We’re all familiar with the story: Mary, the virgin teenaged expectant mother begins to feel cramps as the lights of Bethlehem come into view. By the time they enter the village, Mary is in full blown labor – in desperate need of a private place to give birth. But, there’s no room in the inn. Depending on who writes the Christmas pageant, the innkeeper is played as a sniveling man who cruelly turns Mary and Joseph away or a kindhearted older man who generously offers the young couple his stable for the night.
But is that really how it happened? Consider this: Mary and Joseph both had relatives in and around Bethlehem. The whole reason they were there in the first place was that Joseph’s family was from there. Did he have no extended cousins who could put them up? We know from Luke 1 that Mary had extended family in the area as well. Couldn’t they have headed for Zechariah and Elizabeth’s house instead? Even if not, could they not find refuge in the house of a kind stranger?
If we read Luke 2 carefully, we don’t find this story at all. Luke tells us that they were in Bethlehem when Mary reached full term (Lk 2:6). She didn’t go into labor on the road; they were already at their destination. Where were they staying? The text doesn’t say, but what we know about Middle Eastern hospitality leads us to believe that they would have been warmly welcomed by the people of the town, even if their houses were already full.
Which leads us to the word translated “inn” in most English Bibles. Modern readers think of the “Prancing Pony” from the Lord of the Rings – a place to grab a pint and stay overnight on one’s travels. But the Greek word used in Luke 2:7, kataluma, refers to a guest room off the main area of a house, not Barliman Butterbur’s fine establishment. We also assume that the manger must have been in a barn, but animals were often kept in a stable attached to the main living area of the house. When Jesus was born, a midwife grabbed a manger from the other end of the house to use as a bassinet. Why? Because there was no room in the guest room.
This, of course, does not change the meaning of Christ’s lowly birth. Here is Jesus, the rightful heir to the Davidic throne in his forefather’s hometown. He is not born in a palace, but laid in a manger. He is not born to fanfare from the people, so angels must guide shepherds to him. He is God, truly stepping into his lowly creation in order to save his people from their sins.