My favourite character in the Christmas story has always been the inn keeper, even though the gospel doesn’t mention him, only his inn. I like him partly because he was the character I played in my only church school nativity play. I can even remember some of my lines – thought they wouldn’t be acceptable in such a play today. I had to say, ‘Put their camels in the stable, wife!’
Nowadays the inn keeper gets whole nativity plays written about him – I’ve seen at least two in the last eight years where he was the main character and the baby Jesus was a sort of afterthought.
That of course misses the whole point of the story but I do think this imaginary inn keeper could have an important point to make as part of the essential story.
First of all he is the only inn keeper in Bethlehem. All those nativity plays where Mary and Joseph go round knocking on lots of doors have got it all wrong. Bethlehem wasn’t that big – it says ‘There was no room for them in THE inn.’
So he was the only inn keeper which means he must have been exceptionally busy that night.
But why we might ask did Mary and Joseph have to knock on his door? Joseph had to go to Bethlehem to be registered because that’s where he came from – so presumably he ought to have had family there – why didn’t he stay with them?
Or perhaps he wouldn’t have been welcome – was Joseph the lost sheep of his family – the one who went off to work on his own – set up his own business rather than join the family firm – in a village in the North with a bad reputation – as everyone knew, nothing good ever came out of Nazareth? And then of course there was his unsuitable engagement. So perhaps Mary and Joseph crept into Bethlehem hoping not to be recognised, knocking nervously last thing at night on the inn door.
Nowadays nativity plays usually make the inn keeper the one who heartlessly turns them away until his more friendly wife suggests the stable – but there isn’t an inn keeper’s wife in the gospel either. Even so she could have had a part to play as we shall see – and the inn keeper was very busy – so perhaps she did send them round the back to the stable.
The gospel of course doesn’t mention a stable – just a manger – imagination suggests a manger must be in a stable – but stables in Bethlehem in those days were probably not as we might imagine. A Palestinian stable is usually called a caravanserai. That means a round or square building with a wide raised ledge running round the inside walls on which people could sleep. Below them at ground level was the space for the animals – certainly asses and horses and donkeys and probably camels and possibly even an ox. If that’s the right picture then having a baby in such a setting wasn’t easy. They must have moved the animals aside, spread out some straw for Mary to lie on and give birth with the help perhaps of the inn keeper’s wife and perhaps even the village midwife. Off course the inn keeper was too busy to witness any of that and probably wouldn’t have wanted to. Just Joseph and the two women and an inquisitive animal or two gathered round Mary to shelter her from other eyes.
The role of an inn keeper is a divided one – he is responsible for everything and the servant of everyone – bit like a vicar really – he would have spent the rest of the night dolling out blankets, extra pillows, food drink, bedbug powder and so on. A group of crazy shepherds babbling about angels was perhpas the last straw; when he finally realised it was a baby they were looking for he pointed them round the back.
‘You mean the Saviour of the world’s in a stable’ – said one shepherd rather aggressively but the others laughed and pulled him away and the inn keeper went to see what the tax collector in the best bedroom wanted. Perhaps he eventually got to bed just before dawn and was just drifting off to sleep when there was another loud hammering at the door. This time it was three kings, their servants, soldiers, retainers, camels, horses, pack asses and interested hangers on.
Maybe it was the star that finally broke him. He goes out into the street and looks up – there was one last rather beautiful star in the early morning clear blue sky. But was it over his inn? He rushed across the road and pointed upwards – ‘No it’s over this house, or this one, or this one!’ – he runs backwards and forwards further and further away still pointing and shouting as the three distinguished guests look at him rather oddly. When he gets back they simply ask him for a baby, so rather out of breath he directs them round the back.
And so he goes back to bed – but we might wonder – can he sleep now? Might he with a modicum of curiosity go round the back himself? And sticking his head rather anxiously round the door what does he make of what he sees? The three very distinguished visitors kneeling in not very clean straw; the noisy shepherds reduced to tongue tied silence; the exhausted mother and father not knowing what to make of all this attention and the baby and of course all the animals and their owners in various stages of wakefulness and perhaps somewhat irritated curiosity. The inn keeper finds himself unexpectedly welcome. Here at last is something Joseph can meaningfully say after such a night of strange to-doing. He welcomes the inn keeper into the circle – and indicates to everyone that without this kind man they would have had nowhere to stay and it was such a bad night and they’d come such a long way and it was such a relief to find someone who would help them. Everyone looks at him and smiles; Joseph is overdoing it a bit – and the inn keeper looks more and more embarrassed. But then the baby makes a noise and everyone looks at him instead and smiles and Mary holds him out and finally even the inn keeper finds himself holding the baby.
‘Next year ‘– he told his wife later – ‘next year I’ll be better prepared.’
‘What do you mean next year – I hope we never have to go through all that again,’ she says.
‘No well I mean..’ says the inn keeper.
‘No I don’t know what you mean,’ says his wife impatiently.
‘Well you know the baby and us all being so busy.’
‘You mean you being so busy,’ said his wife, ‘I was helping in the stable remember.’
‘Well something special happened,’ said the inn keeper, ‘and I should have been more alert – more ready for it somehow – I mean everyone needed serving but there should have been more room in what I was doing for the unexpected. I could have missed it.’
‘Missed what?’ said his wife
‘I could have missed holding the Saviour of the world,’ said the inn keeper.