The “Christmas Story” most of us know is likely not historically accurate. Oh, we know that no one knows for sure about when Jesus was born. But, as you can guess from my title, what we have been told is probably not even correct as far as to where Jesus was born.
If we take the time to really read the biblical sources, we know that only two of the four Gospels have a story of Jesus’ birth. The first, the Gospel according to Matthew, actually says nothing about where Jesus’ birth took place when it talks of his being born (Matthew 1:18-25). Place only comes up when the story of the ‘wise men’ follows. They had gone to Jerusalem, the capital city, thinking that was obviously where the king would be born as that was the home of the king. Then it is told that the learned men of Jerusalem, called upon by King Herod to answer the question of where a king was to be born, finds that the prophet Micah, some six or seven centuries earlier, had prophesied that this king would be born in Bethlehem. This is seen as appropriate as he was to be a descendant of Israel’s most beloved king, David, and that is where David was from. Indeed, as we know from the story, the wise men did go to Bethlehem where they were led by the ‘star’ they were following to Jesus.
The other, the Gospel according to St. Luke, places Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. From Luke 1:26 and 2:4 we learn that Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph, were from Nazareth, up north in Galilee. However, according to Luke 2:4-5, they had to travel to Bethlehem, in the Judean hills six miles south of Jerusalem, for census purposes because they were descendants of David.
So, that’s the town. But where in the town? That’s where we have likely got it wrong. The oldest Greek manuscripts of the Gospels we have say Jesus was born in a kataluma. This is the place for guests in a home, literally, above or ‘beside the room’, room her meaning the main area of the home. The fact that Mary laid her newborn in a manger then clues us into that because the guest room was full, they slept on the periphery of the spacewhere most household activities took place. It was on the border between that and where the family’s animals would be kept for the night for safety. The living quarters were raised a few feet above the level of the animals. On the edge of that transitional space were indentations, space to hold feed for the animals, so they could eat from it at will. This is the Middle Eastern ‘manger’, not a wooden structure that we know from the places we in the West keep animals. It was into this place, Mary laid Jesus, right beside where she and Joseph slept off to the side of where most household activities took place.
Middle Eastern people are among the most hospitable on earth. They always had room for strangers. If they really did not, a neighbor would take them in. Some villages even had a special guest room built above a home which villagers took turns looking after to host guests in. There was severe censure for lack of hospitality, if not from society, maybe from God. Even the Bible speaks of this. Sodom and Gomorrah were burned for their utter lack of hospitality for God's own representatives (Genesis 19). These customs continue even into the early 21st century, as my wife and I can attest to. On our travels to the Holy Land we were shown hospitality by Jews, Muslims and Christians, sometimes together, whether it was in a restaurant, as is often the case nowadays, or in homes, the latter even in refugee camps!
So, how did we go wrong? Kenneth Bailey, who grew up partly in Egypt and spent most of his working life studying and teaching in the Middle East, believes it is due to a non-canonical writing (a ‘book’ that did not make it into the Bible) called The Gospel of James. Here is where the story says Mary gave birth to Jesus immediately on her arrival to Bethlehem, so where else but in the place for animals as there was, ostensibly, ‘no room in the inn’. What does the Bible say about that? Luke 2:6, our only source, simply says “while they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child” (NRSV). No idea about whether that was hours or days later!
It appears to be from the Gospel of James where the ‘no room in the inn’ story originated. This writing had proven so popular, so captured the imagination of the Western Church, that it obviously influenced the translation of the King James Version and very other translation into English that that followed. It might also have been accepted as the main narrative as it seems to fit with the idea of Jesus giving up everything, heaven and all its glory, riches and power, to begin life at the lowest level of humanity to really identify with us.
So, if we accept all of this, likely more authentic, alternative tradition, what does that do with this longstanding theology? Here’s where further understanding of this core Middle Eastern hospitality comes in. Both being of the line of David and coming to his hometown, Joseph and Mary would have been enthusiastically welcomed ‘home’ as long-lost relatives. They would have been looked after as well as conditions permitted. The guest room was occupied, as were in all probability, most of them in Bethlehem, because of others from David’s line coming back to Bethlehem for the census. Mary, being pregnant, probably slowed down the couple’s travel and they arrived later than most.
Yes, John writes in his Gospel (1:11), “he came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.” This refers not to Jesus the infant, but to the grown man, who was not accepted because his actions and teachings were too much for his people, the Jews as a whole. If we discard this ‘Jame’s’ writing and accept that Joseph and Mary were welcomed by family, what could be better? God was the one who first ordained family, according to Genesis. What could be more fitting that his Son was born into family? And in the home of his illustrious ancestor? It simply underscores the importance of family.
