” (Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning), p. 4-5.
[2] Dennis Bratcher, “Travelers and Strangers: Hospitality in the Biblical World”
[3] Msgr. Charles Pope, “What Were Typical Homes Like in Jesus’ Time?” Community in Mission blog, July, 2014
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