“And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no guest room available to Him.” (Luke 2:7 NIV)
Last night I went to sleep thinking on this verse. Only it was the King James translation skipping like a record in my mind. “No room in the inn. No room in the inn.” Our next gen kids recently acted out the second chapter of Luke on the Sunday morning platform in front of parents and grandparents alike. One of our sixth graders asked point blank: “Who doesn’t make room for Jesus?”
Consider his question and contemplate our crammed-full culture. We are workaholics and entertainment addicts. We stuff ourselves until our pants don’t fit and then we go buy bigger pants. We fill every square and slot on our calendar and we outright refuse to Sabbath. We’ve successfully steered Christmas away from Jesus and towards Santa, elves and even more acquisition. The retail world applies pressure from all directions: you’re almost out of time, spend less and but buy more and buy it now!
No one seems to notice we’ve run out of room. Our hearts and minds and lives have simply filled up. There’s no space to let this tiny, little, transformative Savior into our world. We leave Baby Jesus out in the cold at Christmastime. We have collectively become the innkeeper, too busy forging out a living to make room for the Maker of all.
This Christmas feels different. Smaller. Slower. Darker. Perhaps holier? It turns out the Christmas Star is making it’s way toward us again; 800 years since it’s last human sighting. Maybe we can find a way to let it’s light into our hearts? Perhaps we can set aside our busy, our striving, our acquiring. Maybe we can resist the push to be innkeepers and instead become wise men: going out of our way to worship the King?
“Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and came to worship Him.” (Matthew 2:2 NIV)
Lord, help us make room this Christmas. We want to follow the star and wonder over the extravagant gift of salvation. We want to sit in Your presence and enjoy the season with You. We want to deep dive into all You’ve done for humanity. Take room where You have need of it, dear Jesus. Make Yourself at home in our Christmas this season and in our hearts forever. Amen.