“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn” (Luke 2:7).
Today, in many American towns and cities, there is even no room for the manger! There is no room for the Nativity scenes that have graced the town squares and front lawns of our country for hundreds of years. There is no room amongst the lighted reindeer and tacky blow-up Santas that crowd the yards of people’s houses. There is no room for “Silent Night” or “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” on school programs or in the piped-in music that greets shoppers in stores and malls. There is no room on the lips of their sales clerks to wish their shoppers “Merry Christmas.” There is no room for the Christ child who is the reason for Christmas!
In America, there is less and less room for the Savior, God’s son, Jesus. And we are robbing our children of the true beauty and wonder of the season, what a plastic Santa Claus and smiling snowman could never give. We are closing their little, trusting, “moldable” hearts to the transforming truth of the love of God, and replacing it with the shallow replica of a very nice, but nonetheless, impotent Santa. While he may represent generosity and good deeds, Santa cannot bring peace or give eternal life.
One of the things we love about Christmas is the way it takes us back to our childhood and the good memories of happy times spent with family. I especially love to remember the Christmas plays I was in at church every year. When I became a teenager, I begin directing those plays and did so for many years. I never really outgrew the joy and excitement they bring. I can still quote the accounts from Matthew and Luke’s Gospels. In recent years, new directors have tried to “modernize” the play, getting away from the basic nativity narratives, but I strongly resist, because I know that children are no longer getting any of the Biblical side in public schools. Christmas has not just become commercialized – which we used to lament – but secularized, squeezing Jesus Christ right out of His own birthday celebration.
An Endearing Christmas Play
I would like to share with you a heartwarming story I came across in a book of true Christmas stories: In the days when schools still put on real Christmas plays, a young boy named Wally was given the part of the Innkeeper. He was in the second grade, but he belonged in the fourth. He was bigger than others in his class and on the clumsy side. He was mentally slow, but he was helpful and pleasant. Wally was given this part because of his size, making his character more assertive in refusing Joseph’s request for a room.
He practiced his lines, and the night of the play he was completely absorbed in the performance. When it was time for his part, he was ready behind the inn’s door. Joseph and Mary made their way to the inn and Joseph knocked on the door. Wally quickly opened it, and Joseph spoke first, asking for a room, to which Wally replied, “The inn is filled.” Joseph persisted that they had traveled a great distance and were very weary, but Wally sternly answered, “There is no room in this inn for you.”
Again Joseph pressed him; this time he explained that his wife was ready to give birth, and she needed a place to rest. Surely he could find someplace for her! Now Wally softened his stance, looking at Mary and pausing a very long time, as the audience waited tensely. Someone offstage whispered to him his lines: “No! Be gone!”
Wally finally found his voice and repeated: “No! Be gone!” Defeated, Joseph then gently led Mary away, as she lay her weary head upon his shoulder. Wally stood in the door watching them sadly as his eyes filled with tears. Then once again he found his voice: “Don’t go, Joseph!” he cried out. “Bring Mary back.” Then a bright smile lit up his voice: “You can have my room.”
This illustrates to me why Jesus said that we must become as little children to enter into the kingdom of heaven, and whoever humbles himself as a little child is the greatest in the kingdom (Matthew 18:3-4). A child’s heart is free of hardness and cynicism. We must not allow ourselves to become indifferent and worn down by the onslaught of anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Christmas attacks waged against us. It’s our responsibility as Christians in a godless world to keep Christ in Christmas, and show our children and others that for us, Christmas is the celebration of the One who is with us 365 days a year. We have made permanent room in our hearts and in our lives for Jesus, and He is the center of our joy, our hope, and our peace.
“I am not ashamed of (the true Christmas story), the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes…” (Romans 1:16). I humbly but joyfully declare: “Jesus, You can have my heart.”
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