The Baby Born

The Town is Full

Your village is abuzz. It has been an amazing week welcoming friends, and family members you have not seen in some time. Families have been arriving all week, it has not just been the husbands, but the wives and children also. The entire families are coming. About two days ago your cousin and his family came into town. You were so excited to see him, after all it has been years. He brought his wife and their five children with him, three boys; fifteen, twelve and six, and two girls; thirteen and four. You have never even met the youngest two. Your cousin and his family come from Tiberius on the sea of Galilee. They walked for about three days along the King’s Road, through Jerusalem, and arrived here.

You have been talking and learned that their oldest son has learned the family trade and has been working hard with his dad. His younger sister has recently been betrothed to a man in their town. The twelve-year-old boy has been helping their neighbor with their sheep and the younger too are becoming more and more helpful around the house. It has been great to catch up with them.

There have been so many different relatives in the town, your cousin’s story is just one. The food has been flowing. You and your neighbors have not been neglecting feeding everyone who is in town. It has been quite a celebration.

It has also been a bit stressful for you. Every day more and more people enter town to register for the census. Every day more of your neighbors’ guest rooms are filling up. You still have some room in yours but not much. It is currently occupied by your cousin’s family. There is also a family that has come from Megiddo. They have three small children. You couldn’t imagine traveling with three small children. Then there is the older couple that came from Jerusalem. It is less than a half a day’s walk for you and your family but for the elderly it is a grueling journey. The Torah tells us to “stand up before the gray head and honor the old man” (Leviticus 19:32). It is your duty care for the elderly. There is still some space left in your guest room. But not a lot.

Then another even more travelers arrived this afternoon. There was a group of them that came in from a town up north called Nazareth. You’ve never been there personally but you know some distant relatives that live there. This new group of travelers were people that you had never met before. It was again a husband, wife, and there six children. With almost all the guest rooms in town full you invite them to stay with your family in your guest room. There is not much room left, but you will make it work. You are truly blessing God with your hospitality.

You walk with all your new friend to the town center where there will once again be feasting and storytelling. Perhaps you will hear the story of your people; how your ancestors were captives in Babylon and how God restored you to Israel to wait for the Messiah. You love hearing about the promise of the coming messiah. Though you or your neighbors do not know when. You know from the prophets it will happen in your little town of Bethlehem. So today you will all celebrate for tomorrow the census will begin.

Night is Falling

It has been another great day of celebration and you and your family are back at your house for the night. The sounds from the guest room seem to have settled down. So, you assume everyone is asleep for the night. As you lay next to your wife listening to the quiet sounds of the town you think about what you have all been talking about. The coming of the messiah. This census just reminds everyone that you are a client kingdom, that you are ruled by foreigners. You long for the day when Israel is returned to self you. When you are no longer ruled by another nation, but you are ruled by an Israeli king, or even better, when you are ruled directly by God. You sit and dream.

The town is so quiet and then you hear it. A distant knock. It is faint, so faint that you can’t even tell where it is coming from. And it is not at your door, so you don’t worry about it. The resident will answer, and the knocking will stop. You lay there a little longer and your mind starts to wander again. It wanders to a distant time when your people walked with God. When he was present, when he was in their midst. Before their relationship would be broken by sin. As you are dreaming of this your eyes are getting heaver and heaver. You start to doze off.

Then, suddenly, your dreaming is broken by the distant knock again. This time you hear shouting accompanied by it. It is still too distant to understand what is being said but you can hear some urgency in the man’s voice. You wonder to yourself what is going on. The knocking continues. It seems like the man is in a panic. Knocking on all your neighbors’ door, and he is getting closer. You have no idea what is going on, but you get up and run to your door. You feel the urge to know just what is happening.

You slowly open the door a crack so that you can see what is happening. As you peer out of the crack in the door. It is a very bright night with the north star shining brighter than you have ever seen. Through the crack you see a man banging on all your neighbors’ doors. A woman, you assume is his wife, is sitting on the donkey behind him. She seems to be very pregnant, and she seems to be in distress. Perhaps she is even in labor. And none of your neighbors seem to be willing to help her.

Now that you have a little better idea of what is going on you throw your door open and run to the man and his wife. At this point the husband is in a panic. He can not find a place for his wife to give birth and he is in desperate need. You know that you have no room for him in your guest room either, but your sense of hospitality says that you must do something. You must help.

Who knows by welcoming this young family into your home maybe you are welcoming God. It is possible that you could be following in the example of your ancestors Abraham and Lot who welcomed God in their homes. They took care of him, and because this they were blessed.

You run to this man and introduce yourself. He says his name is Joseph and he has come to town for the census. You do not know him, but you are always willing to help a stranger. His wife Mary is very much in labor, and she needs a place to give birth. You tell him that like all your neighbors your guest room is full also. So, instead you invite him into your house. Usually, the house is only for your family, it is their sanctuary, but today you know this family needs you.

You help Joseph to take his wife from the back of their donkey. Joseph helps his wife to the house and you lead his donkey into the house. She is walking very slowly; it is clear she is in a lot of pain. As you open the door to lead them into the house you call for your wife.

A Baby is Born

She wakes suddenly, panicked by your shouting. In fact, at this point the entire house is a bustle. All of you children jump up at the sound of your voice. Mary is screaming in pain. Your wife jumps up and runs to see what is happening. Joseph again explains to her that they have traveled with his pregnant wife all the way from Nazareth to participate in the census. He has been in labor for some time and the baby is surely on its way.

You wife jumps into action. She is not new to the birthing process or to helping another give birth. She has been called to help your neighbor’s wife give birth on several occasions. So, she takes control of the situation immediately. She shouts to the children to get cushions. As she helps Mary onto the floor, she lays the cushions under her back to help prop her up. She tells your oldest son to run to the well to fetch water. And you have no idea what to do. You are so used to being in control but at this point all you can do is stand back with Joseph and watch your amazing wife go to work.

The screaming continues into the night as your wife coaches Mary on. You offer Joseph something to eat because he looks famished. And he agrees that he has not eaten in a long time, but he cannot eat right now. He do anything but watch as his wife struggles to give birth. You have watched all your children born and it always reminds you of the curse God put on woman in Genesis, to increase her pain in childbirth. This birth is no different. You feel awful for Mary, the pain she is experiencing. You also sympathize with Joseph. Being the man you both want to always take care of your wives, but at this moment there is nothing you can do but stand and watch her in pain.

Then, finally, after what seems like an eternity a tiny head emerges and with one final scream the baby’s shoulders appear and the rest of the birth happens quickly. Just like that a new baby has been brought into this world. The new baby is here.

You wife takes string, ties off the chord, and cuts it. The baby lets out a scream, it is a healthy baby boy. Mary lays there exhausted and you wife lays this beautiful baby on her bare chest. Joseph approaches and you are blessed to witness not only the birth of this new baby, but the birth of this new family.

You wife tells your son to fill the manger with fresh fodder so there is a place to lay this new baby. She then takes the baby from his mother and cleans him up. She asks you to grab the clean swaddling strips that you use when you birth the baby sheep. You run to the other side of the room and grab the strips from the basket where you keep them. You hand them to your wife and watch as she gently wraps the newborn baby in the swaddling cloth. She then stands up and walks the baby to the place where you feed the animals and she lays him down in the manger. You all marvel at this newborn baby.

Emmanuel

It has been a long night. You are all exhausted. The baby has settled down in the manger. Your wife then picked him up and handed him back to Mary so she could nurse him. He took to nursing better than any baby you have ever seen before. Then when it seemed like the baby ate his fill Mary handed the baby to your wife and she laid the baby back in the manger.

Then suddenly there was another knock on the door. Who could it be at this time? It was the middle of the night. Who would be out in the town? You know that there had been a lot of commotion coming from your house. Perhaps it was the guests upstairs wonder what was going on, or maybe it was one of your neighbors who wanted to be nosy.

You stood up slowly, tired from the night’s events. You walk to the door and open it a crack. Peering out you see a group of young shepherds. You had spent time in the field as a shepherd and you knew that you were never supposed to leave your flock. What where they doing at your house? Especially on this night.

Then one shepherd stepped forward and asked to see Mary and her baby. You were in awe; how did they know she was here? But because of the strange events that had happened tonight you allowed them into your house.

The shepherds entered the house saw the baby, immediately dropped to their knees, and began to tell their story. They told everyone in the house; they had been in the fields that night tending their flocks when an angel of the Lord appeared to them. They were terrified of the angel, but the angel of the Lord spoke to them saying Luke 2.10-12

Luke 2:10–12 NIV

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

You and your family were in amazed. Did this truly happen, was God really just born in your house? If what the shepherd had told you was true then what your people had been waiting for had just come true. The messiah had been born, here in your town of Bethlehem, and in your house. because of what you witnessed tonight you know the baby truly is Emmanuel, God with us.

Prologue

We are used to the story of Christmas going something like this. Mary and Joseph traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem to participate in a census. When they got to Bethlehem Mary was in labor and need a place to give birth. They went to the hotel in town looking for a room and there weren’t any spare rooms. So, the evil innkeeper sent them to the barn behind the inn where Mary had to give birth to Jesus surrounded by farm animals.

The problem with this narrative is it ignores not only the language found in the New Testament, but it shows a lack of basic first century Hebrew culture and traditions.

The word Luke uses that we tend to translate to inn is καταλύματι (katalumati) which is closer to guest room. In the parable of the Good Samaritan Luke uses πανδοχεῖ (pandoka) which is the translates directly to inn. So, in Luke’s birth narrative he is directing the reader to a guest house rather than a traditional inn.

Also, we need to understand the Hebrew focus on hospitality. Hospitality was one of the most important aspects of Hebrew culture. Hebrew people thought if they welcomed the stranger, they could be welcoming God. They knew the story of their ancestor Abraham who welcomed three strangers and they turned out to be God. He was blessed because of them. They had been told to welcome the foreigner and to treat them well.

This focus on hospitality was so important that most Hebrews built guest rooms either at the back of their house or on the roof. We see the widow give the prophet Elisha use of her guest room whenever he wants in 2 Kings. For a small village like Bethlehem not to have a proper inn and rely on guest houses was not only possible it is more than likely.

Finally, we must understand a first century Hebrew house was built with one main room. The animals would occupy much of the same space as the residents. There would have been feeding troughs, most likely carved out of stone, in the main living space of the family.

When all of this is understood it leads us the modern audience to a much different Nativity story than we are used to. Mary and Joseph were probably welcomed into the main living space of the house because there was no space left in their guest room. Jesus would have been born with the help of the family, cleaned, and wrapped up for comfort. Then he would have been laid in the carved out feeding trough. The family would have been there to hear the message the angels gave to the shepherds and as Luke recounts all who heard what the shepherds told were amazed (Luke 2.18). Let us Pray.