No Room at the Inn (Advent 25, 2020)

“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born … there was no guest room available for them.” (Luke. 2:6-7)

Couldn’t God have provided a better lodging
for the mother of the Son of God and His only Son, the Christ Child? 
Sure He could have, but it would have ruined the point.

Out of my way, Caesar Augustus, there’s a new ruler in town! 
Off your throne.  It’s Mine!  Comin’ through!
Move over Herod, make room for the King of kings and Lord of lords! 
Messiah on His way!  Once He’s born, you’re history!
Imagine the Christmas images of Mary and Joseph and the Christ Child in the lap of luxury
at the King David Hotel and the shepherds inquiring at the registration desk
about the penthouse suite reserved for dignitaries.

Nah, God is better than all that. 
He chooses poverty in order to display His great riches in Christ. 
A dark manger and an animal’s feeding trough
to display the Light of the World and the Bread of Life. 
He does Divine Intervention to make it possible
for lowly shepherds to enter to worship a Messiah
who comes for anyone who accepts Him and acknowledges Him as Savior.

It’s Good News for all people when Jesus is born. 
Not just for the wealthy or middle-class.  He’s for everyone.
It’s Good News that the power structures of this world
will be displayed to pale in comparison
to the power concentrated and veiled in miniature in baby Jesus,
the eternal Word made flesh.
It’s Good News that the King of kings is also the Good Shepherd
and not just a social climber
who can limit who has access to His throne of power.

Questions for thought:

• Might it have seemed to Mary and Joseph that everything was against them?  Bad timing of the census and now, not even a guest room to give birth in a relatively sanitary environment where midwives could have been called? 
• Instead of the hands of a midwife, whose human hands would have received the Son of God as his own son?
• Would Mary and Joseph have experienced a crucible moment of wondering if God had abandoned them, or was it all a charade?
• Might they have been confused about what it means to submit to God?  The pregnancy was undeniable, but Joseph’s knowledge was only that this child was not from his seed, and then there’s the dream.
• Mary and Joseph each had their angels.  Might it have been just a figment of their imaginations?  But wait. The pregnancy…hard to reconcile any other way for a virgin.
• How might the manger have been a Divine Intervention to steel the faith of two people, Mary and Joseph, for the times that were ahead? Read 1 Peter 1:7 for insight. Times of testing are for whose benefit?

Thank You, Father, for Your divine wisdom, for giving us moments in which Your work makes no sense, that in the moment it seems as though You have no power… in the moment it seems as though Your plan has failed… in the moment we have reasons to abandon hope… in the moment our faith is tested! So we praise You, Lord, that You are faithful to bring us all the way home, to keep our faith strong, and that no one can snatch us out of Your hands. We thank You for the faith of Mary, the faith of Joseph, and the faith proved as genuine that is a gift to Christians worldwide. We ask Lord that You would powerfully intervene in our current world to show us the good news that is available for all people! May the world be watching and know that You alone are God and that You alone deserve to be worshipped!! We ask Lord that all the dark forces of evil will be vanquished, that every opportunity that there has been to steal the joy and peace of Christians, that those evil attempts would –each and all–be vanquished! We ask Lord that You would rise up in vengeance against the evil times that seek to destroy Your Son and His work, to destroy His Church, and to diminish His Cross and Your grace. We ask Lord that You would bring us faithfully to the finish line so that when Jesus Christ returns to earth as King of kings and Lord of lords, riding on the clouds, that we would be found faithful. Oh Lord, that in our crucible moments of life we would be found genuine with the kind of faith that brings glory to You forever! Amen

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.