Where is Jesus?

To contact us Click HERE

Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger.

Two weeks ago, we went to a stockholders’ meeting at a localstockyard. The Shriners cooked the meal: melt-in-your-mouth steaks, bakedpotatoes cooked to perfection, salad, yummy desserts and sweet tea. We enjoyedthe food, the conversation with our neighbors, a short devotion, then abusiness meeting to present and vote on the minutes and the financial accountsfor the stockholders. All neat and tidy.
You know how those meetings generally are, don’t you? Fairly boring, other thanthe food. But on this night the speaker really made an impact on me.
He talked about the birth of Jesus. Specifically about theinnkeeper. Did you know that the Bible never actually mentions the innkeeper?The scripture says that baby Jesus was born in a manger because there was no roomin the inn. That’s it.
It doesn’t say that the innkeeper turned them away becausethere were ten other men standing there with money that Joseph didn’t have. Itdoesn’t say that the innkeeper looked at the poor couple, at their tatteredclothes, dusty, dirty feet, smudged faces, greasy lank hair and slammed thedoor in their faces. It doesn’t say that he saw that they were from Nazareth and deliberatelyturned them away.
It doesn’t say that the innkeeper saw Joseph and his veryexpectant wife, stroked his beard, checked the stars and thought, hmmm, Iwonder if this could be the Christ Child, and so that scripture can befulfilled, I must put them in the stable.
Scripture doesn’t mention the innkeeper at all, but he’sbeen vilified in countless stories, songs, and plays as a heartless man whodidn’t care about Mary and Joseph or baby Jesus.
And I don’t get the feeling that Joseph puffed out his chestand insisted that his wife was carrying the Son of God, and that they deservedthe best room in the inn. I’m certain Mary didn’t say anything either, becauseshe “kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.”
We know the inn was bursting at the seams. Seems like theinnkeeper was doing his best to provide some kind of lodging for every one whocame to his door. At least he gave them a place to stay. Or what if he didn’tsend them to the stable? What if he didn’t even know they were in there? Ifthat’s the case, he would have had every right to throw them out into thestreets, but he didn’t. Is it possible that a stable in Bethlehemmight have even been as nice as Joseph and Mary’s own home in Nazareth?
So, what do we really know about the innkeeper? How can weget all mad at a man who might not even have known about the baby and certainlydidn’t know who this baby was?
It’s entirely possible (even likely) the innkeeper didn’t have an inkling of the eventsunfolding in his stable that night until the shepherds showed up, and thescripture doesn’t include him or anyone from his household even then. Did theshepherds show up that very night and then leave before daybreak? If so, theexhausted innkeeper was probably asleep in his bed, resting up for another busyday at the inn. Clueless to the events unfolding in his stable.
Regardless of what he knew, how much he knew, and when heknew it, there was a place for Jesus in the innkeeper’s busy, hectic,stress-filled life on Christmas Eve.
We, dear friends, are blessed beyond measure, because we arenot clueless. We know the whole story and still ... I wonder….
Where did we put Jesus on this blessed Christmas Eve?