Is there room in your INN?

 

 

 

Is there room in your INN is a four-installment about the birth of Christ. As you read it, allow your mind to wander to the tiny village called Nazareth. Let it image a young pregnant woman and her husband as they journey into the unknown and their lives are forever changed.

 

Let’s suppose that the birth of Jesus took place in December. Let’s also suppose the year was 4 B.C. (Latin means Before Christ).

 

In this supposition, 2,027 years ago, Joseph and his wife Mary are situated in the northern district of Israel in a hamlet called Nazareth.

Joseph is a craftsman, a carpenter by trade. He is a righteous man following the Jewish customs of his ancestors. He is from the tribe of Judah—the tribe that produces Israel’s Messiah.

 

Joseph is a descendant of David, Israel’s second king, whom God calls a man after his own heart.

 

Because he is a righteous man, Joseph believes a dream to be of God and embraces his fiancée, who is pregnant. Her name is Mary, and she insists that God impregnated her. Joseph’s dream bears witness to that, so he obeys God and marries his pregnant fiancée.

 

Mary is now about eight months pregnant. She, too, is from the tribe of Judah on her father’s side and the tribe of Levi on her mother’s.

 

For eight months, they make a life together in Nazareth. They are an active part of the tiny off-the-beaten-path community and devoted members of the small Synagogue.

 

Life is simple as Joseph makes furniture for merchants in the nearby towns. Mary tends to their humble dwelling and joins the other women working in the community garden.

 

They have little idea of how radically their lives are about change. Mary’s son will be born in thirty days, sending the cosmos into chaos and Heaven into celebration.

 

But, for now, it is the simple life of a rural Jewish community.

 

Mary takes time daily to talk to her unborn child. She sings the songs of David and recites the writings of the scrolls. As the daughter of a priest, she knows Jewish customs and feasts and speaks to her child about them.

 

By this time, Joseph is accustomed to seeing his wife pregnant. Even though they have not consummated the marriage, they are close. Occasionally, they talk about their lives after the baby is born.

 

They have no idea of the challenges that await them.

 

He knows the child is not his but strangely senses a connection with him. Although he has not fully embraced what happened, he holds onto the dream and the words of the angel, “This child is of God.”

 

In his spare time, Joseph works a bed for Mary’s baby. He has a crazy idea about making a bed that can rock. The idea came to him one afternoon after finishing his day’s work.

 

He imagines that when the child is fussy, Mary can place him in the bed and gently move it back and forth. In his mind, the rocking motion will comfort the baby, causing him to fall asleep.

 

Mary isn’t sure about it but notices Joseph’s effort to make it. She thanks him for caring about the baby.

Joseph responds by saying, “Of course. There will always be room for him in our house.

 

To be continued…

 

A close personal relationship with the Godhead is needed now more than ever.

 

A close personal relationship with the Godhead is a journey. I invite you to follow along. I will pass it along as I learn so you, too, can learn. I hope that as you learn, you can pass it along so that I (and others) might learn.