Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone.... He is Risen!

please enjoy a tale by a humble innkeeper

 

The Innkeeper

By S.L. Kliever

 

            A man dressed in rich robes strolled down the dusty cobbled street and entered the courtyard of an inn.  The sun was setting in the west and the air felt nippy. He glanced up at the crude sign, faded by the desert wind. It read, The Inn of Bethlehem.

            “Shalom.” A voice spoke from behind him. He turned and saw a bearded innkeeper with twinkling eyes greeted him, waving him inside with a chubby hand.

“Come in and rest your weary feet, you must be tired from your journey. The nights are getting colder, sit by the fire and warm yourself.”

 

            They entered a dimly lit room with long tables and a fire place at the other end of the room.

“Would you care for some goat cheese and day old bread?”

 

            “Certainly” the stranger nodded.

 

“Have you traveled far?”

 

“Days,” came the reply. “It’s been hard traveling. Seems the world is in turmoil. Rebels everywhere. The roads are hardly safe to travel on.”

 

            The innkeeper placed a plate of bread and cheese before his guest.

 

“This reminds me of another night, long ago, but who would listen to the ramblings of a simple innkeeper?” The innkeeper scratching his beard.

 

“I think I would,” the stranger casually picked up a piece of cheese, examining it first before taking a nibble.

 

 “What’s that? You would like to hear my tale?” The innkeeper looked surprised. He smiled to himself.  “Not many care for an old man’s ramblings.”

 

The innkeeper seated himself across from his guest and leaned back against the wall. “Well I will try to intrigue you with my story, for it is a strange one indeed! You do not mind, do you? I have had no customers all evening.  My wife is away, and I have had no one to talk to all day.”

 

“I don’t mind.” The stranger waved a chunk of bread.

            “It was in the days of Herod the king; of course the Romans were the ones who were really in charge. A census was ordered, so everyone in Israel all traveled to their home towns to register.”

 

            “I think I remember something about that.”

“No, no, this was before your time. I am sure you would be too young to remember such things?”

 

            “My father spoke of it.”

“Oh you’ve heard all about it? I am not surprised. it was something our people remember well. One young couple that came to my inn, I will never forget. She was heavy with child and the pains of birth were upon her when they reached my door. I cursed the census when I saw her.”

`Please sir, do you have room? We are in desperate need, my wife…’ the man was quite a bit older than the woman, kindly features and at that moment very desperate to provide for his woman. The wife was young and seemed but a child herself, and yet there was a mature, strong quiet nature about her.

`I am full up, as is every place in town,’ I told him, searching my mind for what to do. I could not turn them away, but where to put them? I had an inn full of people who would not take kindly to being woken up by the cries of a woman in labour.

`Please sir, we will stay anywhere. Just some place dry. Have mercy on her. She cannot deliver this baby in the street!’

 

`Certainly not!’ I objected. Suddenly an idea came to me. `Ah! My stable, you can stay in my stable. Come I will show you.’ I took them around to the back of the inn and down the hill to the cave that served as our stable. Every animal that had come with a customer was stabled there, and the place was warm from their heat. Yes it was smelly too, but at least we found a dry quiet corner where they could keep warm and none of the customers would be disturbed. It was the best situation for everyone.

`David!’ I called to my son. He tended all the animals and was there finishing his work for the evening.

 

                        `Yes father.’

 

`Run to the inn and tell your mother her assistance is needed here immediately. And you are to stay away from here for the rest of the evening. This woman is about to give birth.’ His eyes widened at my sharp warning. Nodding he ran from the stables. I helped the man with their few belongings. Once a place was set, he helped his wife dismount their small donkey. Her time was near, I could see it in the pain that crossed her face. I drew water from the well and left it near by. Shortly my own good wife arrived and I left the woman in her care. The man guarded the stable doors, pacing anxiously back and forth, and I went back to my duties at the inn.

 

I expected things would take a long time, (being an experienced father myself), so I intended to be in bed before my wife returned. I was tired and the news of the birth would have to wait till the morning. But this birth had many strange happenings surrounding it. It is a mystery to me to this day. For one, there was a bright star in the sky that had never been seen before; it seemed to hover above, and if that wasn’t strange enough, just as I was preparing to go to bed, shepherds were heard yelling down in my courtyard. They were looking for a baby that was born that night! 

           

The eyebrows of the stranger rose. “Surely now you stretch your story.”

            “You do not believe me? Well it is true! I ran down there as fast as I could, hoping to prevent them from disturbing the poor man and his wife. But the shepherds were already there, and the man assured me everything was alright.”

 

`But smelly…. Shepherds! Sir, surely you do not want to be associated…’ the man cut me off with a wave of his hand.

     

                        `It is alright. They mean no harm. They are good men. They only came to see the baby.’

           

Of course that only puzzled me more. Why would outcasts come looking for a newborn baby born in a stable? How bizarre could my fellow Jews be?

 

I looked passed the man and what do you think I saw? The shepherds were worshiping! Yes worshiping. I know when I see a fellow Jew worshiping. But why? Many babies were born every day and I have never seen before or since then, anyone worshiping the Holy One of Heaven. And if you think that is strange, when they left, they were praising the Most High and stopping anyone who would listen to them. They said the saviour had been born! That is right, the saviour!       

 

            The stranger shook his head. “Did you not think it nonsense? After all shepherds are not known for…” the man tapped his head with a finger.

            “Yes I thought it was nonsense. How could I think otherwise? And you can imagine the complaints of the people against those noisy shepherds. Thankfully they were gone before the Roman patrol happened along. It would have been disastrous to the whole town, had they crossed paths.”

 

             “This is a very strange story,” the stranger nibbled at another piece of cheese.

            “Oh that is not all, there is much more, but it was later, after the couple left my stable and found a small home down the road. The baby was a child then, and that star reappeared! It shone above their little home, as though it was a sign. That night the most peculiar happened. Wise men from the east came. What a spectacle! I heard that they had gone to Herod first, but now they were here in little Bethlehem. They wanted to know where they could find the new King of the Jews!”

 

            “How is it you know such details?”

            “It was after the fact that we heard about such things. I shall explain soon enough. Herod was not pleased, but pretended to be sincerely interested. The wise men left him and came to town looking for the child. I was one of the many who watched them go by. Camels and servants …the wise men were dressed in such rich garments that one could call them kings. How strange for them to grace our town with a visit, and where do you suppose they went?”

 

            “To the small family with this child.”

 

The innkeeper nodded. “They said the star led them. We all wished to know what they were doing, but of course none could say what took place behind their closed doors.”

 

            “The next day the caravan of wise men was gone. And the following day the young couple’s house stood deserted. They had disappeared. And then disaster struck our little town. Herod, enraged that the wise men had not returned to him to report what they had found, sent soldiers to kill all the male children under two.”

            At this the innkeeper paused and looked longingly out the window before returning to his guest and the story.  “You look shocked. Well Herod was a ruthless man. We heard he killed his own infant son to keep his own throne secure. That was the darkest night this town has known. Women wailed for their children. Even fathers wept. We too suffered loss. My sister’s son…” he shook his head sadly at the memory.

            “What became of this couple? Why the sudden disappearance?”

            “We never saw them again around here. Though I am sure you’ve heard of them, more likely their son. His name is Jesus.”

 

            “Jesus!” the stranger looked startled. “The Miracle Worker!”

 

“The one and the same. They crucified Him upon a Roman cross.”

 

“Why? I never did hear the reason. Seemed outrages to me,” the stranger pondered.

 

“Well, he claimed, he was the Messiah, the Saviour.”

 

“Do you believe such things?”

 

            “What can I believe? Let me ask you something, my good fellow. How many babies do you know of, who have had angels announce the birth? Or have wise men from the East bring gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh? Or have a star shine above? A baby that grows to be a man, who can work miracles, who is crucified and then rises from the dead?”

            Shock crossed the strangers face once again.

            “That is right, he rose from the dead! Who do I believe He is? Our Saviour, the Son of God. There can be no other explanation.”

            The stranger leaned back in his chair, taking a bit of bread between his fingers. A thoughtful frown crossed his face. “Intriguing tale I must say.”

 

            “What do you believe? You think my tale is crazy? What can I say? What I saw with my own eyes, I cannot deny.”

 

            The stranger shrugged. “I suppose you cannot. It has given me something to ponder indeed.”

            The innkeeper rose from his chair. “As did I for many years. Well, I’m off to tend to my business. Do make yourself comfortable.”

 

             The stranger nodded and the innkeeper left. Looking out the doorway to the setting sun, the stranger played the story over again in his mind. It was a strange, yet wonderful story indeed.

 

The End.