From childhood, whenever I heard that ‘there was no room in the inn’ for Jesus when he was born in Bethlehem, I used to feel sad.
It is only recently that I realized how stupidly wrong I was!
Here is the reason, in case you are interested (it will take only2 minutes of your time).
How did Jesus describe himself?
You will recollect that he did not describe himself as the Inn, but as the Way (Jn.14:6).
It is simple common sense that you cannot be on the way and, at the same time, be safe and comfortable within the cocoon that is any inn or hotel.
In other words, what we are dealing with here is not an accommodation issue – which was what I thought it was for so long.
No, what is involved here is a spiritual issue. We neglect this or perhaps we are unaware of this perhaps precisely because it is fundamental to the spiritual vision of Jesus Christ. Because the Christianity that has been erected in the name of Jesus Christ is a religion of the INN, not the spiritual discipline of continuing in the WAY.
What’s the difference?
If you are in an INN, or a hotel or a cocoon, you can stay put. All you have to do is to mind your membership and meet the cost as per prevailing rates if any, and generally luxuriate in the comfort.
But, if you are on the WAY, the whole point to keep moving.
You cannot stagnate.
Spiritual life, if it is genuine, is fragrant with undying, ever-renewing freshness.
It is marked by dynamism and vitality, not by stagnation and inertia.
You may recollect that there was a church in an ancient city called Laodicea built on the river Lycus, itself in what was then the province of Asia. The city is mentioned in the Book of Revelation as one of the Seven Churches of Asia, and its ruins have been excavated near the modern city of Denizli in Turkey (and they are included in the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in Turkey).
Well, that church knew that the spiritual life does not allow stagnation and inertia. That was why it boldly did not allow Jesus to enter it.
That church had at least a modicum of honesty. They did not pretend that the inn and the way are the same.
But we are cleverer than them. We are very good at pretending that Jesus, the WAY, stays smugly in the INN.
Jesus would condemn this as hypocrisy.
If we are not aware of this hypocrisy, could it because have been languishing in the INN and have never known what it means to be on the WAY?
For those who are stuck and stagnating in the inn called the church, there is nothing beyond it.
For them, church is a hiding place where you don’t have to be mindful of, much less responsible for, what is happening in the world.
By contrast, read the parable of the Good Samaritan; and you will get its juicy irony as never before.
Regard, in particular, the utter bewilderment, the sheer existential impotence, of the priest and the Levite on the road. They turn their face away from the human predicament and walk off.
COVID-19 has exposed this reality in a painful way.
Imagine what would have happened in history, if Jesus were like us and our priests.
Yet, we think it is Jesus we love and worship!
Can self-delusion get any worse than this?
Remember, it is better to be on the way than to stagnate within an inn.
We are experts at distorting everything that Jesus taught. We have distorted this key teaching as well.
What do we mean when we quote with aplomb that Jesus is the Way? We actually mean that Jesus is the INN!
God, please save Jesus from us!
Or set us on the Way – which is also the High Road.
Amen.
