No Room For Him

(Homily Preached on Christmas Morning, 2012)

 

For centuries it had been foretold.  The prophets had promised that a Savior would come.  There had been righteous kings, elders, rulers and common people who knew, believed, hoped this would happen.  There were women and children who believed, waited, anticipated.  And yet, when the time came, when the very day came for this King to be born, there was no room for Him.  This would be the way of Jesus the Christ.

 

Luke makes this strange little note to us on the story of the birth of Jesus – “and she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”  This has become a quaint, sentimental, serene verse describing the Nativity.  But cut through the sentiment and you will find that this is the way of Jesus, the way of the kingdom of God in, over, and through this world.

 

It was time for Jesus to be born, and there was no place for Him to be born – no place among humans, the very people for which the Incarnation was necessary.  We are not told what went on at the inn, how Joseph and Mary were unable to find any place for Mary to be given to have her Child, what the circumstances were when this Inn-keeper had to say “no, I’m sorry, there is no more room.”  But, whatever happened, Mary found herself giving birth to her firstborn Son, the One conceived by the Holy Spirit, in a cave or in some animal shelter of some sort.  There was no cradle – there was only a feeding trough.  HE WHO would be the Bread of Heaven slept at first in a food tray for animals.

 

But this was the way of Christ.  There was no way for Jesus to be conceived in the normal fashion for there was no room for a sinless Man to be brought into the world solely through the line of the first Adam.  And yet, He had to be from the line of the first Adam in order to be a Man.  And so, God made a way.  There was no human proclamation of His birth – no birth announcement by relatives, no social media to send pictures.  But God made a way – He sent angels to announce to shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night – and the stars joined with the angels in proclaiming the birth of the Messiah.

 

When Mary first heard that she was going to be with child, there was no room for her to believe such a thing, but God sent the angel Gabriel to tell her.  Joseph as well, had no room to believe such a crazy story until in a dream, God made a way by confirming what Mary had told Joseph to be true.

 

There continued to be no room for Jesus.  Months later, when wise men arrived from the East and announced that a star had led them to Bethlehem, Herod refused to allow such a declared King to threaten his rule and all the male children two years old and younger were murdered.  But God had made a way, warning Joseph in a dream again and allowing the holy family to flee to Egypt in the night. 

 

Some thirty years later, when Jesus began His ministry, being baptized by John, He went and preached in His hometown of Nazareth.  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me” He read from Isaiah and told all those in the synagogue that day that these words were fulfilled now and that He was the fulfillment.  There was no room in Nazareth at that point for Jesus – there was no room for such truth and so they sought to throw Him over a cliff – but God made a way and Jesus passed through the midst of them and went on His way.

 

There was no room for Jesus as He travelled along in His ministry – so much so, that one time when a certain scribe asked if he could follow Jesus, Jesus responded, “foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”  In fact, you would think the scribes and the Pharisees, the “keepers of the law” would have recognized that the very embodiment of the Law, the Word-made-Flesh, Immanuel, was before them.  They had studied and studied God’s Word, and yet, Jesus would say to them – “you search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they that testify of Me.”  But there was no room in their theology for Jesus – there was no room in their self-righteousness for Christ – there was no room in their law-keeping for One who would Judge them for their well-hidden sin.

 

Jerusalem, the home of the Temple of Yahweh, the House Built for His name, should have had all of the room in the world for the very One that had made this city famous.  And yet, when Jesus went to Jerusalem, there was no room for Him.  Not only did they condemn Him to die – even His crucifixion took place outside the city – at the place of the Skull and right beside a city garbage dump.

 

This was Jesus, the Son of God, and there was no room for Him – no room for Him in the inn, no room for Him in Nazareth, no room for Him in Jerusalem – no room for Him in this world – anywhere.  And this was just the way God wanted it.  This was no thwarting of God’s plans, no victory over Christ’s ministry nor His purposes to become the King of kings and Lord of lords.  Rejecting Jesus never keeps Jesus away  in the end.  We are not celebrating the birth of a man who hoped to become King of Israel only to be tried in a kangaroo court and murdered by thugs dressed in priestly robes and Roman uniforms.  We are celebrating the birth of King who turned the world upside down, because that world was upside down – lost in its darkness, lost in its sin.

 

There was no room in the world for Jesus – which is exactly why Jesus came to remake the world.  There was no room in the sons and daughters of Adam for a Savior – which is exactly why Jesus came to regenerate these same sons and daughters, bringing forth objects of wrath and by the power of His resurrection, making them objects of His mercy and love, people of His delight and affection, brothers and sisters with Him before His holy Father in heaven.

 

Jesus was promised the world, all the nations – and in Pontius Pilate and the Jewish leaders, the world, all the nations, Jew and Gentile alike, rejected Him.  There was no room for Him.  But when He rose from the dead, when He ascended to His Father’s right hand, when He sent His Holy Spirit, He was declared to be the One who had created all things – all room – and had redeemed all things – all room – for Himself.

 

We see this same scenario played out over and over in the life of the church.  Wherever Jesus is faithfully proclaimed, we are told there is no room for Him.  Presently, in our country, we are told there is no room for Him in our public places, in our civic buildings, in our government schools – our fear of catching Jesus-cooties if we overhear His name or prayers to Him or the singing of His praise – is as silly as our fear of second-hand smoke drifting over the fence of some neighbor’s yard.  The world hates both – but the world particularly hates the name of Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas.  It always has, it always will.  This is its curse, this is the consequence of its unbelief and rebellion – this is the state of things.  But this is why Jesus was born in a stable – this is why He was rejected of men – this is why He died on the cross – He has come and He has redeemed to Himself the nations of men.  There was no room for Him, but now there is all the room in the world for Him for He has redeemed the world.  He bought it.  He purchased it.  He owns it all.

 

And this is why we must still say “Merry Christmas” with all the trimmings.  This is why we must still proclaim “Jesus is Lord” even when we are told to shut up.  This is why we must pledge allegiance to the kingdom of God even when it is uncouth in the public eye.  When we hear that there is no room for Him, no room for this kind of thing, in such and such a place, it is the same sad story  and we must refuse to comply.  We must do so winsomely and with great faith – with our eyes to the life, death, and resurrection of the One for Whom there was never any room.  Because, we know, of course there was no room in the world – that is why He has remade the world – that He might bring salvation to that world.

 

Isaac Watts would pen these words –

Joy to the world, the Lord is come – let earth receive her King.

Let every heart prepare Him room – and heaven and nature sing.

 

No more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground

He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.

 

He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love.

 

O, but there is room.  For He has made room.  For He has remade all things.  He will have the nations – and this morning – He would have your heart, your devotion, your praise.  Some would ask you if there is room in your heart for Jesus – and it is commanded of you to make room – but you know there is no room – no room in your heart.  Some would invite you to make room for Jesus in your heart – they would say that He stands at the door of your heart and pleads to be allowed in.  Such talk is nonsense, you say – and you are right.  But it is nonsense for reasons you did not expect.  Jesus isn’t inviting.  Jesus already knows there is no room in your heart, your unconverted heart for Him.  That doesn’t stop Him from coming – it never has – it never will.  Jesus has come – and every knee will bow, every tongue confess.  Jesus has come and so every curse will be overturned.  Jesus has come and so all things are made new.  Jesus has come and He is not asking you to make Him Lord – He is declared to be Lord, even the son of God – not because you have said anything.  It didn’t have anything to do with you.  What then must you do?  Well, what do you do at Christmas when you are given a gift from a well-wisher, from someone who loves you – you have already received gifts this Christmas, you probably have more gifts waiting for you at home or at the relatives.  What will you do with that gift?  You can’t declare it to be a non-gift.  You have no power over it.  You might say you can refuse the gift – but refusing the gift doesn’t make it not a gift.  There it is.  There it remains.  The salvation of the world has come and it is outside of you – it has nothing to do with you – it will not respond to you saying that it has or hasn’t come.  It is joy to the world. 

 

And this gift is your new heart.  You don’t decide if you want a new heart – it is decided for you.  You didn’t decide if you wanted that old, unbelieving, stiff-necked heart – and you don’t get to decide if you want the new heart, the one that believes, loves, and responds to the gospel of grace.  Behold, you have a new heart.  Here – take it – receive it – or rather, realize that you have received it for it has been placed in you – by the work of the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to make room for it.  God already did that.  God already took care of that.  God sent Jesus when there was no room for Him and God made the room.  For those who have eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts that now believe – Merry Christmas!

 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit - Amen.