No Room?
Luke 2: 4-7
Christmas Eve Service
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for Christmas Eve is Luke 2. When we think about the Christmas account it is very easy to think about all the miraculous things that happened. Angels make special appearances to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and to shepherds in the field. We see God’s hand move things so that Jesus is born in Bethlehem thus fulfilling the prophesy of Micah. Some of the miracles are fantastic when we think about them. The mother who gives birth to the baby is a virgin! The baby born happens to be the eternal Son of God!
There are so many miracles happening that a pastor has a treasure trove available as he considers what he should preach about on Christmas Eve. So what miracle shall we talk about? What miraculous aspect of the birth of Jesus and the surrounding events should we consider this night? Actually, I would like to talk about a circumstance regarding Jesus’ birth that is not miraculous at all but is an astounding aspect of our Lord’s birth. There was no room for Him in the inn. Now, of course, the simple fact that there is no room in Bethlehem for a mother, her husband, and a baby is not surprising. A census was being taken and so there was a great influx of people going into the town of Bethlehem, and Bethlehem was a small town. It is not a great surprise that there was not a surplus of rooms for visitors. What is truly astonishing is that the almighty God would choose such circumstances for the birth of His Son.
The Savior of the world is being born, the one who came to take upon himself the guilt and sin of the entire world, the one who came to conquer death and open the gates of heaven to all who world believe in Him. How can there be no room for Him? And this Savor is God, the eternal Son of the Father. How can it be that He is born in a stable with an animal’s feeding trough as a bed? How can there be no room for Him – except here in a stable that isn’t fit for the birth of any baby, much less for that of God’s Son? But when the Son of God came to Bethlehem, there was no room for Him.
No room for Jesus. What happened in Bethlehem on the night of Jesus’ birth became a theme for our Lord’s entire life. When the Wise Men came to worship Him, they found a small family in Bethlehem. By this time Mary and Joseph had found a place to live. But shortly after the Wise Men left, the wrath of Herod made it clear once again that there was no room in Bethlehem for this holy child. Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt to protect their son form Herod’s soldiers. No room in Bethlehem for Jesus.
After the time in Egypt, Jesus’ family returned to Nazareth, where Jesus grew up. Would there be room in Nazareth for Jesus? We are told in the fourth chapter of Luke that after Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit for His ministry, He went to the synagogue in Nazareth to speak. But when He tried to proclaim to the people of Nazareth the precious news of the Gospel and when He told them that He was the Savior, they took Him to the top of a high hill and tried to push Him over the cliff. No room in Nazareth for Jesus!
Later, on His way to Jerusalem, Jesus wanted to pass through Samaria, but the people of Samaria made it clear they didn’t want him there. No room for Jesus in Samaria! When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the crowds came out to see Him. They came to welcome Him as their King. But within a few days, the people called out to Pilate to release Barabbas and to crucify Jesus. No room for Jesus in Jerusalem! Pilate wanted to let Jesus go but because of the pressure that he received from the crowd he turned Jesus over to be crucified and killed. No room on earth for Jesus!
And then came the most amazing part of it all. Jesus is crucified. He is wracked by pain and thirst and insults. But the greatest anguish of all is revealed as He cries from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” God the Father pours out His wrath upon Jesus, the one who came to bear the sin and the guilt of all the world, to be punished for the wrongdoing of every person who ever lived, who is also His Son. And so it is that as Jesus dies for you and me on the cross, He is abandoned by the Father in heaven. No room for Jesus even in the Father’s heart.
No room for Jesus. It all began at Bethlehem, and it continued throughout His life until the time of His death on the cross. Why? Why must it be so? So that you would know, and I would know that there is always room in the Father’s heart for us. We are to know that this little baby comes not to establish an earthly kingdom of power but to establish a spiritual kingdom where there is forgiveness and grace and hope and life. We are to know He is our Savior who in His life and death took our place. We are to know that He was obedient where we were not, faithful where we were not, compassionate and loving where we were not, honest, and truthful where we were not. We are to know that He took our sin and suffered for it. He was rejected and despised so that our Father in heaven could look at you and me and never reject or despise us.
We are to know that there was no room for Him in Bethlehem, in Nazareth, in Samaria, in Jerusalem, or in the Father’s heart, so that we would know that there is always room for us. The Father tells us that there will always be room in His heart for us. For you. There will always be room. There is room in this church for you. No matter your past, no matter how you have failed, there is room for you. There is room in God’s family for you. No matter how you have offended others or betrayed them, you are forgiven, there is room for you. There is room in heaven for you. No matter how long you have strayed or greatly you have sinned there is room for you. There will always be room for you to be with God forever. That is why the little baby is in the manger.
Is it not true that when we understand and believe how Jesus has opened the heart of the Father to us, we want our hearts to be open to Him? How sad that not all hearts are open to Him. How tragic that most hearts have hung out a sign, “No room for Jesus,” May it never be so with us! May we be willing to lose every secular and cultural attachment to this holiday if only we can keep the baby Jesus. Let them take our trees, our presents, let them take the tinsel and the lights and the snowmen as long as we can keep Christ, the Lord, born to Mary in Bethlehem to be the Savior of the world.
We pray to our Father in heaven that there will always be room in our hearts for this Christ Child who brings salvation and life to all who believe in Him. May the Holy Spirit so work in us faith to look to Jesus always. Let us join the angelic choirs to praise Him. Let us dedicate our hands and heads and hearts not to serving self but to serving Him and to live our lives according His will. Let us pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit, every word from our mouths and every act of our hands may glorify God who gave His all, His only Son, that there might be room for us to be with Him forever. Amen.