December 17

Today's Reading: Luke 2:1-7

A lot of our ideas about the Christmas story have been shaped by our own traditions as well as familiarity with the story.

For instance, how many of us haven't been to a Christmas pageant or heard a sermon about the innkeeper who didn't have a vacancy and been exhorted to make sure we have room for Jesus in our lives? (By the way that is an important principle, just not one we can draw from this passage in my view.) The word translated "inn' just means a guest room in someone's home - usually the home of a relative. There were no Holiday Inns back then. Because of the crowds in Jerusalem, it was likely that none of Joseph's or Mary's family had enough room for them to stay. (I have to wonder if that wasn't due, at least in part to the shame of Mary being pregnant before she was married.)

The fact that Jesus was place in a manger - an animal feeding trough - has also led to the idea that Jesus was born in a stable, barn, or maybe even a cave. It is much more likely that he was born in the lower level of a typical Israelite house where the animals were kept at night.