Phew, Glad I wasn't that guy

Growing up, every time I heard the Christmas story told, I almost always had the same thought.  "Phew, glad I wasn't the inn keeper that had to tell Mary and Joseph there wasn't room for them."

Can you imagine having to tell a man and his very pregnant wife that you have no room for them...But you can stay out back where the animals are.

I just imagine that by the time Mary and Joseph got there to ask if there was a room, the Inn keeper had to answer that question a hundred times and had probably turned a ton of folks away.  I imagine his "I have a room in the back where the animals are tied up" was probably a sarcastic rhetorical response.  I wonder what his face was like when Joseph said "we'll take it." 

Now of course, that is just how I imagine the story.  Who knows, he could have offered the manger because he was really trying to get them a room some how, some way.  Luke 2 just tells us that "she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." 
The biblical account of this part of the story really doesn't mention an innkeeper, it says nothing about animals being present at Jesus' birth; all of those things are things that we have added to the story over the years. 

But just imagine for a second what it must have been like to be the innkeeper when he found out that the Son of God was born in the barn behind his little hotel.  He had the Son of God come to his inn, and he turned him away, he sarcastically put them in a feeding trough. 

Can you feel the guilt this man must have felt. 
I'm so glad that I was not that inn keeper.  I'm so glad that I didn't turn God's son away and leave him in the cold.  I'm so glad that I don't have to carry that guilt.

Well, that was until about 10 years ago when I read Matthew 25: 31-46 during my daily devotional around Christmas a few years ago. 
I had read the Luke Christmas story the day before and had once again thought, "Man, I'm glad I wasn't the innkeeper. That guy really did blow it."

But then the very next day I read Jesus' words in Matthew 25... "For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, i needed clothes and you did not clothe me, i was sick and in prison and you did not look after me...I tell you the truth, whatever you did not for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."

Ouch.  Turns out I am the innkeeper after all.  Almost daily, I miss opportunities to reach out and welcome "Jesus" into my life.  I turn "Jesus" away, sometimes with a sarcastic remark and a frustration of being bothered when I'm in a hurry.

Turns out we are all innkeeper in one way or another.

This holiday season, are you acting like the innkeeper, ignoring the "least of these"?  Ignoring "Jesus"?

Try to pay attention to the opportunities God may be providing you this holiday season to welcome folks into your life.
Try to pay attention to the opportunities God may be giving you to help someone.

If you are unsure of what those opportunities are, seek out someone that desperately needs Jesus in their life. 

We've all been innkeepers one way or another in the past, but God's grace is extended, giving us the opportunity for redemption, giving us the chance to welcome Jesus.  No matter how many times we've turned away Jesus in the past, it is never too late to welcome Him in!