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Is There Room In The Inn, Yet?

Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who abides in which of us. Amen

On Christmas Eve, we read the story of Jesus’ birth from the Gospel of Luke and according to Luke “While [Mary and Joseph] were [in Bethlehem for the census], 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” (Luke 2:6-7). I find it very sad that when the time came for Jesus to be born there was no place available for the child who would save his people from their sins and his parents to stay. His parents had to take shelter in a place meant for animals. There was no place available for Jesus to live. The inn was full! In essence, Mary, Joseph and their child were homeless. Luke is the only one to tell this part of the story. It was important that we know, in the beginning that Jesus was homeless.

But today we do not recall the birth stories of Luke or Matthew. Today we read about a different beginning. Today’s gospel writer gives us a different version of the beginning. You see, for Mark, probably the first Gospel to be written, the beginning he wanted us to know about was the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. For Matthew and Luke, it was important for us to know about Jesus’ earthly beginnings, the birth narrative, which most of us know very well. But today we hear about the very beginning, about a time before time. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.”

John wants us to know a few very important things. First of all, this Jesus was not an afterthought. God’s plan for salvation was not something that God had to think up after the fact. No, Jesus was present and active in God’s creation and salvific act before creation. Secondly, creation came to be through the Word, Jesus, “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him;”

This term that John uses, “Word,” in Greek is logos and it appears in the New Testament seven times in total. Four of the times are right here in this lesson. The other three are in 1 John, Revelation, and 2 Timothy. As the Word, Jesus is, in effect, God’s Word, and it has the power to create life and destroy life, but most importantly it has the power to communicate God’s presence and love to a world yearning for peace and love.

“In the beginning...” John uses the same phrase here that the writer of Genesis 1:1 used. We hear these words and understand that the beginning was long before the birth of Jesus, God in human form. But even with all its power, John also tells us that “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him (John 1:10-11). Just as Luke tells us in his story, the world did not accept God’s Living Word, even in creation. So, even in the beginning, the world rejected Jesus, the Living Word. Once again we are reminded that “there was no room in the inn.”

With all of this in mind, John also tells us today that “the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth” (1:14).” For me, this verse is the climax of the whole story and one that challenge us today to make room now in the “inn” for our Lord and Savior.

For me, this is the most critical piece of information that we need to know. You see, John tells us today that we have a God that chose to not only create us and to love us, but he also came to be with us. Our God is not some distant God that looks over us from afar. Our God is here, right now, in this place. That is the Good News. God is with us, Emanuel and he still seeks a place to live!

Yes, Jesus is still looking for a place to live, but he is not looking for church building, or an apartment, or a house, no he is looking for us allow him in us, so that he might find a home in each of us. John tell us that God became flesh, but John also uses another very important word here. The word in Greek that we translate as “lived,” as in “lived with us” is eskanosen, and it literally means, “he tented.” In the literal translation of this verse, we would say, “The Word became flesh and he tented with us.” What is so important about this word is its ancient meaning. You see according to the Old Testament stories, when Solomon build the temple, God no longer resided in the tents as the people moved around but God made his home in that temple. But when the Word became flesh, John tells us that God now would “tent” in the flesh. This is a God that desires to live with, or tent with, each of us, in the flesh. God no longer wants to live in a fixed temple that cannot go where we go. Our God wants to tents in us. Our God wants us to make room in the “inn” of our hearts, so that he might bring light into the darkest places of our lives.

Brothers and sisters, today we do not celebrate just the birth of Jesus. As Christians, we are celebrating that fact that we have a God that knows we cannot find our way back to Him in this darkened world, so this God comes to us and desires to live in us. God does not want to be homeless. He wants us to be his home. So the question for us today is, are we willing to make room in our personal “inns” for Christ? Are we willing to let God in?

We have a God that has come to us and desires to live in us so that we might experience his light and his joy. What did we do to deserve such an awesome God? Absolutely nothing! For as John tells us in Chapter 3, it was God’s love that caused this action, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” God gave us God’s son out of love, his love for the world.

Today, we celebrate the living God, the God that out of love chose to come down to us, the God that out of love chose to give his only Son so that his creation may share in God’s glory. Today we celebrate God’s ancient promise that all creation is good. Today we are invited to make room in our “inns” for Christ. Is there room in your “inn” today? Amen.

Tags: Sermons