Luke 2: 7 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. (NIV)
Luke 22:11 “… The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” (NIV)
Perhaps you’ve heard the beautiful Christmas song, “In the Bleak Midwinter.” It imagines Jesus born where water is frozen like stone, with “snow on snow, snow on snow.” It ends with the desire to give the Babe our hearts. I love both the music and the sentiment, but it can’t be used as an historical claim. Today, in Jerusalem, the temperature ranged from 49°F to 59°F. That’s not exactly Minnesota or Denver. And, yes, shepherds around Bethlehem did keep their flocks by night at this time of year.
All of this is to remind us that over the centuries, many traditions have attached themselves to the Christmas story. We all know that there was no decorated evergreen near the manger, nor an annoying boy banging on a drum nearby. But a much older tradition has almost universally been assumed to be historical. That is, that Joseph and Mary arrived just before Jesus was born, and Joseph banged on the door of a commercial inn, only to be callously told, “there was no room in the inn,” at which time they are sent to a stable, where there was a manger.
I don’t want any of you to throw out your nativity scenes, but the word Luke used generally means “guest room,” not an inn (although it can mean that). The normal Greek word for a commercial inn is pandocheion and Luke uses that word in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:34) for such a commercial inn. In Luke 2:7, Luke uses the Greek word, kataluma. The only other time he uses this word is in Luke 22:11 to describe the guest room of the Last Supper. Guest rooms are attached to a house, even a simple house. These houses typically had a lower section where animals were brought in for the night. Also, a manger or mangers were present in the house, not in a detached stable. I encourage you to see a video by the excellent scholar, who recently passed into the presence of our Lord, Kenneth E. Bailey. Bailey spent most of his life in the Middle East, studying and experiencing that culture. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6UC1Gzfq1s.
If Bailey is right, and he’s convinced me, Mary and Joseph were welcomed into the home of a relative. However, because of the influx of visitors into Bethlehem due to the census, the guest room was occupied, so they shared the larger single-family room. Jesus, then, was born in a house and placed in a manger there, being well cared for. (1)
The other guest room mentioned in Luke, was prepared for Jesus’ celebration of the Passover at the end of His life. It was prepared by arrangement, and I suspect by friends who loved Jesus. There in a welcoming guest room, Jesus shared the Passover, with followers, one of whom would betray Him, and all of whom would soon desert Him. Yet, as the gracious Host, He welcomed them all.
These guest rooms that bracket Jesus’ life are present before us, especially as we share His Supper. Will we welcome His family in? Will we welcome His disciple’s, even the least of these His brothers and sisters, in? And, finally, will we welcome Him in? Jesus gave a serious warning, and yet, gracious invitation to a seemingly self-sufficient church in Laodicea:
Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me. (Revelation 3:20 NIV)
Tim Kelley
(1)Here is a helpful summary, that includes the ancient tradition that Jesus was born in a cave: https://www.youthpastortheologian.com/blog/where-was-jesus-born-a-barn-cave-or-house