In a Stable?

Well, I've been celebrating Christmas for over 30 years now, most of which I remember. But it wasn't until this year that I realized that there is nothing in any biblical story that says Jesus was born in a stable. In fact the words in the original language may actually lead us to believe he was not. Whoa! What about all those nativity scenes? They can't all be wrong can they? I can see some of you know grabbing your Bible to check it out. Go for it, what you'll find in Luke 2 is two clues: "no room for them in the inn" and "manger." It is from these two descriptions that we have arrived at the standard nativity scene. But a closer look is needed.

Katalooma - The word that is translated "inn" in most Bibles is the word katalooma in Greek. And it doesn't necessarily mean inn. A more appropriate translation might be "guest room," or simply "a place for travelers to rest." (It's the same word used in Luke 22:11, translated "guest room.") In fact, Bethlehem was so small that it is unlikely there was even a public inn in town. So, let's go with guest room. If Joseph was traveling back to his hometown it is likely he still had family there. And it is likely he would not have been the only one traveling back home to register for the census. So perhaps they were staying with relatives, in a full house, where the guest room was already crowded, and not a suitable place to give birth (most prefer an element of privacy for this sort of occasion). So these cruel relatives kicked the so-called "virgin" out to the stable? Hmm, no, probably not, though it didn't occur to me til just now that the whole virgin thing may still have been a little sketchy to family members just hearing about it. It's funny, since I've had 30 years to process the story, I think Joseph's relatives have had that long too (wait, I didn't know what a virgin was 30 years ago ... ok, I've had 12 years to process that part of the story). Anyway, point is, we have to understand the structure of a home in that time/setting to get this. In that culture, for a poor simple family, the animals would have been kept inside at night in the lower floor of the house, whereas the bedrooms would have been upstairs. So Mary and Joseph probably went down to the first level of the home to have the baby (b/c there was no room for such an event in the guest room). Another clue is from Matthew's account: "when the wise men came to the house." (see

Manger - Suddenly the manger makes sense with the "guest room" translation. If there were animals inside, there was probably a feeding trough inside as well. And it would have been a convenient, safe place to put a newborn. Um, I guess that's all there is to say about the manger. A little less eventful than the katalooma discussion.

But what difference does any of that make? Stable? Inn? Guest room? What's really being said? That's the question we need to get at. Even if we could perfectly recreate the scene of Christ's birth, that wouldn't be as valuable to us as what we do have - the words that the Holy Spirit inspired the Biblical authors to write: "no room" ... "manger." What is being communicated by what Luke writes? That's the question. What is significant about the way Jesus comes into the world?

I think it is significant that they were out of place. They were away from home, and there was no room for them in the guest room. Jesus was out of place in this world; He was away from home. And he came to teach us that we are out of place in this world too. There was no special treatment for Jesus, no "hey everybody out of here, make room, this is the king of all creation being born here." No royal announcement, no gathering of big wigs. Oh, wait, there was an announcement ... to shepherds, nobodies in that culture ... humble faithful shepherds who took care of their sheep - just like Jesus would do.

God came into the world quietly, not forcefully, with social nobodies and pagans as his first worshippers. Jesus still invites nobodies and pagans, and he still does not force worshippers. But all who worship Him from the heart find the same joy the shepherds and wise men found.