Jesus Born in a Manger

JESUS WAS BORN IN A MANGER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Luke 2:6-7 6Whilethey were there, the time came for
the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her
firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed
him in a manger, becausethere was no guest room
availablefor them.
Luke 2:11-1211Todayin the town of Davida Savior
has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the LORD.
12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby
wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Luke 2:16 16So they hurried off and found Mary and
Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
LUKE 2:7
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Christ Excluded

Luke 2:7
W. Clarkson
Little did the occupants of that inn at Bethlehem imagine who it was they
were turning awaywhen Josephand Mary sought admissionthere. They did
not realize, for they did not know, whom they were excluding. Practicallythey
were declining to receive, notonly the Messiahoftheir country, but the Savior
of the world. What they did in guiltless ignorance, men too often do in wilful
and culpable rejection. Jesus Christis sometimes excludedby men -
I. FROM THEIR THEORIES OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. Theyhave
constructedsuch a perfect theory of government out of the operationof
physical law, that there is no room at all for an interposing Savior. The whole
space oftheir kingdom of truth is occupied.
II. FROM THEIR ESTIMATE OF THEIR INTELLECTUAL
NECESSITIES. Theybelieve that, by applying their knowledge, their
reasoning faculty, their intuitive powers, to nature and to mankind, they can
reachall the conclusions there is any necessityto attain, All that is over and
above this is redundant; there is no room in their sense of need for a Divine
Teacher. Welldid the Mastersaythat to enter the kingdom of heaven we must
become as a little child. The self-sufficiencyof a complacentmaturity thinks it
has nothing to learn; it bars its doors;it sends the light of the world
elsewhere;its little "inn" of knowledge andaspiration is occupiedfrom floor
to roof.
III. FROM THEIR ESTIMATE OF MAN'S SPIRITUAL WANTS. Very
many are they who are not unwilling to welcome a Guide, but who have no
room for a Savior;for they have no sense of sin. They want to know which of
the commandments they have broken. It does not occurto them that they
have been owing to their greatCreator, to their heavenly Father, to their
Divine Friend, ten thousand talents of reverence, obedience,gratitude;and
that they have been only offering to him a few poor pence, or that they have
had nothing at all to pay. They are not conscious ofa deep and wide gulf
betweentheir indebtedness and their discharge, and they go on their way not
knowing that "the God in whose hand their breath is, and whose are all their

ways, they have not glorified;" that they have sinned againstthe Lord, and
need his abounding mercy. They, therefore, have no room for Christ, the
Divine Propitiation, the greatReconcilerofman to God.
IV. FROM THE HABIT OF THEIR LIFE. Of all those who exclude Jesus
Christ, the most numerous and perhaps the guiltiest are they who, recognizing
his claims and his powers, refuse to welcome him to their hearts. Their lives
are so crowdedwith cares, with the business of the market or of the
household; or they are so filled up with the pleasures and the prizes of this
world; or they are so occupiedwith pursuits which, if intellectual, are
unspiritual, that there is no room for that Divine One who comes to speak of
sin and of mercy and of the life which is spiritual and eternal, who claims to
be trusted and loved and servedas the Savior of the human soul and the
Sovereignof the human life. So, while admitting his right to enter, they do not
open the door. Alas! of what enlightening truth, of what blessedrestfulness of
heart, of what nobility of life, of what eternity of glory, do men bereave
themselves by crowding out the Lord who loves them, by excluding the
Redeemerfrom the home of their hearts
Biblical Illustrator
Her first-born Son.
Luke 2:7
Birth of Christ the Lord
A. P. Foster.
I. CHRIST'S RELATION TO THE POOR.
1. When He came in so lowly circumstances, consenting to lay His head in a
manger, none of the pomps of royalty about Him, how touchingly and
tenderly He spoke to the vastmajority of the world. There is a bond of
sympathy between Him and the multitude whose condition is one of struggles,

deprivations, and anxieties. Here is a warrant of His love; here is something to
secure their confidence, draw out their hearts, lead them to admiration.
2. How plain, in the light of this event, is the folly of estimating men by their
birth or surroundings. What a rebuke on the worldliness of earth, on our
unseemly regard for temporal surroundings. If Christ, the King of kings, the
Saviour of the world, the Son of the Highest, could take so lowly a station, we
are weak indeed, if we judge men hereafterby the canopy on their cradles or
the jewels ontheir swaddling-bands.
II. THE IMPORTANCE OF INFANCY. Why was Christ a babe? To link
Himself at every stage with humanity; to indicate the sweetness and
preciousness ofinfant life. In that quaint, fragile casket — a babe — is the
jewelof an immortal soul. There lie the germs of immense possibilities. The
soul is as yet in embryo, but it is there. He turns againsthis better nature,
againstthe teachings of Christ's life, who has no interest in the new-born
babe.
III. THE SUPERIOR IMPORTANCEOF THE SPIRITUAL TO THE
MATERIAL. HOW little do we know of the material circumstances of
Christ's life! Even this greatevent, His birth, is shrouded in comparative
darkness. Godwould show us the comparative insignificance oftemporal
things. Christ came to teachspiritual truth.
IV. Christ's coming was THE PIVOTAL EVENT OF THE WORLD'S
HISTORY.FromBethlehem shall go forth an influence that shall move the
world. That Divine Babe is the salvation of a ruined earth!
(A. P. Foster.)
The miraculous conceptionnot unreasonable
Bishop Hacket.
Let me dispute the case witha mere natural man, How doth the harvest of the
field enrich the husbandman? It is answered, By the seedwhich is sownin the
ground. Say again, How came seedinto the world to sow the ground? Surely

you must confess thatthe first seedhad a Maker, who did not derive it from
the ears of wheat, but made it of nothing by the powerof His own hand; says
St. Austin, "then Godcould make a man without the seedof man in the
Virgin's womb, who made seedfor the corn before ever there was earing or
harvest." Nay, there is an instance for it in the little bees, as the poet doth
philosophize, they do not bring forth their young ones, as other creatures do,
by the help of male and female together; but they gather the seedwhich begets
the young ones from the dew of leaves, andherbs, and flowers, and so they
bring them forth.
(Bishop Hacket.)
Christ born without the curse of the flesh
Bishop Hacket.
The Virgin conceivedour Lord without the lusts of the flesh, and therefore
she had not the pangs and travail of womenupon her, she brought Him forth
without the curse of the flesh. These be the Fathers'comparisons:as bees
draw honey from the flower without offending it, as Eve was takenout of
Adam's side without any grief to him, as a spring issues out of the bark of the
tree, as the sparkling light from the brightness of the star, such ease was it to
Mary to bring forth her first-born Son; and therefore having no weaknessin
her body, feeling no want of vigour, she did not deliver Him to any profane
hand to be dressed, but by a specialability, above all that are newly delivered,
she wrapt Him in swaddling clouts.
(Bishop Hacket.)
Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes
Bishop Hacket., BishopHacket.
Now these clouts here mentioned which were not worth the taking up, but that
we find them in this text, are more to be esteemedthan the robes of Solomon

in all his royalty; yea, more valuable than the beauty of the lily, or any flower
of the field or garden, which did surpass all the royalty of Solomon. I may say
they are the pride of poverty, for I know not in what thing poverty may better
boastand glory than in the rags of Christ.
(Bishop Hacket.)
1. The strange condition of the mother, that she brought forth a Son, who by
nature was no bearer, for she was a virgin.
2. The strange condition of the Babe, the first-begottenSon of God was the
first-born Son of flesh and blood.
3. The strange condition of the place, that she laid Him in a manger.
4. The strange condition of men, that there was no room in the inn for Jesus
and Mary.
(Bishop Hacket.)
The Christ-child
C. Kingsley.
Mother and child! What more beautiful sight, and what more wonderful sight
is there in the world? What more beautiful? That man must be very far from
the Kingdom of God — he is not worthy to be calleda man at all — whose
heart has not been touched by the sight of his first child in its mother's bosom.
The greatestpainters who have ever lived have tried to paint the beauty of
that simple thing — a mother with her babe: and have failed. One of them,
Rafaelle by name, to whom God gave the spirit of beauty in a measure in
which He never gave it, perhaps, to any other man, tried again and again, for
years, painting over and over that simple subject — the mother and her babe
— and could not satisfy himself. Eachof his pictures is most beautiful — each
in a different way; and yet none of them is perfect. There is more beauty in
that simple everyday sight than he or any man could express by his pencil and
his colours. And as for the wonder of that sight I tell you this: That physicians,

and the wise men who look into the laws of nature, of flesh and blood, saythat
the mystery is past their finding out; that if they could find out the whole
meaning, and the true meaning of those two words, "mother" and "child,"
they could get the key to the deepestwonders of the world — but they cannot.
And philosophers who look into the laws of soul and spirit say the same. The
wisermen they are, the more they find in the soulof every new-born babe,
and its kindred to its mother, wonders and puzzles past man's understanding.
This then we are to think of — God revealed, and shown to men, as a babe
upon His mother's bosom. It was only in the Babe of Bethlehem that the whole
of God's charactershone forth, that men might not merely find Him and bow
before Him, but trust in Him and love Him, as one who could be touched with
the feeling of their infirmities. A God in need! a God weak!a God fed by
mortal woman! a God wrapt in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger! If
that sight will not touch our hearts, what will? God has been through the
pains of infancy, that He might take on Him not merely the nature of a man,
but all human nature, from the nature of the babe on its mother's bosom, to
the nature of the full-grown and full-souled man, fighting with all his powers
againstthe evil of the world. All this is His, and He is all; that no human
being, from the strongestto the weakest, fromthe oldestto the youngest, but
may be able to say, "WhatI am, Christ has been!"
(C. Kingsley.)
The Advent exalts human relations
W. Archer Butler.
Why was it that the Eternal Son, when He abandoned that "glory which He
had with the Father before the world was," and determined to be "the Man
Christ Jesus,"was pleasedto make His apparition on the scene of the world
even as others do; to be the infant and the child before He was the man; to be
subject to the filial obligation in the fulness of its legitimate extent; and to be
all this in a situation in which such ties were stripped of all that could
recommend them, apart from their own intrinsic value — a situation in which
wealth could not adorn, nor authority dignify them? Assuredly one prominent

reasonwas that, separating, by means so much more intelligible than
argumentative statements, whatwas essentiallyexcellentin human nature
from its depravations and corruptions, He might bestow a specialdignity
upon those primary connections of human life upon which the rest so mainly
depend, and in which the tenderer and better affections ofthe heart find, and
were meant by our Creatorto find, their peculiar sphere of exercise. Nothing
can more truly show that nature and revelation came from the same hand,
than the assumption into revelation of all that is innocent in nature. When
God, as Creatorof the world, bound togetherall the variety of human
connections by all the variety of corresponding affections, He wrought a work
destined for everlasting. Dispensations may change, but these things are not
meant to change. And thus it is that, when from the perusal of the New
Testamenta man descends into the charities of sociallife, things do not seem
changedin their position, but wonderfully beautified in their complexion; a
Diviner glow rests upon them and a holier sanctity. There is a change, but it is
a change that adorns without disturbing. It is as if a man who had lived in a
twilight world, where all was dimly revealedand coldly coloured, were
suddenly to be surprised with the splendour of a summer noon. Objects would
still remain, and relations be still unbroken; but new and lovely lights and
shadowings would coverthem: they would move in the same direction as
before, but under an atmosphere impregnated with brighter hues, and rich
with a light that streameddirect from heaven.
I. Then, by what means could this high result have been attained with such
force, directness, and certainty, as has been effectedin the adoption by our
God of those very connections? So far, you can perceive a strong reasonfor
the manner of Christ's incarnation — for His advent among us in the
simplicity of our ordinary manhood. You canperceive that it conferred an
inexpressible dignity upon the relation, above all others, of the mother and the
child.
II. I would add that of His designto exalt this as wellas the other natural
relations, to make them high and sacredelements in the religion He was about
to establish, a most lovely proof is insinuated in the constantemployment of
all these connections andfeelings to symbolize the eternal realities of the
spiritual world.

III. The passagebefore us speaks notmerely of the "first-born," but of her
who bore Him, and whose mysterious agonies were unsupported by the aids of
wealth and the appliances of luxury; who was rejectedwhenshe would have
given to the Immortal Infant the common comforts of that trying hour; and
who had to place among the beasts of the field, less insensate than man, the
"life of the world" thus castforth to die. How wondrous, how unfelt before or
since, the communion of that mother and that Son! With the full
remembrance of His supernatural descent, to sit at the same daily table for all
those long and untold years that preceded the public ministry of the great
prophet; to recognize in Him at once the babe of her bosomand the Godof
her immortality; to catch, ever and anon, those mystic echoes ofeternity
which the deeper tones of His converse wouldreveal, and to behold, plainer
and plainer, as He grew, the lineaments of the God impressedupon the
wondrous inmate of her humble home; surely these were experiences to
dignify that mother in our thoughts; yea, to give a glory and a hallowing to
maternity itself for ever.
IV. One point, above all others, added a peculiar interest to that wondrous
connection. The virgin and her Son stoodalone in the world! alone in the long
line of the human race!He, with whom she was so awfully, yet endearingly
connected, couldacknowledgeno earthly father, no author of His humanity,
but that overshadowing Spirit by whose mysterious operationHe had been
invested with our nature. In that awful hour of Bethlehemthere must have
mingled with the sorrows ofthe outcastVirgin the trembling joys of one who
knew herself the supernatural channel of the Hope of the human race. And
though she might own to the feebleness ofthe womanin that hour of trial, and
deplore amid the unworthy accompaniments of such a scene that "low estate"
of "the handmaid of the Lord" which had reduced her to them, yet as she
gazedupon that Eternal Child in whom was bound up the regenerationof
Israel, of the world, "her soul could magnify the Lord and her spirit rejoice in
God her Saviour."
(W. Archer Butler.)

The Saviour and the manger
M. Faber.
For ourselves Christmas Day is one of universal joy; for Jesus Christ's sake,
who as on this day was born, there is a loving sadness. His birth
overshadowedHis life. His very coming into the world was a heavy prophecy
of sorrow.
I. BORN A HELPLESS UNKNOWING BABE. Unable to do anything; He
was mockedin the hour of His Passion;as being weak and foolish; as one
unable to reply to Herod and to Pilate (Isaiah 53:7). The burden of our nature
was laid upon Him all through His earthly life, which was one long course of
sacrifice for others. The weak and suffering are often the workers ofthe
world.
II. BORN WITHOUT A DWELLING. "No room for Him in the inn"; whilst
living, no home for Him in Jerusalemor elsewhere (Matthew 8:20). In death
He had no tomb or sepulchre of His own. Quite possible to do a mighty work
for the world, and yet have no lot or portion in it.
III. BORN IN DARKNESS. Justafter midnight; died in darkness "overthe
whole land," just after midday. The Light of the world came into it at dark, to
make it bright with His presence, which presence being takenaway, left it
dark again. Type of a soul once enlightened, fallen awayinto the darkness of
sin (Matthew 6:23).
IV. BORN ON A HARD COUCH. Born in a stable, laid in a manger, He died
extended and reposing upon the bitter couch of the cross. A birth, life, and
death in hardship. This world a schoolof discipline to holy souls.
V. BORN BETWEEN TWO ANIMALS. The ox and the ass were with Him at
His birth. He was compelledto breathe out His soulbetween two thieves, and
during His life He receivedsinners. Conclusion:Every life repeats itself.
Marvellous concordbetweenJesus Christ the Child and Jesus Christ the
Man, the manger and the cross, the beginning and the end.
(M. Faber.)

There was no room for them in the inn.
No room for Christ in the inn
C. H. Spurgeon.
I. There were OTHER REASONS WHY CHRIST SHOULD BE LAID IN
THE MANGER.
1. It was intended thus to show forth His humiliation. Would it not have been
inappropriate that the Redeemerwho was to be buried in a borrowedtomb
should be born anywhere but in the humblest shed, and housed anywhere but
in the most ignoble manner? The manger and the cross, standing at the two
extremities of the Saviour's earthly life, seemmost fit and congruous the one
to the other.
2. By being in a manger He was declaredto be the king of the poor. In the eyes
of the poor, imperial robes excite no affection, but a man in their own garb
attracts their confidence. Greatcommanders have readily won the hearts of
their soldiers by snaring their hardships and roughing it as if they belongedto
the ranks.
3. Further, in being thus laid in a manger, He did, as it were, give an invitation
to the most humble to come to Him. We might tremble to approacha throne,
but we cannot fear to approacha manger.
4. Methinks there was yet anothermystery. This place was free to all. Christ
was born in the stable of the inn to show how free He is to all comers. Class
distinctions are unknown here, and the prerogatives ofcaste are not
acknowledged, No forms of etiquette are required in entering a stable;it
cannot be an offence to enter the stable of a public caravanserai.So, if you
desire to come to Christ, you may come to Him just as you are; you may come
now.
5. It was at the manger that the beasts were fed; and does the Saviour lie
where weary beasts receive their provender, and shall there not be a mystery
here? Alas, there are some men who have become so brutal through sin, so

utterly depraved by their lusts, that to their own conscienceseverything
manlike has departed; but even to such the remedies of Jesus, the Great
Physician, will apply. Even beastlike men may come to Christ, and live.
6. But as Christ was laid where beasts were fed, you will recollectthat after
He was gone beasts fed there again. It was only His presence whichcould
glorify the manger, and here we learn that if Christ were taken awaythe
world would go back to its former heathen darkness. Christianity itself would
die out, at leastthat part of it which really civilizes man, if the religion of
Jesus couldbe extinguished.
II. THERE WERE OTHER PLACES BESIDES THE INN WHICH HAD NO
ROOM FOR JESUS.
1. The palaces ofemperors and the halls of kings afforded the Royal Stranger
no refuge.
2. But there were senators, there were forums of political discussion, there
were the places where the representatives ofthe people make the laws, was
there no room for Christ there? Alas I none.
3. How little room there is for Him in what is calledgoodsociety. There is
room there for all the silly little forms by which men choose to trammel
themselves;room for frivolous conversation;room for the adorationof the
body; there is room for the setting up of this and that as the idol of the hour,
but there is too little room for Christ, and it is far from fashionable to follow
the Lord fully.
4. How little room for Him on the exchange.
5. How little room for Him in the schools ofthe philosophers.
6. How little room has He found even in the Church. Go where ye will, there is
no space for the Prince of Peace but with the humble and contrite spirits
which by grace He prepares to yield Him shelter.
III. THE INN ITSELF HAD NO ROOM FOR HIM. This was the main reason
why He must be laid in a manger.

1. The inn represents public opinion. In this free land, men speak of what they
like, and there is a public opinion upon every subject; and you know there is
free tolerationin this country to everything-permit me to say, toleration to
everything but Christ.
2. The inn also represents generalconversation. Speechis very free in this
land, but ah! how little room is there for Christ in generaltalk.
3. As for the inns of modern times — who would think of finding Christ
there?
IV. HAVE YOU ROOM FOR CHRIST?
V. If you have room for Christ, then THE WORLD HAS NO ROOM FOR
YOU. It had no room for Josephor Mary, any more than for the Babe. Who
are His father, and mother, and sister, and brother, but those who receive His
word and keepit? So, as there was no room for the BlessedVirgin, nor for the
reputed father, remember there is no room in this world for any true follower
of Christ.
1. No room for you to take your ease.
2. No room for you to sit down contented with your own attainments.
3. No room for you to hide your treasure in.
4. No room for you to put your confidence.
5. Hardly room of sufferance. You must expect to be laughed at, and to wear
the fool's capin men's esteem. Will you enlist on such terms? Will you give
room for Christ, when there is henceforth no room for you?
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ outside of the inn
T. C. Finlayson.

1. This was partly the result of ignorance. Had they known He was the
Messiah, doubtless they would have acted otherwise.
2. But partly also the result of selfishness.Had there been more of a generous
humanity in their hearts, some fitter place would have been found for Mary
and her child.
I. We may take this inn as AN EMBLEM OF THE UNGODLY WORLD.
What is the essentialdistinction betweenan inn and a home? In the one, as in
the other, a number of individuals dwell together, but "home" involves the
idea of vital unity — common life, feeling, experience. In an inn no mutual
fellowship; eachthinks only of his own interests. When Christ was born, the
Roman Empire was just one huge inn, with no realcohesion, no vital unity,
amongstthe various provinces. Into this world of aggregatedinterests Christ
came;and there was no room for Him. Even the Jewishnation, to whom more
especiallyHe came, was split up into sects andparties, eachpursuing its own
objects, although living under the same roof of a common history and a
common religion; and so, when He came unto His own, they receivedHim not.
Is it not the same in the world now?
II. AN EMBLEM OF MANY AN UNCHRISTIAN HOUSEHOLD. Many a
household does not at all realize the idea of a "home." Its members cat and
sleepunder the same roof; but this is more like an arrangementof temporary
necessitythan of loving choice. Theyneed Christ as a bond of union; but they
do not feel their need of Him, and so for Him they have no room.
III. AN EMBLEM OF THE WORLDLY HEART. It might be thought the
very spirit of selfishness would impart unity to the worldling's nature. But no,
for while his desires are imperious, they are often mutually conflicting. He
needs a governing principle — Christ dwelling in the heart.
(T. C. Finlayson.)
Roomin the soul for Christ
C. H. Spurgeon.

As the palace, and the forum, and the inn, have no room for Christ, and as the
places of public resort have none, have you room for Christ? "Well," says
one, "I have room for Him, but I am not worthy that He should come to me."
Ah! I did not ask about worthiness;have you room for Him? "Oh," says one,
"I have an empty void the world can never fill!" Ah! I see you have room for
Him. "Oh! but the room I have in my heart is so base!" So was the manger.
"But it is so despicable!" So was the mangera thing to be despised. "Ah! but
my heart is so foul!" So, perhaps, the manger may have been. "Oh I but I feel
it is a place not at all fit for Christ!" Nor was the mangera place fit for Him,
and yet there was He laid. "Oh! but I have been such a sinner; I feelas if my
heart had been a den of beasts and devils!" Well, the manger had been a place
where beasts had fed. Have you room for Him? Nevermind what the past has
been; He canforget and forgive. It mattereth not what even the present state
may be if thou mournest it. If thou hast but room for Christ He will come and
be thy guest. Do not say, I pray you, "I hope I shall have room for Him;" the
time is come that He shall be born; Mary cannot wait months and years. Oh!
sinner, if thou hast room for Him let Him be born in thy soul to-day: "To-day
if ye will hear His voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation." "To-
day is the acceptedtime; to-day is the day of salvation." Roomfor Jesus!
Roomfor Jesus now!"Oh!" saith one, "I have room for Him, but will He
come?" Will He come indeed! Do you but set the door of your heart open, do
but say, "Jesus, Master, allunworthy and unclean I look to thee; come, lodge
within my heart," and He will come to thee, and He will cleanse the manger of
thy heart, nay, will transform it into a golden throne, and there He will sit and
reign for ever and for ever. My Masterwants room! Room for Him! Roomfor
Him! I, His herald, cry aloud, Room for the Saviour! Room!Here is my royal
Master— have you room for Him? Here is the Sonof Godmade flesh — have
you room for Him? Here is He who can forgive all sin — have you room for
Him? There is He who can take you up out of the horrible pit and out of the
miry clay — have you room for Him? Here is He who, when He cometh in,
will never go out again, but abide with you for ever to make your heart a
heaven of joy and bliss for you — have you room for Him? 'Tis all I ask. Your
emptiness, your nothingness, your want of feeling, your want of goodness,
your want of grace — all these will be but room for Him Have you room for

Him? Oh! Spirit of God, lead many to say, "Yes, my heart is ready." Ah! then
He will come and dwell with you.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ waiting for room
Horace Bushnell, DD.
Were a man to enter some greatcathedralof the old continent, survey the
vaulted arches and the goldentracery above, wander among the forests of
pillars on which they rest, listen to the music of choirs, and catchthe softened
light that streams through saintedforms and histories on the windows,
observe the company of priests, gorgeouslyarrayed, chanting, kneeling,
crossing themselves, andwheeling in long processions before the greataltar
loaded with goldand gems; were he to look into the long tiers of side chapels,
eacha gorgeous temple, with an altar of its own for its princely family,
adorned with costliestmosaics, andsurrounded, in the niches of the walls,
with statues and monumental groups of dead ancestorsm the highest forms of
art, noting also the living princes at their worship there among their
patriarchs and brothers in stone — spectatorof a scene so imposing, what but
this will his thought be: "Surely the Infant of the manger has at last found
room, and come to be entertained among men with a magnificence worthy of
His dignity "But if he looks again, and looks a little farther in — far enough in
to see the miserable pride of self and powerthat lurks under this gorgeous
show, the mean ideas of Christ, the superstitions held instead of Him, the
bigotry, the hatred of the poor, the dismal corruption of life — with how deep
a sigh of disappointment will he confess:"Alas, the manger was better and a
more royal honour!"
(Horace Bushnell, DD.)
Roomin the heart for Christ
Bishop Hacket.

Christ was straitenedfor room in the inn, and thrust into the stable, that you
might open your heart wide, and enlarge it, to give him a habitation to content
Him. First, beloved, periculosum est inter delicius poni; 'tis full of peril to rest
among pleasures and delights; it is better to go to the house of mourning than
to the house of feasting (Ecclesiastes7:2). Adam had his habitation among the
sweetsavours and most delightful recreations ofthe garden of Eden; his
senses were so filled with objects of pleasures, that he forgotthe Lord:
therefore Jesus Christ, the secondAdam, who came to restore all that was
lost, pitched upon the worstcorner of the house, where there were no delights
at all to move temptation. King's houses, and well furnished mansions have
their occasions oflewdness, but she laid her Son in a manger. Learn from
hence to condescendunto the humility of Christ if you mean to ascendunto
His glory; for as the custom of those regions was, this manger was a vault cut
out of a rock, as low a place as He could castHimself into; but no man
projects so wisely to raise up, mighty building as he that lays a low
foundation. It is reported of Sextus Quintus, how he was so far from shame
that he was born in a poor cottage, thathe would sport with his own fortune,
and sayhe was born in a bright resplendent family, because the sun lookedin
at every cranny of the house;it is not the meanness of the place that can justly
turn to any man's scorn, nor doth a magnificent palace build up any man's
reputation. Holofernes had a costlytent to coverhim, and yet was never the
honester;and it was a pretty objection of Plutarch's againstthe vain
consumption of costupon the decking of our houses. What do we mean, says
he, to be at such costto deck our chambers? Why will we pay so dear for our
sleep, when God, if you please, hath given you that for nothing? the slenderest
place served our Saviour to coverHis head, "she laid Him in a manger."
(Bishop Hacket.)
Christ seeksentrance into the heart
Horace Bushnell, D. D.
Why, since Christianity undertakes to convert the world, does it seemto
almost or quite fail in the slow progress it makes? Because,I answer, Christ

gets no room, as yet, to work, and be the fire in men's hearts He is able to be.
We undertake for Him as by statecraftand churchcraft and priestcraft. We
raise monasteries for Him in one age, military crusades in another. Raymond
Lull, representing a large class ofteachers, under. took to make the gospelso
logicalthat he could bring down all men of all nations, without a
peradventure, before it. Some in our day are going to carry everything by
steam-ships and commerce;some by science and the schooling of heathen
children; some by preaching agents adequately backedby missionary boards;
some by tracts and books. Butthe work, howeverfitly ordered as respects the
machinery, lingers, and will and must linger, till Christ gets room to be a
more complete inspiration in His followers. Theygave Him the stable when
they ought to be giving Him the inn, put Him in the lot of weakness,keepHim
back from His victories, shut Him down under the world, making His gospel,
thus, such a secondary, doubtfully realaffair, that it has to be always debating
in the evidences;instead of being its own evidence, and marching forward in
its own mighty powerAnd yet Christ has a patience large enough to bear us
still; for He carne to bear even our sin, and He will not start from His burden,
even if He should not be soonthrough with it. All the soonerought we to come
to the heart so long and patiently grieving for us. Be it ours to make room for
Him, and to stretchourselves to the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ.
(Horace Bushnell, D. D.)
Shutting out Jesus
Henry Wright, M. A.
Unless the Holy Spirit has been really given, these are the words which we
may see written up here, and there, and everywhere — even in this
professedlyChristian land — "No room for Jesus here!" You can scarcely
find an inn literally — a hotel, a public-house, or a beer-shop — where these
words are not too plainly written up "No room for Jesus here." Theyare
written, too, over the doors of how many so-calledplaces ofamusement —
theatres, ball-rooms, and such like: "No room for Jesus here!" But not only

so;over how many places ofbusiness are there these same words! In how
many private houses — drawing-rooms, dining-rooms, parlours, and kitchens
— may we look up and see the same sad words — "No room for Jesus here!"
And written on all these why? "Who dares," you say, "to write such words?"
They write them — every one writes them, whereverhe goes,who has an
unchanged heart; for upon every heart that is not changed — whether it beats
in the bosomof a prince or a peasant, of a professing Christian or a professing
heathen — the same sad, solemn words are written deep — "No room for
Jesus here!"
(Henry Wright, M. A.)
Christ found in lowly places
Canon S. Reynolds Hole.
And very like this world was that inn. Roomand smiling welcome forthe rich
and the reveller: no room for the heavy-laden and the poor. And very like —
because that which we see without in others we can find within ourselves, if we
look — is our own heart unto that inn. Room, ample room, for pride and
display, luxury and indolence:no room for humility and meekness, self-denial
and holy work. Yet, as surely as Christ was born, nigh upon 2,000 years ago,
in a manger, so is He born now in lowly homes and hearts. Does not your own
experience correspondwith this? Have you not found Christ in poverty rather
than in plenteousness, in suffering rather than in merriment, in solitude
rather than in multitudes, in the stable rather than the inn? When have you
prayed most vehemently? When have you seemedto know most clearly that
you had a soulwhich could never die, though the body might be buried in a
week? it has been, when you have been sent awayfrom the din and excitement
of the world, to the lonely, silent places of affliction; affliction in others, or in
yourself, alike meant to lead us unto Christ. To be always in the inn, always
and altogetherin the uproar, and heat, and enjoyment of the world; that
would be death to us as Christians, death to our spiritual life.
(Canon S. Reynolds Hole.)

The disownedSaviour
R H. Howard.
You are all familiar, perhaps, with the story of Ulysses, the greatGreek
warrior, king of the island of Ithaca, and one of the most illustrious heroes of
the Trojanwar. After an absence from his home for twenty years — years
consumed in wars and wanderings — he returned to his island empire to find
his palace besetby a circle of gay young lords, who were not only consuming
his substance and wasting his resources in riotous living, but were adding
insult to injury, on the one hand by usurping the reins of power in his
dominions, and on the other by their infamous proposals, or, at least, by
mutually vying for the hand of his belovedand longsuffering Penelope.
Wisely, he did not at once make himself known. Had he done so, it might have
costhim his life. Nay, doubtless, had he promptly revealedhimself in his own
proper character, these gracelesssuitors would not have hesitatedinstantly to
put him out of his own house — incontinently and unceremoniouslyto order
him off his own premises and out of his own kingdom. More likely still, they
would have taken measures effectuallyto compass his death. Do you saythat
that was pretty rough treatment? I agree with you; and yet it was not more so
than that which, eighteenhundred years ago, was accordedto the Sonof Man.
When the Saviour of men came into this world, His own world, the world He
had made with His own hands and was about to redeem with His own blood,
there was yet found in it no room for Himself. No room! Hustled out of the inn
where others found accommodation, the Divine Son of Mary and of Godwas
left to creepinto the world, as it were, through a back door — to be ushered
into His earthly existence surrounded only by the wondering beasts of the
stall.
(R H. Howard.)
Christ waiting to find room
H. Bushnell, D. D.

On the birth and birthplace of Jesus there is something beautifully
correspondentwith His personal fortunes afterwards, and also with the
fortunes of His gospel, evendown to our own age and time. He comes into the
world as it were to the taxing, and there is scantroom for Him even at that.
My subjectis the very impressive factthat Jesus could not find room in the
world, and has never yet been able to find it.
I. SEE HOW IT WAS WITH HIM IN HIS LIFE. Herod's massacre of
innocents; parents unable to understand Him, to take in conceptionof His
Divine childhood; John the Baptist growing doubtful, and sending to inquire
whether He is really the Christ; Rabbis with no room in their little theologies
for His doctrine; His own disciples getting but slenderestconceptionof His
person and mission from His very explicit teachings.
II. So IF WE SPEAK OF CHRISTENDOM, it might seemas if Christ had
certainly gotten room, so far, to enter and be glorified in human society.
But(a)what multitudes of outlying populations are there that have never
heard of Him. And(b) of the states and populations that acknowledgeHim,
how little of Christ, take them altogether, canthere be said to be really in
them?
III. To take a closerinspection. GREAT MULTITUDES UTTERLYREJECT
HIM, AND STAY FAST IN THEIR SINS. They have no time to be religious,
or the sacrificesare too great; some too poor, others too rich. Some too much
honoured, and some too much want to be. Some in their pleasures, some in
their expectations. Some too young, some too old, &c. The greatworld thus
under sin, even that part of it which is calledChristian, is very much like the
inn at Bethlehem, preoccupied, crowdedfull in every part, so that, as the
mother of Jesus lookedup wistfully to the guest-chambers that cold night,
drawing her Holy Thing to her bosom, in like manner Jesus Himself stands at
the door of these multitudes, knocking vainly, till His head is filled with dew,
and His locks are wet with the drops of the night.
IV. CHURCHCRAFT MEANTIME HAS BEEN QUITE AS NARROW,
QUITE AS SORE A LIMITATION AS STATECRAFT.

V. AND THE ATTEMPTEDWORKOF SCIENCE,CALLING ITSELF
THEOLOGY, IS SCARCELYMORE EQUAL TO ITS THEME.
VI. But the most remarkable thing is that, when the old miser dogma of a
bigot age and habit give way, and emancipatedsouls begin to look for a new
Christianity and a broader, worthier faith, just then everything greatin the
gospelvanishes more strangelythan before. Faith becomes mere opinion, love
a natural sentiment, piety itself a blossomon the wild stock ofnature. Jesus,
the Everlasting Word, dwindles to a mere man. The Holy Spirit is made to be
very nearly identical with the laws of the soul. The new Christianity, the more
liberal, more advanced belief, turns out to be a discoverythat we are living in
nature just as nature makes us live. Salvation there is none; nothing is left for
a gospelbut development, with a little human help from the excellentPerson,
Jesus. Is it not time that Christ cur Mastershould begin to be more fitly
representedby His people. Be it yours, then, to make room for Him, even
according to the greatness ofHis power — length, breadth, depth, height.
(H. Bushnell, D. D.)
A fit nursery for the Holy Child
E. A. Lawrence.
We try to realize the scene and situation of which the text tells us; and we feel
that the stable and the manger were not a fit nursery and cradle for the Holy
Child. The best house in Bethlehem, and the fairestchamber in it, would have
been honoured by that wondrous birth And pious fancy, offended at the lowly
birthplace of the Lord, has constructedlegends in the hope to hide its shame.
They say that the cave in which the Virgin restedglowedwith a glorious light
as soonas she entered it, and that this light, excelling the brightness of the
sun, remained within the cave as long as she was there. We share the feeling
out of which such legend grew. And yet, while lamenting that, through want of
room, the Saviour should have been born in such a lowly place, it may be that
we are not giving Him the bestaccommodationthat we can. For want of room
He may be pushed awayinto some coldcorner of our hearts, and to some

small apartment of our thoughts. Even in our worship He has often less room
than He claims. There is not a precious thing we have that does not owe some
of its preciousnessto Him. Our lives would be sad indeed, and all our
merriment would be but a surface thing, like a hollow laugh or ghastlysmile,
that seeksto hide our inward wretchedness, were it not for those bright hopes
that Christ has enabled us to cherish. If we trace them back to their source we
shall find them all in Him. Let us find room for Him then amid all the
gladness ofthis seasonandall the pleasures of this day.
(E. A. Lawrence.)
A fit prelude to a life of poverty, humiliation, and sacrifice
Dr. Parker., Anon, R. Southwell.
By a vision of the night God could have prepared the keeperof the inn for the
receptionof the world's Saviour; by a messageconveyedby angelic lips He
could have commanded the most sumptuous welcome whichearth's palaces
could afford; He who createdthe beauties which smiled on the bosomof
paradise could have called into existence a garden blooming with flowers
which never gracedprimeval Eden, and amid its blushing charms the "Rose
of Sharon" might have budded. But no! In God's estimation, what difference
is there betweena palace and a manger? WhateverChrist touched He
dignified. The king, untouched by Christ, is blind and miserable and naked.
The pauper in whose heartChrist abides is gifted with loftiestdignity. Christ
shed a glory round that Easternstable. Had infant Caesars pillowedtheir
heads in the manger it would have been a mangerstill; but Christ having
found a cradle there, the manger is henceforth distinguished by such a glory
as never shone on the palaces ofkings.
(Dr. Parker.)
NO ROOM FOR JESUS.
He was cradled in a manger;
His own angels sung the hymn

Of rejoicing at His coming,
Yet there was no room for Him.
Oh, my brothers, are we wiser,
Are we better now than they
Have we any room for Jesus
In the life we live to-day?
(Anon)
Not much room for our Lord Jesus
Has there been, or will there be;
Roomfor Pilate and for Herod —
Not for Him of Calvary.
Roomfor pleasures — doors wide open,
And for business, — but for Him
Only here and there a manger,
Like to that at Bethlehem.
NEW PRINCE, NEW POMP.
The inns are full; no man will yield
This little pilgrim bed;
But forcedHe is with silly beasts
In crib to shroud His head.
Despise Him not for lying there
First what He is inquire:
An Orient pearl is often found

In depth of dirty mire.
Weigh not His crib, His woodendish,
Nor beasts that by Him feed;
Weigh not His mother's poor attire,
Nor Joseph's simple weed.
This stable is a prince's court,
The crib His chair of state;
The beasts are parcelof His pomp,
The woodendish His plate.
The persons in that poor attire
His royal liveries wear;
The Prince Himself is come from heaven:
This pomp is praised there.
With joy approach, O Christian wight
Do homage to thy King;
And highly praise this humble pomp
Which He from heaven doth bring.
(R. Southwell.)
No room for Christ
Dr. Talmage.
That night in Bethlehem, if Josephhad gone to some house and made them
thoroughly understand that the Lord of Glory was about to be born in that

village, they would have said, "Here is the best room in our house. Come in;
come in. Occupy everything." But when Josephaskedatthis house and that
house and the other house, they said, "No room on the floor, no room on the
lounge, no room for Christ." Ah! that has been the trouble in all the ages. The
world has never had room for Him. No room in the heart, for here are all the
gains and the emoluments of the world that are coming up to be enrolled, and
they must find entertainment and lodging. Every passionfull. Every desire
full. Every capacityof body, mind, and soul full. No room for Christ. Room
for all unholy aspirations, roomfor self-seeking, roomfor pride, room for
Satan, room for all the concertedpassions ofdarkness, but no room for Jesus.
I go into a beautiful store. I find its shelves crowdedwith goods, and the
counter crowded, and the floor crowded. It is crowdedeven to the ceiling.
They have left just room enoughin that store for commercialmen, for
bargain-makers, forthose who come to engage in greatmercantile
undertakings, but no room in that store for Christ. I go into a house. It is a
beautiful home. I am glad to see all those beautiful surroundings. I am glad to
see that the very best looms wove those carpets, and the best manufactory
turned out those musical instruments. There is no gospelagainstall that. But I
find no Christ in that household. Room for the glovedand the robed; room for
satin sandals and diamond head-gear;room for gracefulstep, and obsequious
bow, and the dancing up and down of quick feet; room for all light, and all
mirth, and all music; but — hear it, O thou Khan of Bethlehem — hear it, you
angels who carolledfor the shepherds in Bethlehem — no room in that house
for Christ! No room in the nursery, for the children are not taught to pray; no
room in the dining-hall, for no blessing is askedonthe food; no room in the
sleeping apartment, for God's protection is not askedforthe night. Jesus
comes, and He retorts. He says, "I come to this world, and I find it has no
room for Me; but I have room for it. Roomin My heart — it beats in
sympathy with all their sorrows. Roomin My Church —I bought it with My
blood. Roomin heaven. Roomin the anthem that never dies. Roomin the
banner procession. Roomin the joys eternal. Room in the doxologies before
the throne. Roomfor ever."
(Dr. Talmage.)

A night in a Syrian inn
Rogers.
I found the house consistedof only one very lofty room, about eighteen feet
square. Just within the door a donkey and a yoke of oxen stood; and I soon
perceivedthat rather more than one-third of the room was setapart for cattle,
where the floor, which was on a level with the street, was of earth, and
partially strewn with fodder. Suddenly the idea entered my mind that it must
have been in such a house as this that Christ was born. I imagined Joseph
anxiously seeking restand shelterfor Mary after her long journey. All the
guest-chambers were alreadyfilled. The raisedfloor was crowdedwith
strangers who had, like them, come to be taxed. But Josephand Mary may
have takenrefuge from the cold in the lowerpart of the room. The manger
was very likely close by Mary's side, hollowedout at the edge of the dais, and
filled with soft winter fodder. I raisedmy head and lookedat one of the
mangers, and I felt how natural it was to use it as a cradle for a newly-born
infant. Its size, its shape, its softbed of fodder, its nearness to the warm fire
always burning on the dais in mid-winter, would immediately suggestthe idea
to an Easternmother.
(Rogers.)
No room for Jesus
C. F. Deems, D. D.
Before you utterly damn this unnamed Jewishinn-keeper and his seemingly
unfeeling guests, pray be reasonable, andconsiderthree things in
abatement.(1)That you bring to the judgment a culture in the humanities
which you owe entirely to this Jesus, who had not yet been born; and(2) that
the inn-keeperhad reasons forhis conduct quite as valid as those which are
perpetually allowedamong men; and(3) that towards this very same Jesus you
and I have behaved much worse than did these people whom we are so
forward to denounce.

I. As to the first. MEN ARE GENERALLY GUILTY OF HOLDING THEIR
FELLOWS TO ACCOUNT FOR A MEASURE OF LIGHT AND CULTURE
WHICH THOSE FELLOW-MEN DO NOT POSSESS, BUT WHICH THEIR
JUDGES DO.
II. But as to the second — LET US SEE WHAT REASONS PROBABLY
INFLUENCED THE INN-KEEPER, AND WHETHER THE MASS OF
MANKIND WOULD NOT THINK THOSE REASONS QUITE VALID.
1. He turned them off because they were not known. It is a busy time. The
imperial edict for the enrolment of the provinces is bringing multitudes from
the country to town. At this juncture two unknown people present themselves.
One is a young woman. Her condition betrays itself. Who are they? The inn-
keeperdoes not know them. Now, under the circumstances, wouldnot such a
receptionas they receivedin Bethlehem be awardedto persons in similar
condition at a majority of houses in Christendom on any Christmas Day?
2. Their appearance and the condition of their luggage were againstthem.
You know what is meant by a "carpet-bag", onone hand, and on the other by
a "Saratogatrunk" and what a bid for attention a man makes by his luggage.
Little did Josephand Mary have. The inn-keeper had his regular customers.
They were substantial citizens from the neighbouring country. To bring in
two strangers for a night might be to drive off a dozen good, responsible
customers for ever. Foryou must mark that the real glory of Mary and Jesus
was unknown to this tavern-keeper, and was really unsuspected.
3. They were poor and could not pay. It would have greatlyincreasedthe bill
of a rich couple who should have demanded the turning of a guest from his
apartments to make way for themselves in an emergency.
III. Now in the third case, afteryou have consideredthe difference made in
our culture by the blessedJesus, and all the reasons whichthe inn-keeperhad
for turning Mary into the stable because he had no room for her and Jesus in
the inn, before you pronounce sentence, make some little examination into the
question whether we have not treated Jesus worse thanHe was treatedin
Bethlehem. The decisionof that question will obviously much depend upon
the space in our hearts and lives which Jesus is allowedby us to occupy. Are

there not some of us who never permit Him to come upon our premises? So
present is He everywhere among men by the powerof His principles and His
Spirit, that it is not possible to exclude Him utterly, and yet, so far as our
responsibility is concerned, we do keepHim out to the whole extent of our
failure to give Him a welcome to our thoughts, to our affections, and to our
activities. Does He have ample welcome to all these departments of our
existence? DoesHe have the chief place in our thoughts — the best place in
our love — the largestplace in our work? Is He welcomedand honoured?
1. Jesus is kept out of your heart because you do not know Him. Your
ignorance is wilful. Recollectthat He does not come unborn to you, as He did
to the inn-keeper in Bethlehem. He comes to you with all His history of growth
and beauty, of truth and activity, of self-denial and suffering, of love and
power. The innkeeperof Bethlehemwill rise up in the Judgment with many
men of this generationand condemn them — because he turned awayan
unaccreditedwoman, and you reject the acknowledgedLord of Glory.
2. And you have the inn-keeper's secondreason:it will drive other guests
away. Perhaps it would turn other guests out of your heart, perhaps not. If
any depart because Jesus came, youought to be glad of their departure. Here
is a whole room full of the members of the large family of the Pleasures. They
are many, and they are exacting. They take large space, forthey live widely.
Many of them are most deceptive, having stolenthe garb and imitated the
manners of the most reputable and solid Enjoyments. These latter are the
most pleasantand among the most respectable guests thatthe heart can
entertain. They will stay with Jesus,.while those wild and giddy and profitless
things you call Pleasures wouldbetter have no place in your affections. You
were not born to be amused, but to be disciplined. And there is Business,
taking up almost all your heart and head, and crowding you, and calling you,
and bothering you, until you are so nervous that you can hardly eat or sleep.
Roomfor darkness, and no room for light; room for foulness, and no room for
purity; room for death, but no room for life! Every story from attic to
basementcrowded, and Jesus turned out into the stable!
3. But the inn-keeper sent Mary to the stable because it would not be
remunerative to entertain her in his house. He would have been compelled to

turn out some well-knownand liberally-paying guests. You know Him to be a
Prince, for whose sakeeveryreasonable man would think it quite the proper
thing to dismiss any other guest. Does not "pay" to entertain Jesus!Did you
ever know a man who took Jesus into his intellect, and workedup his studies
under that Great Master, and not grow in profoundness of thought and width
of range of intellectual vision? Did you ever know an artist give Jesus a
lodging, and not thereby have all his aesthetic nature quickened and purified
and brightened? Did you ever know any man to conduct any business for
Jesus, permeating his life with the Spirit of Jesus, basing his plans on the
principles taught by Jesus, and laying every profitable income of his trade as a
tribute at the feet of Jesus, who did not thrive and increase andhave
happiness along the whole line of his business career? Is He going away? It
may be that your years are drawing to a close. Has He grown wearyof your
insulting dismissals? Stop!Lord Jesus Christ!O Sonof Mary, stop! Do not
leave such of the readers of this page as have said to Thee, "No room!" It
must not be. I seemto hear these busy men in future knocking passionately
and desperatelyat the gate of mercy, but without love of Jesus, and out of the
solemn profoundness of eternity there comes the crushing echo, "No room!"
And conscienceshrieks to them, "No room! No room among the crowns and
songs and glories of heaven for the hearts that had no room for Jesus!"
(C. F. Deems, D. D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(7) She brought forth her first-born son.—Onthe question whether anything
may be inferred from the word “first-born,” as to the subsequent life of Mary
and Joseph, see Note onMatthew 1:25.

Wrapped him in swaddling clothes.—Afterthe manner of the East, then, as
now, these were fastenedtightly round the whole body of the child, confining
both legs and arms.
Laid him in a manger.—A tradition found in the Apocryphal Gospelof the
Infancy fixes a cave near Bethlehemas the scene of the Nativity, and Justin
Martyr finds in this a fulfilment of the LXX. version of Isaiah33:16, “His
place of defence shall be in a lofty cave.” Cavesin the limestone rocks of
Judæa were so often used as stables, that there is nothing improbable in the
tradition. The presentChurch of the Nativity has beneath it a natural crypt or
cavern, in which St. Jerome is said to have passedmany years, compiling his
Latin translation (that known as the Vulgate) of the SacredScriptures. The
traditional ox and ass, whichappear in well-nigh every stage ofChristian art
in pictures of the Nativity, are probably traceable to a fanciful interpretation
of Isaiah 1:3, which is, indeed, cited in the Apocryphal Gospelascribedto St.
Matthew, as being thus fulfilled.
There was no room for them in the inn.—The statement implies that the town
was crowdedwith persons who had come up to be registeredthere—some,
perhaps, exulting, like Joseph, in their descentfrom David. The inn of
Bethlehem—whatin modern Easterntravel is known as a khan or
caravanserai,as distinct from a hostelry (the “inn” of Luke 10:34)—offered
the shelterof its walls and roofs, and that only. It had a memorable history of
its own, being named in Jeremiah41:17, as the “inn of Chimham,” the place
of rendezvous from which travellers started on their journey to Egypt. It was
so called after the son of Barzillai, whom David seems to have treated as an
adopted son (2Samuel19:37-38), and was probably built by him in his
patron’s city as a testimony of his gratitude.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
2:1-7 The fulness of time was now come, when God would send forth his Son,
made of a woman, and made under the law. The circumstances ofhis birth
were very mean. Christ was born at an inn; he came into the world to sojourn
here for awhile, as at an inn, and to teachus to do likewise. We are become by

sin like an outcastinfant, helpless and forlorn; and such a one was Christ. He
well knew how unwilling we are to be meanly lodged, clothed, or fed; how we
desire to have our children decoratedand indulged; how apt the poor are to
envy the rich, and how prone the rich to disdain the poor. But when we by
faith view the Sonof Godbeing made man and lying in a manger, our vanity,
ambition, and envy are checked. We cannot, with this objectrightly before us,
seek greatthings for ourselves or our children.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Her first-born son - Whether Mary had any other children or not has been a
matter of controversy. The obvious meaning of the Bible is that she had; and
if this be the case, the word "firstborn" is here to be takenin its common
signification.
Swaddling clothes - When a child among the Hebrews was born, it was
washedin water, rubbed in salt, and then wrapped in swaddling clothes;that
is, not garments regularly made, as with us, but bands or blankets that
confined the limbs closely, Ezekiel16:4. There was nothing specialin the
manner in which the infant Jesus was treated.
Laid him in a manger - The word rendered "inn" in this verse means simply a
place of halting, a lodging-place;in modern terms, a khan or caravanserai
(Robinson's "BiblicalResearchin Palestine," iii. 431). The word rendered
"manger" means simply a crib or place where cattle were fed. "Inns," in our
sense ofthe term, were anciently unknown in the East, and now they are not
common. Hospitality was generallypracticed, so that a traveler had little
difficulty in obtaining shelter and food when necessary. As traveling became
more frequent, however, khans or caravanseraiswere erectedforpublic use -
large structures where the traveler might freely repair and find lodging for
himself and his beast, he himself providing foodand forage. Many such khans
were placed at regular intervals in Persia. To such a place it was, though
already crowded, that Josephand Mary resortedat Bethlehem. Instead of
finding a place in the "inn," or the part of the caravanseraiwhere the
travelers themselves found a place of repose, they were obliged to be

contentedin one of the stalls or recessesappropriatedto the beasts on which
they rode.
The following description of an Easterninn or caravanserai, by Dr. Kitto, will
well illustrate this passage:"It presents an external appearance which
suggeststo a European traveler the idea of a fortress, being an extensive
square pile of strong and lofty walls, mostly of brick upon a basementof
stone, with a grand archwayentrance. This leads ...to a large open area, with
a well in the middle, and surrounded on three or four sides with a kind of
piazza raised upon a platform 3 or 4 feethigh, in the wall behind which are
small doors leading to the cells or oblong chambers which form the lodgings.
The cell, with the space onthe platform in front of it, forms the domain of
eachindividual traveler, where he is completely secluded, as the apparent
piazza is not open, but is composedof the front arches of eachcompartment.
There is, however, in the centerof one or more of the sides a large arched hall
quite open in front ... The cells are completelyunfurnished, and have
generallyno light but from the door, and the traveler is generallyseenin the
recess in front of his apartment except during the heat of the day ... Many of
these caravanseraishave no stables, the cattle of the travelers being
accommodatedin the open area;but in the more complete establishments
...there are ...spaciousstables,formed of coveredavenues extending between
the back wall of the lodging apartments and the outer wallof the whole
building, the entrance being at one or more of the corners of the inner
quadrangle.
The stable is on the same level with the court, and thus below the level of the
tenements which stand on the raised platform. Nevertheless, this platform is
allowedto project behind into the stable, so as to form a bench ... It also often
happens that not only this bench exists in the stable, forming a more or less
narrow platform along its extent, but also recessescorresponding to these "in
front" of the cells toward the open area, and formed, in fact, by the side-walls
of these cells being allowedto projectbehind to the boundary of the platform.
These, though small and shallow, form convenient retreats for servants and
muleteers in bad weather... Such a recess we conceivethat Josephand Mary
occupied, with their ass or mule - if they had one, as they perhaps had

tethered - in front ... It might be rendered quite private by a cloth being
stretchedacross the lower part."
It may be remarked that the fact that Josephand Mary were in that place,
and under a necessityof taking up their lodgings there, was in itself no proof
of poverty; it was a simple matter of necessitythere was "no room" at the inn.
Yet it is worthy of our considerationthat Jesus was born "poor." He did not
inherit a princely estate. He was not cradled, as many are, in a palace. He had
no rich friends. He had virtuous, pious parents, of more value to a child than
many riches. And in this we are shown that it is no dishonor to be poor.
Happy is that child who, whether his parents be rich or poor, has a pious
father and mother. It is no matter if he has not as much wealth, as fine clothes,
or as splendid a house as another. It is enough for him to be as "Jesus"was,
and God will bless him.
No room at the inn - Many people assembledto be enrolled, and the tavern
was filled before Josephand Mary arrived.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
7. first-born—So Mt 1:25; yet the law, in speaking ofthe first-born, regardeth
not whether any were born after or no, but only that none were born before
[Lightfoot].
wrapt him … laid him—The mother herselfdid so. Had she then none to help
her? It would seemso (2Co 8:9).
a manger—the manger, the bench to which the horses'heads were tied, on
which their food could rest[Webster and Wilkinson].
no room in the inn—a square erection, openinside, where travellers put up,
and whose rearparts were used as stables. The ancienttradition, that our
Lord was born in a grotto or cave, is quite consistentwith this, the country
being rocky. In Mary's condition the journey would be a slow one, and ere
they arrived, the inn would be fully occupied—affecting anticipationof the
receptionHe was throughout to meet with (Joh 1:11).
Wrapt in His swaddling—bands,

And in His manger laid,
The hope and glory of all lands
Is come to the world's aid.
No peaceful home upon His cradle smiled,
Guests rudely went and came where slept the royal Child.
Keble
But some "guests wentand came" not "rudely," but reverently. God sent
visitors of His own to pay court to the new-born King.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
It is Bucer’s note, that in the Greek it is not her firstborn Son, but ton uion
authv ton prwtotokon, her Son, the firstborn; he was truly her Son, and her
Son firstborn, but he was not calledprowtotocovupon that accountmerely,
for he was the firstborn of every creature, Colossians 1:15:he was the
firstborn also of Mary, but it cannot be from thence concludedshe had more
sons, for where there is but one son he is the firstborn.
And wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, &c.
Whether the inn was in the city, or in the suburbs adjoining near to the city, is
not material for us to know;nor, considering the occasionof meeting at
Bethlehem at that day, and the numbers who upon that occasionmust be
there, is it at all strange, that a person of no higher visible quality than a
carpentershould not find a room in the inn, but be thrust into a stable; nor
was it unusual in those countries for men and women to have lodgings in the
same rooms where beasts were kept, it is no more than is at this day in some
places evenin Europe. Here the virgin falls into her labour, brings forth her
Son, and lodgeth him in a manger; God (by this) teaching all Christians to
despise the high and gay things of this world. He who, though he was in the
form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with the Father, thus

making himself of no reputation; and being found in fashion as a man, thus
humbling himself, as the apostle speaks, Philippians 2:6-8.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And she brought forth her firstborn son,.... At Bethlehem, as was predicted;
and the Jews themselves own, that the Messiahis already born, and born at
Bethlehem. They have a tradition, that an Arabian should say to a Jew (k).
"Lo! the king Messiahis born; he said to him, what is his name? Menachem:
he askedhim, what is his father's name? he replied to him, Hezekiah; he said
unto him, from whence is he? he answered, from the palace of the king of
Bethlehem.
Which is elsewhere(l) reported, with some little variation; the Arabian said to
the Jew,
"the Redeemerof the Jews is born; he said unto him, what is his name? he
replied, Menachemis his name: and what is his father's name? he answered,
Hezekiah: he said unto him, and where do they dwell? he replied, in Birath
Arba, in Bethlehem.
And the Jewishchronologeraffirms (m), that "Jesus the Nazarene, was born
at Bethlehem Judah, a "parsa" and a half from Jerusalem.
And even the author of the blasphemous book of the life of Christ owns (n),
that "BethlehemJudah was the place of his nativity.
Jesus is called Mary's firstborn, because she had none before him; though she
might not have any after him; for the first that openedthe matrix, was called
the firstborn, though none followedafter, and was holy to the Lord, Exodus
13:2. Christ, as to his human nature; was Mary's firstborn; and as to his
divine nature, God's firstborn:
and wrapped him in swaddling clothes;which shows, that he was in all things
made like unto us, sin only excepted. This is one of the first things done to a
new born infant, after that it is washed, and its navel cut; see Ezekiel16:4 and
which Mary did herself, having neither midwife nor nurse with her; from

whence it has been concluded, that the birth of Jesus was easy, and that she
brought him forth without pain, and not in that sorrow womenusually do,
and laid him in a manger. The Persic versionserves for a comment; "she put
him into the middle of the manger, in the place in which they gave food to
beasts;because in the place whither they came, they had no cradle":this
shows the meanness of our Lord's birth, and into what a low estate he came;
and that now, as afterwards, though Lord of all, yet had not where to lay his
head in a proper place;and expresses his amazing grace, in that he was rich,
yet for our sakesbecame poor:and the reasonof his being here laid was,
because there was no room for them in the inn. It seems that Josephhad no
house of his own to go into, nor any relation and friend to receive him: and it
may be, both his own father and Mary's father were dead, and therefore were
obliged to put up at an inn; and in this there was no room for them, because of
the multitude that were come thither to be enrolled: and this shows their
poverty and meanness, and the little accountthat was made of them; for had
they been rich, and made any considerable figure, they would have been
regarded, and room made for them; especiallysince Mary was in the
circumstances she was;and it was brutish in them to turn them into a stable,
when such was her case,
(k) T. Hieros. Berncot, fol. 5. 1.((l) Echa Rabbati, fol. 50. 1.((m) David Ganz,
ut supra. (par. 2. fol. 14. 2.) (n) Toldos Jesu, p. 7.
Geneva Study Bible
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 them in the
inn.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
7. firstborn] The word has no bearing on the controversyas to the ‘brethren
of Jesus,’as it does not necessarilyimply that the Virgin had other children.
See Hebrews 1:6, where first-born=only-begotten.

wrapped him in swaddling clothes]Ezekiel16:4. In her poverty she had none
to help her, but (in the common fashion of the East)wound the babe round
and round with swathes with her own hands.
in a manger] If the ReceivedTextwere correctit would be ‘in the manger,’
but the article is omitted by A, B, D, L. Phatnç is sometimes rendered ‘stall’
(as in Luke 13:15;2 Chronicles 32:28, LXX.); but ‘manger’ is probably right
here. It is derived from pateomai, ‘I eat’ (Curtius, Griech. Et. ii. 84), and is
used by the LXX. for the Hebrew. ‫בֵא‬ ‫םּו‬ ‘crib,’ in Proverbs 14:4. Mangers are
very ancient, and are to this day sometimes used as cradles in the East
(Thomson, Land and Book, ii. 533). The ox and the ass which are traditionally
representedin pictures are only mentioned in the apocryphal Gospelof
Matthew , 14, and were suggestedby Isaiah 1:3, and Habakkuk 3:2, which in
the LXX. and the ancientLatin Version (Vetus Itala) was mistranslated
“Betweentwo animals thou shalt be made known.”
there was no room for them in the inn] Kataluma may also mean guest-
chamber as in Luke 22:11, but inn seems to be here the right rendering. There
is another word for inn, pandocheion(Luke 10:34), which implies an inn with
a host. Bethlehemwas a poor place, and its inn was probably a mere khan or
caravanserai,whichis an enclosedspace surroundedby open recessesof
which the paved floor (leewan) is raiseda little above the ground. There is
often no host, and the use of any vacant leewanis free, but the traveller pays a
trifle for food, water, &c. If the khan be crowdedthe traveller must be content
with a corner of the courtyard or enclosedplace among the cattle, or else in
the stable. The stable is often a limestone cave or grotto, and there is a very
ancient tradition that this was the case in the khan of Bethlehem. (Just.
Martyr, Dial. c. Tryph. c. 78, and the Apocryphal Gospels, Protev. xix.,
Evang. Infant. iii. &c.) If, as is most probable, the traditional site of the
Nativity is the realone, it took place in one of the caves where St Jerome spent
so many years (Ep. 24, ad Marcell.)as a hermit, and translatedthe Bible into

Latin (the Vulgate). The khan perhaps dated back as far as the days of David
under the name of the House or Hotel (Gêrooth)of Chimham (2 Samuel
19:37-38;Jeremiah 41:17).
The tender grace and perfect simplicity of the narrative is one of the marks of
its truthfulness, and is againin striking contrastwith the endlesslymultiplied
miracles of the Apocryphal Gospels. “The unfathomable depths of the divine
counsels were moved; the fountains of the greatdeep were broken up; the
healing of the nations was issuing forth; but nothing was seenon the surface
of human societybut this slight rippling of the water.” Isaac Williams, The
Nativity.
Bengel's Gnomen
Luke 2:7. Ἔτεκε, she brought forth) O much wished-forbirth, without which
we ourselves might well wish that we had never been born! But do thou
thyself, reader, see that thou makestsure of the benefit of that nativity.—V.
g.]—πρωτότοκον, her first-born) A sonis so called, before whom none else has
been born, not a son who is born before others. The Hebrew ‫רוכב‬ has a more
absolute meaning.—ἐσπαργάνωσεν, wrapt in swaddling clothes)So the Wisd.
of Song of Solomon7:4, ἐν σπαργάνοις ἀνετράφην:therefore σπάργανα,
swaddling clothes, are not in themselves as it were a thing worthless and
torn.[24] The rest of the attentions which used to be bestowedoninfants just
born, as describedin Ezekiel16:4, are not expressedhere.—ἐντῇ φάτνῃ, in
the manger) Luke 2:12. A place put in antithesis to the ‘inn,’ the place for the
receptionof men. It is probable that some imitations of this manger were
afterwards made at Bethlehem for the sake ofpilgrims (just as they were
made in every part of the Mount of Olives), some one of which was afterwards
accountedas the very place whereinthe infant Jesus lay. The Saviour had a
manger for His bed. He was, when a child, destitute of the convenience of a
rocking cradle, but yet was without taint of impatience.—ἐν τῷ καταλύματι,
in the inn) Even in the presentday, there is seldom found a place [room] for
Christ in inns.

[24] The word is used of rags in Aristoph. Ach. 430.—ED. andTRANSL.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 7. - Her firstborn Son. This expressionhas no real bearing on the
question respecting the relationship of the so-calledbrethren of Jesus to
Mary. The writer of this commentary, without hesitation, accepts the general
tradition of the Catholic Church as expressedby the greatmajority of her
teachers in all ages. This tradition pronounces these brethren to have been
(1) either his half-brethren, sons of Josephby a former marriage; or
(2) his cousins. In the passage inHebrews (Hebrews 1:6), "whenhe bringeth
in the First Begotteninto the world," "FirstBegotten" signifies "Only
Begotten." (Onthe whole question, see BishopLightfoot's exhaustive essayon
the "Brethrenof the Lord" in his 'Commentary on the Galatians.')There was
no room for them in the inn. "The inn of Bethlehem, what in modern Eastern
travel is known as a khan or caravanserai, as distinct from a hostelry (the
'inn' of Luke 10:34). Such an inn or khan offered to the traveler simply the
shelter of its walls and roofs. This khan of Bethlehem had a memorable
history of its own, being named in Jeremiah41:17 as the 'inn of Chimham,'
the place of rendezvous from which travelers startedon their journey to
Egypt. It was so called after the son of Barzillai, whom David seems to have
treated as an adopted son (2 Samuel 19:37, 38), and was probably built by him
in his patron's city as a testimony of his gratitude" (DeanPlumptre). The
stable was not unfrequently a limestone cave, and there is a very ancient
tradition that there was a cave of this description attachedto the "inn," or
caravanserai,ofBethlehem. This "inn" would, no doubt, be a large one, owing
to its being in the neighborhoodof Jerusalem, and would often be crowded
with the poorerclass ofpilgrims who went up to the temple at the seasons of
the greaterfeasts. Bethlehemis only six miles from Jerusalem.
Vincent's Word Studies

Her first-born son
The Greek reads literally, her son, the first-born.
Wrapped in swaddling-clothes (ἐσπαργάνωσεν)
Only here and Luke 2:12. Naturally found often in medical writings. Swaddle
is swathed, from the verb to swathe.
In a manger (ἐν φάτνῃ)
Used by Luke only, here and Luke 13:15. Wyc. has a cracche, speltalso
cratch. Compare Frenchcrche, a manger. Quite possibly a rock-cave.Dr.
Thomsonsays:"I have seenmany such, consisting ofone or more rooms, in
front of and including a cavernwhere the cattle were kept" ("Land and
Book").
In the inn (ἐν τῷ καταλύματι)
Only here, Luke 23:11;Mark 14:14, on which see note. In both these passages
it is rendered guest-chamber, which can hardly be the meaning here, as some
have maintained. (See Geikie, "Life and Words of Christ," i., 121.)In that
case the expressionwould be, they found no κατάλυμα, guest-chamber. The
word refers to the ordinary khan, or caravanserai. Tynd., hostrey. "A Syrian
khan is a fort and a mart; a refuge from thieves; a shelterfrom the heat and
dust; a place where a man and his beastmay lodge;where a trader may sell
his wares, anda pilgrim may slake his thirst....Where built by a greatsheikh,
it would have a high wall, an inner court, a range of arches or lewans, an open
gallery round the four sides, and, in many cases,a towerfrom which the
watchermight descry the approach of marauding bands. On one side of the
square, but outside the wall, there is often a huddle of sheds, set apart from
the main edifice, as stables for the assesand camels, the buffaloes and goats.
In the centre of the khan springs a fountain of water, the first necessityofan
Arab's life; and around the jets and troughs in which the limpid element
streams, lies the gayand picturesque litter of the East. Camels waitto be
unloaded; dogs quarrel for a bone; Bedaweenfrom the desert, their red
zannars chokedwith pistols, are at prayer. In the archways squatthe
merchants with their bales of goods....Half-nakedmen are cleansing their

hands ere sitting down to eat. Here a barber is at work upon a shavencrown;
there a fellah lies asleepin the shade....Eachman has to carry his dinner and
his bed; to litter his horse or camel;to dress his food; to draw his water; to
light his fire, and to boil his mess of herbs" (Hepworth Dixon, "The Holy
Land").
GreatTexts of the Bible
No Room
And she brought forth her firstborn son;and she wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the
inn.—Luke 2:7.
There are not many texts in the Bible with which Christians, from the highest
to the lowest, from the very agedto the young child who canbut just speak,
are more familiar than they are with this. We learn more or less about our
Lord’s cradle almost as soonas we are out of our own cradles. Thatone part
of the gospelhistory we know, even when the rest has quite slipped out of our
minds.
Christ’s mother and Josephhad been living at their home at Nazarethwhen,
according to St. Luke’s Gospel, orders were given for one of those censuses, or
enrolments of the people, which were sometimes used in ancient days as a
basis for the imposition of a poll-tax. In such cases, people were enrolled
according to their ancestryand the region from which they originally came;
and thus it was that “Josephalso wentup from Galilee, out of the city of
Nazareth, into Judæa, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because

he was of the house and family of David; to enrol himself with Mary who was
betrothed to him, being great with child.”
The little town—it was no more than what we should call a village—was
crowdedwith people, many of whom had come for the same purpose and
claimed the same exaltedlineage;the inn or guest-chamber—there was rarely
more than one in such small places—wasalreadycrowded;this carpenter and
his young bride were people of no particular importance and neededno
specialconsideration, still less did the unborn Child; and so, as there was no
room for them among the human guests, they had to find shelterin the stable
hard by, among the beasts.
It used to be brought as an objection againstthe trustworthiness of St. Luke’s
Gospelthat there was no evidence other than his that such an enrolment was
known at that time or in that region. Why the evidence of this ancient
document should be regarded as less valuable than that of another on such a
point did not appear; but at any rate it no longer matters. Within the lastfew
years records have been discovered, on fragments of papyrus found in the
rubbish-heaps of old Egyptian towns, which prove conclusivelythat such
enrolments did take place in that time and region; and of this objectionwe
shall doubtless hear no more.1 [Note:1 Bishop W. E. Collins, Hours of
Insight, 112.]
I
No Room in the Inn
1. The story of the Nativity is not only very beautiful, as surely all will be
willing to confess;it is historically true, a thing that some, even quite recently,

have shown themselves eagerto deny. Of course, to the faithful soul the whole
story is convincing. The man who has seenthe heavens opening in mercy and
hope above his dark and sin-bound life finds no difficulty in believing that the
glory of the Lord broke forth before men’s very eyes what time the Saviour of
the world beganHis earthly life. The man who yearafter yearhas been led by
the Light of the World across the wastes andthrough the dark places of life
does not ask the astronomers to give him permission to believe in the Star of
Bethlehem. But apart from such a gracious predispositionto receive this
lovely story, we find touches in it that a master of fiction, much less a simple,
plain-minded man, could surely never have given to it. There are points in the
story that would never have occurredto the weaverof a tale. And notable
amongstthem is St. Luke’s simple statementthat Mary in the hour of her
need was shut out from such comfort and shelter as the inn at Bethlehem
might have afforded. The Gospels were written by those who believed in Jesus
as the Son of God. St. Luke was writing of the Nativity of his Lord, the
birthday of the King of kings. And he pictures Him in that hour at the mercy
of untoward circumstance. He is born in a stable and cradled in a manger. He
could not have had a lowlier, a less kingly entrance into the world than that.
There seems to be but one explanation of these apparently unpropitious
details of the story, and that is that they are true.
One of the most absent-minded people I ever knew was a more or less
distinguished ecclesiastic atwhose house I used to visit as a child. He had won
some fame in his youth as a poet, and he was, when I remember him, a
preacherof some force;but he could not be depended upon in that capacity.
Whateverhe was interestedin at the moment he preached about, and he had
the powerof being interestedin very dreary things. His sermons were like
reveries;indeed, his whole rendering of the service was that of a man who was
reading a book to himself and often finding it unexpectedly beautiful and
interesting. The result was sometimes startling, because one felt as if one had
never heard the familiar words before. I remember his reading the accountof
the Nativity in a wonderfully feeling manner, “because there was no room for
them in the inn.” I do not know how the effectwas communicated; it was
delivered with a half-mournful, half-incredulous smile. If those who refused

them admittance had only knownwhat they were doing.1 [Note:A. C. Benson,
Along the Road, 286.]
2. To us, the first thought that would be suggestedby being relegatedto the
stable would be that of humiliation: it would be degrading to be sentout
amongstthe beasts;and the secondthought would be that of privation: it
would be hard to be condemned to no better accommodationthan that. But
that idea would scarcely have occurredto travellers in those lands. In those
lands, the inn or guest-chamberwill be a large room or shed built of rough
stones and mud, or a cave partly dug out of the earth, with an earthen floor,
more like an English cow-house than anything else;and the stable may either
be actually a part of the same cave or building, or a similar one close athand.
Anyhow, the accommodationis much the same, and you camp on the cleanest
spot you canfind of the earthen or stony floor, and make yourself comfortable
as best you can; so that—and this is the important point to keepin mind—the
real difference betweenthe inn and the stable was rather in the company than
in the accommodation. In some ways the stable had its advantages. It was
perhaps quieter, it was certainly more secluded;possibly it was not less
comfortable with the oxen and the assesthan it would have been in the inn;
certainly the manger—a mere recessabouthalf-way up the wall, where the
fodder was stored—made a safercrib for the Holy Babe than the crowded
floor of the guest-chamber, with hardly an inch to spare anywhere. Yes,
nature did its bestfor Him, and He found a shelter amongstthe beasts when
men castHim out; but that does not alter the fact that when the Lord of Glory
came to be born on this earth, not even a common guest-chambercould find
room for Him. He was born in the stable and cradledin a manger, “because
there was no room for him in the inn.”
When I was travelling in Armenia and Kurdistan some three years ago, it
befell me more than once or twice to have to spend the night in the stable,
“because there was no room in the inn”; and the difference in actual
accommodationwas not so greatas you might have supposed. The EastSyrian

people amongstwhom I was travelling part of the time are very closelyallied
in race to the inhabitants of Palestine in the time of our Lord, and the customs
are much the same still.1 [Note: BishopW. E. Collins, Hours of Insight, 114.]
I never felt the full pathos of the scene of the birth of Jesus till, standing one
day in a room of an old inn in the market-townof Eisleben, in Central
Germany, I was told that on that very spot, four centuries ago, amidst the
noise of a market-day and the bustle of a public-house, the wife of the poor
miner, Hans Luther, who happened to be there on business, being surprised
like Mary with sudden distress, brought forth in sorrow and poverty the child
who was to become Martin Luther, the hero of the Reformation, and the
maker of modern Europe.2 [Note:J. Stalker, The Life of Jesus Christ, 12.]
3. The birth in the manger because there was no room in the inn was natural.
The fact that the child who was born was He whom Christendom celebrates
does not make the indifference of Bethlehema peculiar crime. The men of
that time were not different from us all. They did not know. God, who taught
through this His Son that, when we give alms, we should not sound a trumpet
before us, gave His greatgift with the like simplicity. When He gave His Son,
He sent no heralds. The men to whom He came were busy with the cares
which have always busied men. They were like ourselves, eageroverwhat
have always been recognizedas greatquestions—questions abouttaxation,
national independence, a world empire, and singularly careless as to where
the children are born.
We need to make room amid the crowding thoughts for the coming of the
Lord of life and light. And some day, when we have done it, there will be a
country which has a national religion, because there will be a country which
believes in the Incarnation. It will realize something more of the mighty
mystery that flesh and blood are the temple of the Holy Spirit. It will realize
how our souls, which come hither to tabernacle in flesh a little time, give us

kindred with the Christ who was born among us. And we shall make room
amid our crowding and eagerthoughts for Him to come in us.1 [Note:A. C.
Welch.]
4. The birth in the manger was of His own ordering. It was the Divine Babe’s
will to be born in such a place as that, and therefore He so ordered matters
that His parents should not come to the inn till it was full, and that there
should be no other place but that stable where they should lodge. It was not
chance, Godforbid! It was the will of the unborn Infant Himself. For He it is
who ordereth all things in heaven and earth. He would be born in the city of
David, because He was the Son of David, the King of Israel, and was to fulfil
all the prophecies;He would not be born in royal state or comfort as the Son
of David might be expectedto be, because He was to save us by suffering and
humility.
Whilst our Lord Jesus Christ was yet in the bosom of the Father, before He
took our nature, He was free from all liability of suffering, and was under no
call to suffer for men, except the importunate callof His own everlasting love;
yet after He took our nature, and became the man Jesus Christ, He actually
stoodHimself within the righteous liability of suffering, not indeed on account
of any flaw in His spotless holiness, but as a participator of that flesh which
lay under the sentence ofsorrow and death; and being now engulfed in the
horrible pit along with all the others, He could only deliver them by being first
delivered Himself, and thus opening a passageforthem to follow Him by; as a
man who casts himself into an encloseddungeonwhich has no outlet in order
to save a number of others whom he sees immured there, and when he is in,
forces a passage throughthe wall, by dashing himself againstit, to the great
injury of his person. His coming into the dungeon is a voluntary act, but after
he is there, he is liable to the discomforts of the dungeon by necessity, until he
breaks through.1 [Note:Thomas Erskine, The BrazenSerpent, 263.]

II
No Room in the World
1. What was true of the Lord’s entrance upon life was true of all His later life
also. There never was one amongstthe sons of men who was so truly human
as He; for in us humanity is marred and blurred by so much that is weak and
low and base, and not truly human at all; but He who was the most truly Man
of all men was all His life a strangeramong men: “He came unto his own, and
his ownreceivedhim not.” It was not that He was in any sense a recluse, or
that He shrank from human society;indeed, it was all the other way—He
yearned for companionship. The very first actof His public life was to draw to
His side a little company of friends who were like-minded with Himself, and
they were His companions ever after. Within this circle there were some who
were speciallydear to Him; and when He was about to face the darkeragony
of life He always invited them to accompanyHim, and threw Himself on their
sympathy. He was at home at the wedding feastand in the house of Simon the
Pharisee and at the table of Levi the publican, and many another; indeed,
when His enemies were casting about for some accusationagainstHim, they
did not accuse Him of being inhuman like the ascetic Johnthe Baptist, but
calledHim rather “a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans
and sinners.” And yet, all His life He was alone;He was despisedand rejected
of men. He was occupiedin “business” that—so menchose to think—they had
no interest in; and so—they had no room for Him. When He had preachedat
Nazareth, where He was brought up, they arose and thrust Him out of the
city. At Capernaum, when they saw the mighty works that He did on them
that were diseased, they came and besought Him to depart out of their coasts.
He passedthrough Samaria, and the Samaritans would not receive Him.
Wherever He went He was a homeless wanderer. “The foxes have holes,” He
said, “and the birds of the air have nests;but the Son of man hath not where
to lay his head.” And the solitude was all the greateras the end drew near.
Jerusalemwould have none of Him; one of His own little company covenanted

to betray Him. He went into the Garden that He might face all that was
coming and be ready for it, taking the three to watchand pray with Him; but
in the lastresort not even they could help Him: He must needs tread the
winepress alone. And so the rulers compassedHis destruction, and the
Romans scourgedHim and delivered Him to be crucified, and at length He
hung there upon the cross, isolatedbetweenheavenand earth, naked,
forsakenand alone. Truly, while He was on earth there was no room for Him.
A marvellous greatworld it is, and there is room in it for many things; room
for wealth, ambition, pride, show, pleasure;room for trade, society,
dissipation; room for powers, kingdoms, armies, and their wars; but for Him
there is the smallestroom possible;room in the stable but not in the inn.
There He begins to breathe, and at that point introduces Himself into His
human life as a resident of our world—the greatestand most blessedevent,
humble as the guise of it may be, that has evertranspired among mortals. If it
be a wonder to men’s eyes and ears, a wonder even to science itself, when the
naming air-stone pitches into our world, as a strangernewly arrived out of
parts unknown in the sky, what shall we think of the more transcendent fact,
that the Eternal Son of God is born into the world; that, proceeding forth
from the Father, not being of our systemor sphere, not of the world, He has
come as a Holy Thing into it—God manifest in the flesh, the Word made flesh,
a new Divine Man, closetedin humanity, there to abide and work until He has
restoredthe race itself to God? Nor is this wonderful annunciation any the
less welcome, orany the less worthy to be celebratedby the hallelujahs of
angels and men, that the glorious visitant begins to breathe in a stall. Was
there not a certainpropriety in such a beginning, consideredas the first
chapter and symbol of His whole history, as the Saviour and Redeemerof
mankind?1 [Note:H. Bushnell, Christ and His Salvation, 2.]
2. What does the world offer in place of a room in the inn?

(1) We build Him stately material temples.—We expend boundless treasure in
their erection. Art joins hands with architecture, and the structure becomes a
poem. Lily-work crowns the majestic pillar. Subdued light, and exquisite line,
and tender colour add their riches to the finished pile. And the soul cries out,
“Here is a house for Thee, O Man of Nazareth, Lord of glory! Here is the
home I have built for Thee.” And if the soul would only listen there comes
back the pained response, “Where is the place of My rest? saith the Lord.”
“The MostHigh dwelleth not in temples made with hands,” “I dwell in the
high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.” The
Lord of glory seeksthe warm inn of the soul, and we offer Him a manger of
stone.
(2) Or, in place of the home which He seeks, we build Him a fane of stately
ritual.—We spend infinite pains in designing dainty and picturesque
ceremonials. We devise reverent and dignified movements. We invent an
elaborate and impressive symbolism. We engage the ministry of noble music
for the expressionof our praise, and we swing the fragrant censerfor the
expressionof our prayer. Or perhaps we discard the colour and the glow. We
banish everything that is elaborate and ornate. We use no flowers, either in
reality or in symbol. We reduce our ritualism to a simple posture. Our music
is rendered without pride or ostentation. Everything is plain, prosaic and
unadorned. We have a ritual without glitter, and we have movements without
romance. But whether our ceremony be one or the other, the soul virtually
says, “Here is a ritualistic house I have built for Thee, O Christ! Take up
Thine abode in the dwelling which I have provided.” And if the soul would
only listen it would hear the Lord’s reply, “My son, give me thine heart.” He
seeks the inn of the soul; we offer Him a ritualistic manger.
(3) Or again, we build Him the massive house of a stately creed.—The
building is solid and comprehensive. All its parts are firm and well defined,
and they are mortised with passionate zealand devotion. We are proud of its
constitution. The creedis all the more beautiful that it is now so venerable and

hoary. The weather-stains ofcenturies only add to its significance and glory.
There it stands, venerable, majestic, apparently indestructible, “Here is a
credalhome for Thee, O Lord! I am jealous for the honour of Thy house. I
will contend earnestlyfor every stone in the holy fabric! Here is a home for
Thee, O King.” And if the soulwould reverently and quietly listen this would
be the response it would hear, “When the Sonof man cometh, shall he find
faith on the earth?” That is what the Lord is seeking. He seeksnot my credal
statements but my personalfaith. He solicits not my creedbut my person, not
my words but my heart. And so do we offer Him all these substitutes in the
place of the dwelling He seeks. And if these are all we have to offer, “the Son
of man hath not where to lay his head.” We offer Him the hospitality of a big
outer creed, but “there is no room in the inn.”1 [Note:J. H. Jowett.]
Creedis the railway carriage;it won’t take you on your journey unless you
have the engine, which is active religion.2 [Note:George Frederic Watts, iii.
326.]
Some people seemto think that if they can pack the gospelawayinto a sound
and orthodox creedit is perfectly safe. It is a sort of canned fruit of
Christianity, hermetically sealedand correctlylabelled which will keepfor
years without decay. An extravagantreliance has been placed, therefore, on
confessionsoffaith as the preservatives of a pure gospel. But the heart is
greaterthan the creed; and if the heart is wrong it will very sooncorrupt the
creedand interline it with its own heresies. Hence the wise injunction of the
Apostle, “Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.”3[Note:A. J.
Gordon: A Biography, 289.]
3. How may the world find room for Him?

(1) By finding room for His truth and the love of it. The world’s attitude
towards the birth of every greattruth is focusedin a single phrase in the
simple story of the first Christmas, the greatestbirthday since time began.
Mary laid the infant Christ in a manger—“becausethere was no room for
them in the inn.” Right must ever fight its way againstthe world. Truth must
ever walk alone in its Gethsemane. Justice mustbravely face its Calvary if it
would still live in triumph after all efforts to slay it. Love must ever, in the
end, burst forth in its splendour from the dark clouds of hate and discord that
seek to obscure it. These greattruths must be born in the manger of poverty,
or pain, or trial, or suffering, finding no room in the inn until at last by
entering it in triumph they honour the inn that never honoured them in their
hours of need, of struggle or of darkness. It requires sterling courage to live
on the uplands of truth, battling bravely for the right, undismayed by
coldness, undaunted by contempt, unmoved by criticism, serenelyconfident
even in the darkesthours, that right, justice and truth must win in the end.
Every great truth in all the ages has had to battle for recognition. If it be real
it is worth the struggle. Out of the struggle comes new strength for the victor.
Trampled grass growsthe greenest. Hardship and trial and restriction and
opposition mean new vitality to character. In potting plants, it is well not to
have the pot too large, for the more crowdedthe roots the more the plant will
bloom. It is true, in a larger sense, oflife. The world has ever misunderstood
and battled againstits thinkers, its leaders, its reformers, its heroes.1 [Note:
W. G. Jordan, The Crown of Individuality, 33.]
A happy man seems to be a solecism;it is a man’s business to suffer, to battle,
and to work.2 [Note:Carlyle, in Life of Lord Houghton, ii. 478.]
Even the spectacleofman’s repeatedand pathetic failure to live up to his own
ideal is “inspiring and consoling” to this onlooker, since, in spite of long ages
of ill-success, the race is not discouraged, but continues to strive as if for

Jesus Born in a Manger

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