Spirituality Column #735

December 15, 2020

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Part 1: What’s Left Unsaid Is …

By Bob Walters

“The shepherds returned [to their flocks], glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” – Luke 2:20

I love the warm-fuzzies of the Christmas season, and especially the King James Bible’s beautiful story of the birth of Jesus in Luke 2.  Like the company of angels in Luke 2:14, we should all be “praising God in the highest” and praying for peace over all the earth.  The decorations, music, traditions, my own memories … I love it all.

I also get a real kick out of filling in all the blanks that exist within not just the Bible story of “Christmas” – a word which does not appear in the Bible – but also sorting through truth and legend of what happened in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago.  God sent to us the most powerful message possible: He sent Himself.  And the message truly did reside in the medium – a humble, helpless baby whose love and obedience would change all humanity in grace and faith … forever. 

There are very few biblical specifics about the birth.  It gets half a verse in Matthew 2:1, and then half a chapter in Luke 2:4-20. Yet there is so much we think we know that isn’t so, because we don’t know that culture. We know it happened.  That’s it.

Around 200 A.D. an anonymous non-Palestinian wrote a story, in Greek, titled The Protevangelium of James about the birth of Jesus.  It is from that story, not the Bible, that we get most of what we think we know about the birth of Jesus in (or near) Bethlehem, and most of it is wrong. 

There’s the story about Mary going into labor on the journey, Joseph putting her in a cave, and Mary, a scared teenager, giving birth by herself.  That notion took hold in the traditions of the Eastern Church, and that is the story in the Protevangelim.

Or, Joseph and Mary make it to Bethlehem in the nick of time and because there was “no room in the inn” (Luke 2:7) – which when translated properly means “extra room,” not “hotel room” – Jesus was in a handy “barn.”  Um, they didn’t have “barns.”

We are also led to believe this was a hurried trip with little planning and no provisions for lodging, that Joseph and Mary showed up unannounced as strangers, and they were either purposely shunned or coldly left unattended by everyone in the town of Bethlehem as Mary went into labor upon (or shortly before) arrival.  No.

Let’s address just one very obvious biblical detail.  Luke 2:6 – again in the beautiful language of the King James, states – “And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she [Mary] should be delivered…”  Jesus was born days after they got to Bethlehem, not as an emergency delivery upon arrival. 

Next week we’ll look briefly at other specifics of Joseph, Mary, the trip, their accommodations, the “inn”, the shepherds, the angels, the animals, and the culture itself.  It’s been a couple of years since I’ve mentioned Kenneth Bailey’s wonderful book, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, which provides realistic cultural context to the Bible’s very brief announcement of this world-altering event.

The Bible is true and accurate, and often says more than we may realize.  Plus, what’s left unsaid is sometimes historically knowable and downright fascinating.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) and his wife Pam decorate extensively for Christmas.