By JOANNE SADLER BUTLER
In the familiar “Infancy Gospel” of Luke, the innkeeper who sends Joseph and Mary to the stable might be viewed as hard-hearted and selfish. The Gospel (Luke 2:7) cites a lack of room at the inn as the reason for Joseph and Mary going to the stable. But was the innkeeper truly selfish? Or was he merciful?
First, let us consider why Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem. The Gospel (Luke 2:1-5) tells us the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus required a census of all people in the Roman Empire. His goal was collecting taxes — not just from the Romans in Rome, but from everyone in the empire.
Because Joseph was of the tribe of Judah (King David’s tribe), he and Mary had to make a ninety-mile journey south to one of province of Judah’s main towns: Bethlehem. This was in an age when travel for ordinary people occurred only when absolutely necessary. The monetary expense and the toll on person’s body made travel a burden, not a vacation.
Thus, while Mary is often portrayed as riding upon a donkey, it’s very likely she and Joseph made the trip on foot. Being very pregnant, some scholars estimate they could walk only ten miles per day — resulting in a nine-day journey, perhaps ten days, as no travel would occur on the Sabbath.
The couple would have to bring their own food and water, as well as cloaks to serve as shelter on the roadside at night. Imagine trying to sleep while being sensitive to noises made by thieves or wild animals.
Further, as people traveled very little, advanced trip planning was not routine. Joseph would have to have been a very wealthy man to send a messenger to go ninety miles south to secure lodging in Bethlehem. Joseph was not wealthy.
By the time the couple arrives, Bethlehem is crowded with Judeans. One factor may have been that Bethlehem is only seven miles south of Jerusalem, the major city of ancient Israel. Thus, for Judeans residing in Jerusalem, travel to Bethlehem was relatively easy. And Jerusalem was a popular place to live. It was the holy city of the Hebrews, as well as was a trading post for the Roman Empire to the Eastern world.
Into this crush of Judeans comes a poor, but respectable man and his pregnant wife. They are exhausted from their trip. The wife is clearly near her time to give birth. But Bethlehem is, at best, a crossroads town. Perhaps there was only one inn.
Although his establishment likely was packed to the rafters, the innkeeper takes pity on them. In doing so, he was obedient to the Mitzvah (commandment) from Lev. 19:34: “The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
If the innkeeper was a Judean, then Joseph was his kinsman. Therefore, the innkeeper also would have been subject to this Mitzvah from Lev. 25:35: “And if your brother becomes poor, and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall maintain him; as a stranger and a sojourner he shall live with you.”
Was the innkeeper obedient by sending Joseph and Mary to a stable? Yes, he was.
Considering how lowly people lived in that time, the “stable” may have been part of the innkeeper’s family quarters. It was normal for a family to live in one large room with the few animals it owned being lodged in a corner. Only wealthier families could afford to have a separate building for livestock. (This practice continued into the Middle Ages in Europe.)
By being obedient to God’s law, the innkeeper gave the Holy Family shelter; perhaps a place with his own family. His obedience to Lev. 19:34 prefigures Christ’s command in Matt. 23:39: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The paramount event of the Nativity Gospel is God’s entrance (in His Second Person) into the human race. But behind the Incarnation we see the workings of God’s law and the beauty of obedience to it. It transformed the corner of an innkeeper’s stable into a most sacred space.
It can transform us too, if we open ourselves to Christ’s Word.
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