The real nativity questions
There was an amazing amount of work that went into the preparation of the film we watched today
One of the wonderful things that was done to get the children prepared for the filming was some time put aside for them to delve into the characters of the nativity story
Today I want to share with you some of their questions and try and answer some
Because as much as the children have explored the story and have asked some very interesting questions
We too, people who have probably heard the story countless times, may have the same questions
But have not had time to ask them or have simply accepted the Nativity story as represented on our Christmas cards and Christmas carols
Rather than the real story
So let’s begin
The first group reflected
That Mary was cooking when Gabriel turned up She would have felt frightened, freaked out and surprised The angel would have been glowing with a halo that wouldn’t have touched his head with a bit of wire.
1 The angel has a mission and was feeling proud he had important things to tell Mary. He told her good news. She was going to have a baby who was God’s son and you much call him Jesus.
Mary and Joseph had to go a long way to get to Bethlehem. Today you would go in a car or aeroplane but in those days they had a donkey. Riding a donkey for days would have been hard. Mary would have been uncomfortable and sore in her tummy.
All rooms were taken so Mary had to have her baby in a stable. A stable would have hay and smell of cow poo and would be very dirty; a very unpleasant place to have a baby.
You could smell donkey breath!
My reflection with some help from Kenneth Bailey
Mary had relatives in a nearby village. A few months prior to the birth of Jesus, Mary had visited her cousin Elizabeth “in the hill country of Judea” and was welcomed by her. Bethlehem was located in the centre of Judea. By the time, therefore, that Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem they were but a short distance from the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth.
If Joseph had failed to find shelter in Bethlehem he would naturally have turned to Zechariah and Elizabeth. But did he have time for those extra kilometres?
2 Joseph had time to make adequate arrangements. I use to believe that Jesus was born on the same night the family arrives – hence Joseph’s haste and willingness to accept, even the shelter of a stable.
However in the text, the time spent in Bethlehem before the birth is not specified. But it was surely long enough to find adequate shelter or to turn to Mary’s family, who lived nearby.
This late-night arrival-imminent-birth is so deeply engrained in our minds that i believe it is important that we inquire its origin.
The source of this misinterpretation stems from approximately two hundred years after the birth of Jesus, when an anonymous Christian wrote and expanded account of the birth of Jesus that has survived and is called The Protevangelium of James. James had nothing to do with it. The author was not a Jew and did not understand Palestinian geography or Jewish tradition.
Whoever the author was, he/she had clearly read the Gospel stories but was unfamiliar with the geography of the Holy Land. In the novel, for example, the author describes the road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem as a desert. It is not a desert but rather rich farm land.
In the novel, as they approach Bethlehem, Mary says to Joseph, “Joseph, take me down from the donkey, for the child within me presses me, to come forth.” Responding to this request, Joseph leaves Mary in a cave and rushes off to Bethlehem to find a midwife.
3 An important part of this novel’s story line is that Jesus was born even before his parents arrived in Bethlehem. This novel is the earliest known reference to the notion that Jesus was born the night Mary and Joseph arrived in or near Bethlehem.
What story do we believe?
The second group reflected
Mary and Joseph might have tried 3 houses and one had a stable at the back.
Mary and Joseph felt sad and annoyed that they had nowhere to go.
What is a manger? It’s kind of like a bed for a baby. A little cot that rocks. Normally for hay to go in for animals to eat. Ooooh – Putting a baby in there! It would be smelly and yucky – poo everywhere and stinky!
Where does a baby normally sleep? In a cot/crib/stroller
Would you put a baby in a dirty place? No you would put the baby in a clean bed.
What’s a stable? It’s like a barn with lots of animals and hay
What was the innkeeper like? He was angry!
4 He didn’t like being woken up!
What were the animals in the stable? Cows, sheep, pigs, horse, hens, cat, dog, spiders and flies
They asked people in houses and there was no room so they went to the hotel. It was the middle of the night and the man didn’t like being woken up. He said, “There is no room at the hotel but there is a stable.”
They had been travelling for such a long time when they got to the stable and it smelt yucky and there was poo everywhere.
My reflection
To summarize the problems in the traditional interpretation of Luke, Joseph was returning to his home village where he could easily find shelter.
Because he was a descendant of King David nearly all doors of the village would have been open to him
Remember it was his home so he had family and friends who would be happy to take care of him and his wife.
Mary had relatives nearby and could have turned to them but did not. There was plenty fo time to arrange suitable housing. How could a Jewish town fail to help a young Jewish mother about to give birth?
In light of these cultural and historical realities, how are we to understand the story properly?
5 Two questions we need to ask are to help us understand
Where was the manger and what was the “inn”?
For me the word manger invokes the image of a stable or barn, just as the children reflected
But in traditional Middle Eastern villages this is not the case
Simple village homes had but two rooms but no such thing as a barn or stable
One of the rooms was a guest room, which could be attached to the end of the house or on the roof The main room was the “family room” where the entire family cooked, ate, slept and lived.
The end of the room next to the door, was either a few feet lower than the rest of the floor or blocked off with heavy timbers.
Each night into that area the family cow, donkey and a few sheep would be driven Within that same area a manger would sit
The family living room has a slight slope in the direction of the animal stall, which aids in sweeping and washing. Dirt and water naturally move downhill into the space for the animals and can be swept to the door.
If the family cow is hungry during the night, she can stand up and eat from mangers cut out of the floor of the living room
6 Mangers for sheep can be of wood and placed on the floor of the lower level.
That’s mangers but what about the problem of ‘there being no room in the inn?’
Did the people really reject Jesus and his parents?
Kenneth Bailey suggests that the word ‘Inn’ has been misunderstood
Where we take the meaning that the ‘No vacancy sign’ of the motel was switched on
However the Greek word for Inn actually means “space” as in there is no space on my table.
Literally the word for Inn Katalyma means ‘a place to stay’
In Luke’s story i suggest that the place to stay is the guest room, which of course as we have heard, is already full.
Where are Mary and Joseph going to stay then?
In the family room
What’s in the family room?
Some mangers
What story do we believe?
7 Another group’s reflection
What do you know about the shepherd’s?
They are people who look after sheep
And they kill them to get meat for their families
And they help them give birth.
How many were there?
4,2,6,8
No – 249
No, that’s the sheep! There were 4 shepherds
And then an angel came down – where from?
From the sky
From heaven, where dead people go to
Well, where only Christians go to
There was a whole bunch of angels
I’m glad I’m not going to be an angel because they go la la la and just sprinkle flowers and petals
No, no angels are boys, they’re mean warriors
How would the shepherds feel seeing the angels?
8 They were glad it wasn’t monsters coming out of a portal
Feel kinda cool and kinda scared
What do you think the shepherds said when they saw Jesus?
“WOW’
And they gave him a present of sheep skin wool to keep him warm
My reflection
The first people to hear the message of Jesus’ birth were a group of shepherds who were close to the bottom of the social scale in their society.
The shepherds heard and were afraid
Initially they were probably frightened by the sight of the angels, but later they were asked to visit the child!
From their point of view, if the child was truly the Messiah, the parents would reject the shepherds if they tried to visit him!
How could they be convinced to expect a welcome?
The angels anticipated this anxiety and told the shepherds they would find the baby wrapped (which was what peasants, like shepherds, did with their newly born children).
Furthermore, they were told that he was lying in a manger!
9 That is, they would find Jesus in an ordinary peasant home such as theirs. He was not in a governor’s mansion or a wealthy merchant’s guest room but in a simple two room home like theirs.
This was really good news! They would not be told to get lost!
With this sign of encouragement, the shepherds proceeded to Bethlehem in spite of their low status
On arrival they reported their story and everyone was amazed
Then they left “praising God for all that they had heard and seen.”
Clearly this means that they found the family of Jesus in perfectly adequate accommodations, not in a dirty stable
If on arrival they had found a smelly stable
A frightened young mother
And a desperate Joseph, they would have said,
“This is outrageous! Come home with us! Our women will take care of you!”
Within 5 minutes the shepherds would have moved the little family to their own homes
The honour of the entire village would rest on their shoulders and they would have sensed their responsibility to do their duty.
10 The fact that they didn’t have to do this means they could not offer better hospitality that what had already been extended to the family of Jesus
What do we believe?
Conclusion
What does it matter that we know a bit more about the nativity story
Or that we are better aware of what really happened with Jesus and his parents?
Why should we care what the shepherds did?
Or where Jesus was laid?
Or whether it was an inn or a stable?
What does it matter?
I believe it matters inasmuch as the real story
Makes it possible for real people to hear that God has come into the world in a real way to be in the midst of our everyday, normal, at times mundane, at times exciting lives
Why do we read stories?
Often, I believe, it because we want to escape the life we are in now
11 We read because we don’t want to think about reality but to be drawn to somewhere different
The problem with books and stories is that once we put them down we find ourselves back in our real lives
With real ups and downs
If the Christmas story is one of these stories
One that engages our imagination and helps us escape life
But does nothing to help us in our real lives
Then what do we have
But a wonderful, colourful Christmas card that is thrown away once the day is over
12