What the Nativity taught me tonight

I attended an outdoor Nativity pageant tonight. A couple things happened that were touching to me.

As well all know, Joseph asks the inkeeper for a place to stay, and the inkeeper responds saying the place is full. Most pageants I have seen show the couple walking away sadly. This one did as well, but they didn’t get far before the inkeeper comes outside to beckon them, then shows them to a stable.

I found that touching because it says to me that something in the inkeeper made him feel like he should be doing something to help the couple. I can’t help but wonder whether he had an internal debate with himself on whether even to suggest the dirty stable to Mary and Joseph.

The second item I found touching was when Mary handed the infant Jesus to Joseph for him to hold. That is certainly not a scene I have seen portrayed anywhere (in painting, theatre, or story). It indicated to me that Joseph had a real role to play in Jesus’s life.