Thinking of the Innkeeper today.
Joseph (and Mary) were descendents of King David.
Luke 2 verse 1: “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled.” and verses 4 and 5: “And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.” And “She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn”
Let’s see… King David has eight siblings; King David had twenty children. So, Joseph being of the family (house) of David could mean that there were a lot of people who needed to go to Bethlehem.
From Matthew 1:17 we have “Therefore all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the time of Christ fourteen generations.” - so about twenty-eight generations from David to Jesus.
So, while all of the people who were to go to Bethlehem because they were of the lineage of King David could have been many (David’s family was large, and with 28 generations, there could have been many cousins, second cousins, third cousins (etc.) to twenty-eighth cousins.
From Micah 5:2 “"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."
So, Bethlehem was a small town - and all these descendants of King David descending on it could (would) have really taxed the lodging situation. Maybe some still had relatives there and they could impose upon them and visit them while they were being ‘enrolled’. But many would have had to stay at the inn. For Joseph and Mary - finding a room in the stable might have been better than others - having to find places to camp near Bethlehem.
Did the innkeeper know that the Messiah was being born in that stable? He probably had been as compassionate as he could have been under the situation. Yes, he knew that Mary was pregnant; yes, he knew that she was going to have the baby soon - maybe even this night; yes, keeping the family warm and dry in the stable was as about as good as he could do. Could he have asked a family in one of the regular rooms of the inn to give up their room for the pregnant woman? Yes, but even in these days, having a manager of a hotel / motel knock on your door and say “Hey could you vacate your room for a pregnant woman who needs it?” just wouldn’t happen.
The innkeeper must have been very tired and frazzled. He probably cursed or hated Caesar Augustus for requiring people to be ‘enrolled’ - sure it gave me more business and more revenue, but it put him in a tough situation of turning people away.
But, back to the question, did he know it was the Messiah? Hard to say. Maybe one of his staff came to him and said “Hey Boss, remember that pregnant lady that you found a space in the stable? Well, she gave birth to a baby boy. He seems to be healthy and they seem to be doing okay”. Maybe he could slip out for a few minutes and say “Congratulations”; but there more people coming in; there were people who had gotten through the enrollment process and were leaving; there were the Roman authorities and soldiers who may also have been at his inn who were doing the enrollment. It must have been a chaotic time for him. He would have known the prophecy that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, but it had been years and hadn’t happened yet. It probably wasn’t even on his mind on this night.
How about us? Are we too busy, in too much chaos of our own to recognize that the Messiah is here?
Lord, open our eyes to Your Gift of the Messiah; let us see and know Him in our midst. Amen
