1. Stable or Unstable?
We gather, smiling, around the stable. Coo over our children, dressed as Mary & Joseph. Grin at Farmer Giles’ real live donkey. Aaaaah! It’s lovely. And good. And incorrect!
Luke probably interviewed Mary. He records she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn (Luke 2:7). That seems clear enough. We have a manger. Therefore a stable. But was there? Could there be a manger elsewhere? If you visit Bethlehem, they’ll tell you he was born in a cave.
The clue is the ‘inn’. The Greek word is katalumati. It means a guest room. It has traditionally been translated here as ‘inn’ but we find the regular (and common) word for an inn or public guest-house,
Joseph and Mary were returning to their roots for the census. It’s inconceivable they had no family there, and equally unlikely they wouldn’t stay with them. However, hundreds had descended on the town, and the family guest room was overflowing. So they moved to the stable after all?
Twice a year I visit Nepali villages caught in a 2,000-year-old time-warp. The family livestock occupies the ground floor or an attached annex of the house. Without doctors or hospitals, but people everywhere, Mary had to find a place among the household animals and give birth on their straw. Messy. Painful. Lonely. Frightened.
Does the Lord mind our sweet Nativity scenes? Of course not! But don’t let’s miss the harsh reality of his birth. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your coming.