[Forty-ninth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: About one hundred years before Jesus was born, the Jewish people rebelled against the Greek king of Syria and won their freedom. To this day, the Jewish people celebrate that event during the season of Hanukkah. At that time, people from the area around Jerusalem and Bethlehem settled in Galilee and built little towns like Nazareth. Likely, the grandparents or great-grandparents of Mary and Joseph settled there at that time. When the Roman rulers of Palestine required all its people to register in their hometowns, Joseph and Mary had to travel the 80 to 90 miles to Bethlehem on foot. The census was a source of pride for Augustus Caesar. The emperor had it inscribed on his tombstone. It likely took decades to complete — especially on the edges of the empire and in its client kingdoms.
When Mary and Joseph arrived in the small town of David, there was no room for them to stay in any of the homes. The word that the King James Version translates as “inn” means something more general than a place to rent a room. It means more like “guest room.” So, likely one of their relatives let them stay in the stable — actually a fairly warm and somewhat private place to give birth in those days. The people of Bethlehem had built their homes into the caves on the hillside, a very efficient way to maintain steady temperatures year-round and protect people and their domestic animals from the elements.
Our traditional crèches show the scene more like it would have been if Jesus had been born in medieval Germany rather than Roman First Century Judea. Because most people in the Middle Ages could not read, artwork told all the stories of the birth of Jesus together in one scene. They often include a baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, a manger with hay, cattle, sheep, donkeys and camels, shepherds, wise men and their gifts. Yet it is unlikely that the original scene was that crowded. Most families in that time and place likely would have, at most a donkey and sheep — no cattle.
Shepherds were common folk, looked down on as working-class people are looked down on today. Those on the night shift would not be a group to which an announcement from the throne of God would be made. Yet the angel, God’s ambassador, announced the birth of his son and chose them.
Martin Luther summed it up in a Christmas Sermon:
If Christ had come with trumpets sounding; If he had a cradle of gold, his birth would have been a stately thing. But it wouldn’t comfort me. So, he had to lay in a poor girl’s lap and be scarcely noticed by the world. In that lap I can come to see Him; in this way He now reveals Himself to the distressed. Yes, he would’ve had greater fame if he’d have come in great power, splendor, wisdom and high class. Yet, He will come someday, in another way, when He comes to oppose the great nobles. But now He comes to the poor, who need a Savior.
— Martin Luther
Sermon on Christmas Day 1530
Translated by Robert E. Smith
Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog
The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack
Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana
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