[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":73},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fany-room-at-the-holiday-inn":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fany-room-at-the-holiday-inn-surround":62},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":11,"columnName":45,"date":46,"description":17,"extension":47,"image":48,"meta":49,"minRead":50,"navigation":51,"path":52,"postType":53,"publication":54,"publicationUrl":48,"seo":55,"stem":56,"topics":57,"__hash__":61},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fany-room-at-the-holiday-inn.md","Any Room at the Holiday Inn?",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10],"Luke","Psalms",{"type":12,"value":13,"toc":41},"minimark",[14,18,21,24,27,30,38],[15,16,17],"p",{},"The poor innkeeper! The proprietor of Bethlehem's first-century hotel may be one of the leading characters in your church's Christmas pageant, but he's usually portrayed as a clueless dolt who thoughtlessly left the Son of God out in the cold. Or worse, he's lumped with King Herod as some sort of evil antagonist.",[15,19,20],{},"Yet, the Bible never specifically mentions Bethlehem's innkeeper at all. One verse notes that Mary wrapped her newborn baby in strips of cloth \"and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn\" (Luke 2:7). But it doesn't say the innkeeper was rude or harsh. It doesn't say he stomped outside and sneered at Mary and Joseph while posting a \"No Vacancy\" sign. It simply states the unvarnished truth: there was no room.",[15,22,23],{},"The innkeeper was just doing his job. First-century hotel management wasn't glamorous work. We think about Bethlehem's inn during the holidays, but this wasn't the Holiday Inn; it was probably little more than a shelter offering a dry place to sleep, perhaps a simple meal, and a place to feed one's animals. Caesar Augustus' edict compelled thousands of Jewish laborers to return to their ancestral hometowns to register for a census, which would cause overcrowding in a small town like Bethlehem. When the inn was full, someone had to tell weary travelers the bad news.",[15,25,26],{},"Perhaps the innkeeper was genuinely sorry to shut people out once the inn had reached capacity. Isn't it possible he was touched with pity for this young couple from Nazareth, so far from home and so near to giving birth? If he'd had any idea the long-awaited Messiah was going to be born in his establishment, surely the innkeeper would have made room somehow. He didn't realize how near he was to one of Heaven's defining moments as God's Son came to earth.",[15,28,29],{},"Of course, that's just the point. Most of us don't shut Jesus out deliberately, either. Like Bethlehem's inn, our lives are simply too full—and not just during the holidays. We find it hard to make room for Christ, because it feels like there's no space left. Our lives are too crowded to notice what God is doing. We're so busy doing our jobs, it's easy to miss Heaven's defining moments. There's so much to do in the morning, who has time to pray before heading out the door? And who can afford to tithe? Our mailboxes are full of bills. And all those things the preacher talks about—finding a ministry, joining a small group, studying the Bible—who has time when our calendars are already full? We don't shut Jesus out on purpose. We shut him out because we've forgotten our purpose.",[15,31,32,33,37],{},"Bethlehem was known as the town of David. We can learn something from him. David made a solemn promise to God and said, \"I will not enter my house or go to my bed—I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, ",[34,35,36],"em",{},"till I find a place for the Lord","\" (Psalm 132:3-5a, emphasis mine).",[15,39,40],{},"\"Finding a place for the Lord\"—that was David's top priority. May it be ours as well, during this holiday season and throughout the coming year. For no gift is greater than to have Christ dwelling with us. And no loss would be worse than to discover we were so busy doing our jobs that we shut him out.",{"title":42,"searchDepth":43,"depth":43,"links":44},"",2,[],"First Look","2002-12-22","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fany-room-at-the-holiday-inn","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":17},"articles\u002Fany-room-at-the-holiday-inn",[58,59,60],"Biblical Theology","Church Leadership","Spiritual Formation","ntyGssIoZkQoe50hc48v6PuCeA679BY8qNrh8UZlu3I",[63,68],{"title":64,"path":65,"stem":66,"description":67,"children":-1},"Any Objections?","\u002Farticles\u002Fany-objections","articles\u002Fany-objections","Jesus made a request, but John the Baptist was reluctant to comply. John preached a baptism of repentance. Why should he baptize someone who had never committed a sin? To deter Jesus, he said, \"I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?\"",{"title":69,"path":70,"stem":71,"description":72,"children":-1},"Anything Goes","\u002Farticles\u002Fanything-goes","articles\u002Fanything-goes","In a permissive climate where anything goes, we must dare to ask, Where are things going?",1790466136893]