No room in the Inn?

It's advent season, so naturally I've been focusing some energy into entering into the birth story of Jesus. I've always been troubled by one element of the birth story. Perhaps what troubles me most is what is not told in these stories. For one instance, the arrival of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. Luke's story has Mary and Joseph arriving in the waining hours of the day unable to find room in the "inn".

Our modern experiences remind of times driving from location to location looking for a hotel that doesn't have a NO VACANCY sign lit. Hoping that should there be room big enough for all us. With this in mind we are happy that Mary and Joseph find a cave and give birth in shelter. There's a sense of relief and while the Son of God didn't get into the Marriot perhaps we can romanticize the idea of God being born in humility with animals at his feet.

But what if there was something more sinister afoot in those waining hours that day in Bethlehem? What drove Mary and Joseph to look for a "hotel" in Joseph's home town anyway? After all wasn't he a decendant of King David? And if there was something more sinister, what would it mean for us?

It is very likely that Joseph and Mary never looked for anything like a hotel. In Luke's text the word "Inn" in greek is the word (pronounced kataluma) which means "room" or living quarters. Plus at the time Bethlehem was a small, relatively poor town. It is very unlikely to have even had an "inn" anyways. Travelers would have pushed on to Jerusalem which was much larger and had facilities for them. No, I think what we actually have here is Joseph showing up to a relatives house. Which gets me asking why they are told there there is no "room"?

How is it that amoung a people know for their hospitality is a man (of royal linage) and his wife (who's about to give birth) show up at a family members house and they're told "there's no room". The Jew's at this time were a people known to give room and board to strangers and travelers. They are commanded by their God to care for the orphan, widow, and the foreigner. Plus that ancient near east has never had the ideals of autonomy that the West does. Plus the residents of Bethlehem would have known that their relatives were coming back to register. This would have been a time of celebration and reunion. So again, how is it that Joseph and his wife are told "there is no room".

Could it be that Joseph's family was so cold to them because there was a rejection of the child Mary carried? Was it the questionable conception that warrented such treatment? Maybe for Joseph's family they just couldn't accept that God had done something wonderful in Mary.

We see later in the life of Jesus that those who knew Jesus certainly questioned his legitamacy as Joseph's son. Look at this exchange in Mark chapter six. Jesus has just finished preaching in the temple and the people have been amazed at his teaching. Here's what they say:

Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.

In a paternalistic society like the Jews of this time, a son would not be refered to as his mother's child even if (as in this case) the father was dead. Why did they take offense at him. They thought his teaching was wonderful... oh wait, could it have been that whole illegitamate child thing again? And why, if they were in awe of his teaching just moments before, would they have taken such offense at him?

No, I think in Luke 2 we have something other than NO VACANCY signs. I think that Jesus may have entered this world much like he lived in it and died for it... REJECTED. Sure, perhaps I can romanticize God being humble and allowing himself born in stable with donkeys, chickens and sheep. But I can't associate with that. That God would come at all would be a radical act of humility. But I can identify with rejection. It has happened to me more than once. And Jesus understands. He's been there. He was "born under" this sign. He lived with rejection and died in the face of it. This to me is the miracle of Christmas.