There is one character in the Christmas story that I believe gets a terribly bad wrap. “The Innkeeper” is at worst trashed as a selfish degenerate and at best he is felt sorry for because he will never know joy.
and she gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no place for them in the guest quarters. (Luk 2:7) [emphasis mine]
This is the entirety of what the bible has to say about the sleeping arrangements for Joseph, Mary and Jesus on the night of his birth. No innkeeper is even mentioned. Indeed, the Inn isn’t even mentioned.
From this one half verse, an unnamed man today was said to never have realized the joy that Jesus’ birth brought to all men. Instead, we were told that while God was made to sleep in the cold, he selfishly enjoyed the warmth of his own inn.
From what I can read, there may not even have been an inn. There may even have never been a keeper of the non existent inn to have been turning anyone away. Aside from that, if there was an inn and an inn keeper, he didn’t know Mary from anyone else. It isn’t as if there was some announcement that went to citizens of Bethlehem and to be on the look out for a young pregnant woman with her husband looking for a place to sleep. If there was an inn, how do we know it wasn’t actually full rather than a lie as I’ve heard is the tradition.
Furthermore, there is no mention of shivering in the cold. I grant that a stable is not the best lodging location but I suspect the shivering in the cold comes from the idea that the 25th of December actually was the day Jesus was born which a little research and reading will tell you is definitely not the case.
I do not say these things to denigrate Christmas traditions. I just ask that one takes them for what they are. Learn the facts and spread encouragement rather than casting judgment based on no information at all.