Merry Christmas!

When we think of the Christmas Story, we tend to think of Mary, Joseph, the three wise men, the shepherds who hear the angel Gabriel announce the birth of Christ, and Christ Himself. We rarely think about the innkeepers who turned away the couple.

When we read teaching stories we are to place ourselves in the story as one of the characters. As we grow, we move among the characters until finally we are ALL the characters.

The innkeepers who turned away the couple were not bad; they had no room at their inn. They were just functionaries moving the couple toward the place where Christ was to be born. And yet they did not recognize the Truth of the situation. They were blind to what was in front of them. They could have seen, and though there was no room, made room. They could have recognized Joseph and Mary for who they were, known there was no room, and left the inn to be with Mary and Joseph at the stable when Christ was born. The three wise men saw the Star of Bethlehem, knew inwardly what it meant, and followed, bringing gifts. Even when they had not physically seen the couple, they understood.

So who are the innkeepers? When is it that we are to identify with them? Always. Because until we are completely surrendered to God, there will be times when we are blind. If we refuse to acknowledge that blindness, we will never get to “see” Christ. We will never get to the stable. We will never encounter the other characters. We will never get to be ALL the characters.

So this holiday season, I wish that each of us surrenders our shrunken self so that we ALL are ALL the characters in this great play God is performing.