Jesus was not born in a barn. Here’s the real story and why it matters.
Jesus’ birth is not what you grew up believing. Or what your favorite stories tell you. In fact, it’s something more glorious!
Let’s go behind the curtain of all the Christmas plays and take you to the true story of Jesus’ birth.
The problem starts with the whole ‘inn’ thing.
Your English Bible says “there was no room in the inn (Luke 2:7).” Reading this, you might think that Bethlehem had a motel that was all booked up. The fact is, Joseph and Mary are not turned away from an ‘inn.’
The writer of the Gospel of Luke is…. Luke. He writes in the Greek language. And if you read this gospel and his other book, Acts, you would know he writes as a historian.
Luke is careful with his choice of words. He wants to get his facts right.
So when he records the birth of Jesus, he doesn’t use the Greek word for ‘inn’ (Greek: ‘pandokian’). Luke does use that word in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). He takes him to a ‘pandokian’ and tells the manager to take care of the injured man. The translators got that one right!
But Joseph and Mary were not turned away at the ‘inn.’ That is not the word that Luke uses. Honestly, I don’t know why nearly every Bible today uses says “there was no room for them at the inn.” Because the place without room was clearly not an ‘inn.’
So if it wasn’t an inn, what is the place that had no room for them?
Remember in Luke 22 when Jesus tells his disciples to prepare his last Passover with them? He instructs them to follow a man carrying a jar of water and ask the owner of the house, “The Teacher asks: ‘Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there (Luke 22:11-12).”
That guest room? The Greek word is ‘kataluma.’
That’s the word that Luke uses in the birth story.
They did not have room in the guest room for Joseph and Mary!
The Kataluma gives us a big clue where Jesus was really born. There was no room in the guest room! And that suggests our next clue.
Joseph’s relatives would not leave him high and dry.
When Joseph and Mary left Nazareth to register for Caesar’s census, they went to Joseph’s home town. Almost certainly, many of his relatives lived there.
Because in the Middle East, hospitality is very important. Having lived in the Middle East, I can tell you that Joseph would not have been told by relatives to go to an ‘inn’. It wouldn’t cross their minds to send them away.
Middle Eastern homes often had two stories. The top story is a one-room loft. This was the guest room. This is where a visiting rabbi would stay. Or a business associate.
So Joseph’s relatives would have said, “You must stay with us. The guest room is already taken. But stay with the rest of us downstairs and we’ll be there when the baby comes.”
They slept downstairs. So what about the manger?
The fact is, the downstairs is the center of life in the home. This is where women cooked and children played. It is also where their donkeys and sheep slept at night. And where they put a manger full of straw for them to eat.
So here’s how I think the real birth story goes.
Joseph and Mary return to his hometown so he can register for the census. Naturally, they arrive at the doorstep of some relatives. Of course, they welcome the family into their home.
The guest room is already taken (maybe by grandpa and grandma, maybe by a rich relative).
So they insist that the young couple stay with the rest of the family in the main part of the home.
Jesus is born in the middle of daily life: the cooking, the gossip, the playing.
After he is born, he is laid in a manger. But he doesn’t lie there long, because the female relatives would take turns holding him, squeezing his cheek and wondering why he doesn’t look much like Joseph.
The power of Jesus’ story is the commonly uncommon birth of the Messiah.
If you really want to celebrate the birth of Jesus, then start with the real story.
Jesus is born in the midst of a community. In the middle of life. He is welcomed and adored from the very moment of his birth.
Which is exactly how God-in-flesh loves to be celebrated. As part of your community. In the center of your life. To be welcomed.