Why Didn’t Mary and Joseph Stay With Relatives?
Good Morning Friends,
This Christmas, as with every Christmas holiday, lots of people’s relatives will be coming in droves to Florida. Many of them choose to stay with family though there are plenty of other options. Thankfully the thought of the hospitality offered to relatives seems so like Christmas. So I began to wonder. Why Didn’t Mary and Joseph Stay With Relatives?
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Scripture: These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so.
Acts 17:11 (NRSV)
Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. |
Luke 2:4-7 (NRSV)
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Luke 2:7 (NRSV)
and say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”‘
Luke 22:11 (NRSV)
Be hospitable to one another without complaining.
1 Peter 4:9 (NRSV)
Message: We think we know the Christmas story but do we really? Scripture leaves a lot for us to imagine and over the years people have read into the scripture images that may not be real. You are probably familiar with the story of Joseph and Mary arriving at the sleepy town of Bethlehem in the middle of the night. Mary was already in labor and remains on the donkey while Joseph frantically searches for a room at the local inns. Desperate, Joseph begs one reluctant innkeeper for any place at all to have this baby. The innkeeper finally relents and makes room for them in a rundown stable with cows. But is this how it happened?
Let’s take a look at scripture. If we read the NIV translation, the word is guest room not inn as in the NRSV and is traditionally read. But think about it for a moment, there is no mention of a stable and a bunch of animals around as is depicted in the typical nativity scene. Where did this come into our tradition? Sure there was a manger. Every home had one. Only the wealthy had stables. Somehow though it seem a nice thought to imagine the first Christmas as one with relatives in a home. First century inns were not a place to give birth to a child. Joseph may have been a jerk but really I think it unlikely he would he have taken Mary to an inn. The word used in the text translated as inn or guest room is kataluma. And is the same word used in the text from Luke 22:11 about the Upper Room. There is a different word, pandokheion that describes an inn as used by the Good Samaritan to help the injured man in that story. The reality is that the Christmas Eve text does not paint a picture of urgency with the young couple relegated to the barn. Scripture indicates they were in the area already well in advance of the birth, so it seems likely that they would have stayed with friends and family. Wouldn’t you. In fact, we should realize that not far from Bethlehem dwelt Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, whom Mary had lived with for a while during her pregnancy. If they were seeking a place to stay for days, maybe they stayed with Elizabeth or with Lazarus’s family in Bethany in advance of going to Bethlehem. The answer is simple. The couple probably didn’t face closed doors but they probably did have to stay in the lower level of one of the peasant homes—a place that often housed animals in ancient Israel. The simple answer is that there was no room in the upper room, the guest room, to give birth to a child so Mary and Joseph used the downstairs common area. Frankly I find this interpretation of the text much more plausible to imagine. So maybe and most likely Mary and Joseph found a house in which to stay in Bethlehem—probably that of relatives. And being in these accommodations already, it makes no sense for them to suddenly be out seeking a room in an inn or anywhere else at the time of Mary’s labor. Friends there was no begrudging innkeeper. Families stayed with families back in Israel at the time of Jesus perhaps more so than they do now. Friends, the story does not need any additional drama. The first Christmas story connects us to an event not in isolation but with family and that remains part of the Christmas holiday today. It is the whole idea of family being with family. That kind of hospitality was expected in the Jewish culture and it is a message for us this season as well. And is never lacking for drama.
Pray we see through all the extras added on to the story of Christmas. Pray we appreciate the real drama of God loving us enough to become one of us. Pray that we believe, ask for and receive the gift of love born in Jesus. Pray that we embrace, not a myth, but the reality of a new birth. Pray we rejoice in the gathering of family at Christmas. Pray we examine scripture to discover its true meaning. Pray we rejoice in the Word made flesh.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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