Repository of Sermons / Calendar of Events / Activities

Christmas 2006
December 25, 2006 Sermon by The Rev. Bill Van Oss, Rector
Readings       

A long, long time ago I was the innkeeper. I was in 6th grade in my Catholic School, and every year the week before Christmas we would put on our Christmas pageant.

It was held in one of our classrooms, and while Mary and Joseph had more “high profile” positions, everyone wanted to be the innkeeper. That’s because the innkeeper got to stand in the cloak room in the back of the class: the cloak room had big wooden doors behind which the children hung their coats. Begs the question (Why were they called cloak rooms?)

Anyway, my 6th grade year I was the innkeeper, standing in the dark of the cloak room in the back. I was waiting for the knock. Yes, the knock. The signal was my big moment. Bathrobe covered Joseph, young veiled Mary at his side, “knock, knock” on the cloak room door. I slowly pushed the big, wooden door open and said, “No Room,” and then I slammed the door shut.

And so it goes in Christmas pageants everywhere and forever: the innkeeper saying, “No Room’ to the young couple looking for a place – a place for the Savior, the Son of God, to be born! They need a place, but there’s no room, no room in the inn.

It’s a busy night in Bethlehem that first Christmas – lots of travelers returning to their homes to be registered. Apparently, Joseph didn’t call ahead to make a reservation. The savior must be born in a stable. There’s room there. There’s no room in the inn.

Most Bibles tell you that. Tonight’s Gospel says it plainly: “There was no place for them in the inn.” But there’s a better, and more accurate, translation. A translation closer to the original Greek tells us that “there was no room for them in place where travelers lodge.” Ahhhh. “The place where travelers lodge” has naturally been translated as “inn” and while it may seem like splitting hairs to go back to a closer translation of the original Greek, it makes all the difference in the world. To say “there was no room for them in the place where travelers lodge” tells us something very important, vitally important. It tells us that God came to stay.

Jesus was not born in “the place where travelers lodge” because God did not come to earth to stay for only a time and then return to some far distant heaven a million, billion miles away. God came to stay. God came to dwell permanently, in humility, in the humble simplicity of a stable surrounded by cows and donkey, visited by lowly shepherds. God came to dwell with the simple, the meek and the lowly, forever.

Now, that is Good News. That’s the best news of all. That’s the kind of news that gives our lives meaning and purpose. God came to earth to make a permanent home here. God comes to us, to make a home in our lives, in our hearts, this night and every night.

Wherever there is room, God will be born. God will live wherever God is welcomed. But it’s up to us to look within – to examine our lives to see if there’s room for Christ to be born and to dwell in us. For if we are filled up: full of concerns about earthly possessions, or power, or making it to the top. If our hearts are filled with worry, or anger, or resentment over some past hurt.

If we allow ourselves to become cynical or resistant to ongoing conversion, it’s like hanging a “no vacancy” sign around our heart. When the Son of God arrives looking for a place to be born, He will receive the message of the innkeeper: “No Room” here. No Room in me. I’m far too full to offer a place for you to live.

Christ comes and lives wherever He is welcomed. The scriptures testify to this over and over.

A kind soul made a stable available – Jesus was born there.

Martha & Mary made their home available – Jesus resided there.

The merchant made his upper room available – Jesus ate supper there.

The wealthy man made his tomb available – Jesus was buried there.

Believers make their hearts available – Jesus lives there.

Wherever there is room, the Son of God will be born. May we make room within ourselves for Jesus to be born this holy night. Amen.

      
 Click here for earlier sermons