A Lesson from the Innkeeper of Bethlehem
By Rev. Movses B. Janbazian

"The innkeeper gave what he had and Jesus never asks more of any person."

One of the Christmas skits we performed in our church in my childhood in Ainjar, Lebanon, was called "No Room for Jesus." It told the familiar story of Joseph and Mary at the Bethlehem Inn.

I remember that our Sunday school teachers used to prefer husky boys for the role of the innkeeper. But they always encountered difficulty in recruiting a boy who would physically qualify for the role. In fact, no one wanted to represent the innkeeper, because he was not a good man. He would not show compassion toward Joseph and Mary. He would tell them, "There is no room for you in the inn. Go and spend the night in the stable!" Who would want to play the part of such a bad character?

The innkeeper of Bethlehem is often perceived as a coarse and cold-hearted person. This perception, I believe, does not do justice to the kind of person he really was and to the significance of what he really did for the Holy Family.

Indeed, the innkeepers of Jesus¹ time were not refined or gentle people. Their business demanded that they regularly deal with rough people. Their inns were the lodging places of tough travelers and crafty merchants. However he may have appeared, the innkeeper of Bethlehem demonstrated the qualities of a compassionate person. His inn was packed to capacity. He didn¹t have any available rooms. The other inns in the town also had lit their "No Vacancy" signs. The entire town was crowded. But Joseph and Mary, an exhausted couple and strangers in the town, needed a place, any place, to spend the night. They needed a place urgently because Mary was about to give birth to her first child. The innkeeper thought that while he didn¹t have a room in his inn, he had a place he could make available to the desperate couple - the stable of the inn, which might be a more suitable place to give birth to a child than the crowded inn itself. I can imagine how he must have rapidly cleaned an appropriate corner in the stable, how he must have spread hay on the stable floor and placed a woolen blanket on it.... I can imagine how happy Joseph and Mary were because, thanks to the innkeeper¹s goodness, they now had a place to spend the night.

Yes, the innkeeper of Bethlehem is often thought of as a rude person. However, I think he was a considerate and compassionate man. While he didn¹t have any room in the inn, he had some space in the stable, and he gave it to Joseph and Mary. And by doing so, he became the first person to give a gift to Jesus. He became the first person to serve our Lord and Savior.

The innkeeper gave what he had, and Jesus never asks more of any person. He wants only what we are capable of giving-simple acts of kindness and a compassionate response to the needs of others.

The 25th chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew illustrates this point. In his parable of the last judgment, Jesus indicates that He comes to us in the person of a prisoner in need of our sympathy; He comes to us in the form of a sick person seeking our care; He appears to us as a hungry person needing to be fed; He reveals Himself as a thirsty person asking for water; He walks in our midst as a ragged person in need of clothing. Yes, simple acts of kindness to needy people around us. Often, that¹s all it takes to serve Jesus Christ.

Christmas is giving. God so loved us that He gave His son for our salvation and well-being. In gratitude for God¹s love and "indescribable gift", we give our blessings for the salvation and well-being of less privileged people.

These days, as we recount the Christmas story and remember the innkeeper of Bethlehem, may we be reminded that Jesus needs what we are capable of doing for Him - simple acts of kindness and loving service to the needy and the less fortunate. When we do that, we will grasp the true meaning of this holy season. And that will be a merry Christmas for us and for those whose lives we touch through our love and practical help.

Prior to his recent and untimely death, Rev. Movses B. Janbazian was the Executive Director of the AMAA, the mission arm of Armenian Evangelical churches worldwide.

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