Luke 2:6-7

This apologia shall be undisguised from the beginning. It is a plea for the

re-evaluation of a man who has been unjustly condemned by preachers at Christmastime. I mean the Bethlehem innkeeper.

Our foregathers have draped around the innocent proprietor a shroud of innuendo that is libelous. The “no room in the inn” text has been overworked by hard-pressed pulpiteers frantically searching for a Yule topic, who chastise the innkeeper for deliberately closing his doors to Deity.

In no verse is there suggestion of a brusque refusal of admission. When the young couple arrived, the inn was already filled with dusty, tired travelers. They, too, had journeyed long miles to have their names placed in Caesar’s census book. But then, as now, the rule was “first come, first served.” There was no means by which a traveler could “wire ahead” for a room reservation.

Isn’t that fair enough?…