On the Other Side of Christmas

Stoning of St. Stephen, by Rembrandt

Even though it's not technically connected with Christmas, yesterday -- the first day after Christmas -- is the day many of Jesus' followers for centuries commemorated the execution of Stephen, the Christian Movement's first martyr. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that Stephen is remembered here, but it serves as a none-too-subtle reminder that the Messiah wasn't born to bring us bright baubles and candy canes; this is serious business.

Let's rehearse what happened here. The powers-brokers back then were not terribly happy with Jesus' early followers. Stephen was one of the major exponents of what we stood for and, as the story goes, when his opponents couldn't out-debate him they simply accused him of "speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God." In short order Stephen was "seized and brought... before the Council," (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 6 verses 11 - 12).

In his defense Stephen delivered a long and rather blunt speech showing point by point that his people had an abysmal record of obeying God and now had capped it off by crucifying their own Messiah. His listeners did not take it well:

When those in the council meeting heard this, they became very angry. They were so mad they were grinding their teeth at him. But Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked up into heaven and saw the glory of God. And he saw Jesus standing at God’s right side. Stephen said, “Look! I see heaven open. And I see the Son of Man standing at God’s right side.” 

Everyone there started shouting loudly, covering their ears with their hands. Together they all ran at Stephen. They took him out of the city and began throwing stones at him. The men who told lies against Stephen gave their coats to a young man named Saul. As they were throwing the stones at him, Stephen was praying. He said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” He fell on his knees and shouted, “Lord, don’t blame them for this sin!” 

These were his last words before he died.

(Acts of the Apostles, chapter 7 verses 54 - 60, ERV)

One may fault Stephen for tactlessness but not for lack of courage. Jesus offered his people a revolutionary way to be rescued from Rome, rescued from sin, rescued from failing repeatedly to fulfill the mission God had created them for. Even at this late date, when they had utterly failed to recognize their Messiah and turned him over to the Romans for a hideous execution, Jesus' offer still stood. Israel could still fall in behind their King. Stephen saw his duty clear and decided his best shot at shaking up the august leaders of his people was to rub their noses in the truth of what they'd done.

It got him killed, with many more to come.

On this day we are reminded that the line of martyrs with Stephen at its head has by no means come to an end, as dozens of Jesus' people are blown up in Egypt for celebrating his birth. Meanwhile in China Christians are routinely kidnapped and tortured.

In the comfortable, hermetically sealed western world we inhabit it's easy to assume the days of Christians being martyred for their faith is long past, that it may have happened back in "barbaric" Roman times, but not today. It's particularly easy when we are warm and full from the traditional holiday buying binge.

The Feast of Stephen helps us remember right after Christmas that that's not quite the case.

Merry Christmas From the Rebellion

What an invasion looks like

And so the child has been born, the King has arrived, and the invasion has begun. From that day in Bethlehem to our own, this revolution has continued. Following the example of our Master's own subversive activities, we deploy the full power of self-sacrificial love against war, hunger, poverty, suffering, pride, hate, cruelty, oppression, greed and the spiritual forces of evil behind them. 

And, like our earliest ancestors in the Christian movement, we spread that simple, innately powerful message, the joyful Great Announcement that "the Lord has come, let Earth receive her King!"

We have not always fared terribly well as we carried out our mission. Many, many of our brothers and sisters in the struggle all throughout the world are not doing well right now. But we've been warned of this from the beginning, and we are not afraid.

"I have told you these things," Jesus of Nazareth told us long ago, "so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have conquered the world!" (Gospel of John chapter 16 verse 33).

But we press on. Because Christmas is not only a day of gifts, conviviality, and good cheer.  Christmas is a rebellion. 

A very happy Christmas (all 12 days) to everyone out there reading this!

Advent - The King on Your Doorstep

The True King arrives

The special child will be born.
    God will give us a son
who will be responsible for leading the people.
His name will be “Wonderful Counselor,
     Powerful God,
     Father Who Lives Forever,
     Prince of Peace.”
His power will continue to grow,
     and there will be peace without end.
This will establish him as the king
     sitting on David’s throne
     ruling his kingdom.
He will rule with goodness and justice
     forever and ever.
The strong love that the Lord All-Powerful has for his people
will make this happen!

Book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 9 verses 6-7, (ERV)

Advent, as we observed when we began these reflections four weeks ago, originally meant the arrival of a king. And just as the subjects of Rome long ago would have gone to great lengths to get everything ready for Caesar Augustus, Advent is a season of preparation for the coming of our King, Jesus of Nazareth.

Early tomorrow, while the sky is still dark (if tradition is any guide), the King will finally arrive. Not with a vast entourage of hangers on, not with all the opulent glory of an imperial ruler, but in obscurity and poverty and dirt. It still seems odd to us today, doesn't it? 2000 years have come and gone since Jesus' birth and we are quite familiar with this story. But we still instinctively associate luxury and showiness with importance and true power. When a world leader makes a gesture toward humility we do find it charming, but it would seem strange to us if they lived in a small apartment and ate cup-a-soup (although since I posted an earlier version of this essay one doing just that has turned up).

But the High King of the universe did live humbly from beginning to end, and he did it by choice.

I've come back to this dichotomy repeatedly throughout these little essays because it confronts me with a question: If God is like that when he comes to Earth, then what should I be like? If out of all the possible options he could have chosen he chose this one -- melding with and living among the poor and downtrodden -- then, out of all possible options available today, how should I live?

Tonight, for somewhere around the 2000th time, the High King comes again as a baby in that insect-infested manger, while his poverty-stricken parents and shell-shocked shepherds look on.

What does he want of us this time? Will we respond this year? Will we join his revolution?

*          *          *

Prayer: Our King, let us bow down at your makeshift crib with your poor, intrepid parents and worship you. And then help us to rise up and follow you wheresoever you may lead us. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, we pray. Amen.

Book of Isaiah, chapter 9 verses 6 - 7, Common English Bible

Advent, as we observed when we began these reflections four weeks ago, originally meant the arrival of a king. And just as the subjects of Rome long ago would have gone to great lengths to get everything ready for Caesar Augustus, Advent is a season of preparation for the coming of our King, Jesus of Nazareth.

Early tomorrow, while the sky is still dark (if tradition is any guide), the King will finally arrive. Not with a vast entourage of hangers on, not with all the opulent glory of an imperial ruler, but in obscurity and poverty and dirt. It still seems odd to us today, doesn't it? 2000 years have come and gone since Jesus' birth and we are quite familiar with this story. But we still instinctively associate luxury and showiness with importance and true power. When a world leader makes a gesture toward humility we do find it charming, but it would seem strange to us if they lived in a small apartment and ate cup-a-soup (although since I posted an earlier version of this essay one doing just that has turned up).

But the High King of the universe did live humbly from beginning to end, and he did it by choice.

I've come back to this dichotomy repeatedly throughout these little essays because it confronts me with a question: If God is like that when he comes to Earth, then what should I be like? If out of all the possible options he could have chosen he chose this one -- melding with and living among the poor and downtrodden -- then, out of all possible options available today, how should I live?

Tonight, for somewhere around the 2000th time, the High King comes again as a baby in that insect-infested manger, while his poverty-stricken parents and shell-shocked shepherds look on.

What does he want of us this time? Will we respond this year? Will we join his revolution?

*          *          *

Prayer: Our King, let us bow down at your makeshift crib with your poor, intrepid parents and worship you. And then help us to rise up and follow you wheresoever you may lead us. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, we pray. Amen.

Why Was the Messiah Born in a Manger?

No Room

(I usually repost this article during Advent because the question keeps coming up.)


Everyone is familiar with the fact that Jesus' parents couldn't find a place to stay when they arrived in Bethlehem. But why didn't just stay with relatives? After all, this was supposedly Joseph's hometown.

Luke, who tells this story in the 2nd chapter of his Gospel, does not elaborate. To him the point is that the King of the Universe was born in the most abject of circumstances -- abject to the point that he had to be laid in a feeding trough.

Even if there had been "room for them in the inn," the surroundings would not have been opulent. The "inn" of a small, first century, middle eastern village like Bethlehem would have been a few crude lean-to's for traveling people and animals found on the edge of town. Even those were full, and very old tradition says Mary and Joseph found shelter in a little cave (more like a nook in the rock).

But what about Joseph's relatives? Scholars put forward two possible reasons that they didn't provide shelter for the two travelers that night. Both are conjectures of course and neither is supported by any of the early Christian writers, so you can decide for yourself which seems more likely.

One explanation is that Joseph may not have had any relatives in Bethlehem. He and Mary traveled there because it was the ancestral home of King David, Joseph's ancestor. But it's quite possible that in the 1000 years since David's time his descendants had spread to the four winds. Joseph had, of course. At some point he or his family had chosen to move 90 miles north to tiny Nazareth.

This possibility is made more likely by the fact that, being of royal stock, the family of David was often a target of suspicion by the authorities.  We know for instance that relatives of Jesus were examined at the end of the first century for just this reason.  So  the harder it was for current rulers like Herod and the Romans to locate David's descendents, the better. It may be then that, when Caesar decreed his census, the entire lineage of David found themselves in the same situation as Joseph -- having to find a place to stay in a tiny, overcrowded village where they knew nobody.

Another Alternative
Or... There may well have been some of David's descendants still living in Bethlehem. But imagine it: They must have been completely overwhelmed by the influx of travellers. Bethlehem was a poor, miniscule hamlet at this time, so small that there's no clear archaeological evidence that it even existed (though from documentary evidence it's certain that it did). Several hundred people -- including many with other ancestors besides David -- suddenly descending upon it looking for a temporary place to stay probably created havoc.

Recently a number of scholars (such as C. S. Keene and Ben Witherington III) have pointed out that kataluma (the Greek word translated "inn") actually refers to many different types of lodging places, including whatever kind of guest room Joseph's relatives might have had available. In fact, the recently published Common English Bible translates this famous passage as, "She... laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guestroom," (Gospel of Luke chapter 2, verse 7)

So what Luke may be telling us is that, by the time Joseph and Mary reached Bethlehem, "the guest room in the relatives’ house... would have been filled beyond capacity with all the other relatives who had to journey to Bethlehem for the census."

All they had left to offer the holy family was the stable.

Come

A man named Simeon lived in Jerusalem... waiting for the time 
when God would come to help Israel, (Luke 2.25).

O come, O come, Emmanuel, 

And ransom captive Israel, 

That mourns in lonely exile here 

Until the Son of God appear. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! 

Emmanuel Shall come to you, O Israel! 

O come, now Wisdom from on high,

Who orders all things mightily; 

To us the path of knowledge show, 

And teach us in her ways to go. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! 

Emmanuel Shall come to you, O Israel! 

O come, O come, now Lord of might, 

Who to your tribes on Sinai’s height 

In ancient times you gave the law, 

In cloud, and majesty, and awe. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! 

Emmanuel Shall come to you, O Israel!

O come, thou Rod of Jesse,
Free thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! 

Emmanuel Shall come to you, O Israel!

Same Old, Same Old With the Son of God

Boredom

Photo by Adam Jones adamjones.freeservers.com

"On the 5th Day of Christmas my true love gave to me... downtime."

In the version of the Christian calendar followed in the western world this is the 5th Day of Christmas -- the one where your supposed to get those famous "five golden rings." But despite that, there are no holy feasts today, no commemorations like the one I mentioned the other day marking the first martyrdom in the Christian Movement. If you happen to be a big fan of Thomas Becket this would be the day you remember him, though it has nothing to do with Christmas (although he was yet another martyr...).

But there is a lesson in this day. After all, even life with the newborn Son of God wasn't a miracle-a-minute. There were no doubt weeks and months where nothing happened outside of ordinary, droning, peasant family life. Even the fact that they were refugees in Egypt for some time wouldn't have altered the mundaneness of the life of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus much.

Days like the 5th Day of Christmas, which basically just tick off time in the commemoration of Jesus' young life, help bring home the reality of all this. They hint that, despite all the wonders that swirl around the Holy Family at crucial moments, they were much more like us with all our prosaic concerns than we may think. As the Gospel of Luke tells us a little later on, most of Jesus' early life could be described this way: "The little boy Jesus was developing into a mature young man, full of wisdom. God was blessing him," (Luke, chapter 2 verse 40, ERV).

But that's to be expected. It is in legends and fairy tales that miracles happen every minute; here we are dealing with history. It just happens to be history in which God is with us.

The Ramifications of Christmas

Stoning of St. Stephen, by Rembrandt

Even though his feast day is not technically connected with Christmas, it's interesting to me that the first day after it is the day Jesus' followers commemorate the execution of Stephen, the Christian Movement's first martyr. Today is the 'Feast of Stephen,' which usually only surfaces in our minds when we sing Good King Wenceslas.

Perhaps it's just a coincidence that Stephen is celebrated here, but it serves as a none-too-subtle reminder that the Messiah wasn't born yesterday to bring us bright baubles and candy canes; this is serious business.

Serious Business

Let's rehearse what happened here. The power-brokers back then were not terribly happy with Jesus' early followers. Stephen was one of the major exponents of what we stood for and, as the story goes, when his opponents couldn't out-debate him they simply accused him of "speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God." In short order Stephen was " seized... and brought... before the council," (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 6 verses 11 - 12, ).

In his defense Stephen delivered a long and rather blunt speech showing point by point that his people had an abysmal record of obeying God and now had capped it off by crucifying their own Messiah. His listeners did not take it well:

Upon hearing this, his audience could contain themselves no longer. They boiled in fury at Stephen; they clenched their jaws and ground their teeth. But Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit. Gazing upward into heaven, he saw something they couldn’t see: the glory of God, and Jesus standing at His right hand.

Stephen: Look, I see the heavens opening! I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God! 

At this, they covered their ears and started shouting. The whole crowd rushed at Stephen, converged on him, dragged him out of the city, and stoned him. They laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul, while they were pelting Stephen with rocks. 

Stephen (as rocks fell upon him): Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he knelt in prayer, shouting at the top of his lungs, 

Stephen: Lord, do not hold this evil against them! 

Those were his final words; then he fell asleep in death.

(Acts of the Apostles, chapter 7 verses 54 - 60, Voice )

One may fault Stephen for tactlessness but not for lack of courage. Jesus offered his people a revolutionary way to be rescued from Rome, rescued from sin, rescued from failing repeatedly to fulfill the mission God had created them for. Even at this late date, when they had utterly failed to recognize their Messiah and turned him over to the Romans for a hideous execution, Jesus' offer still stood. Israel could still fall in behind their King. Stephen saw his duty clear and decided his best shot at shaking up the august leaders of his people was to rub their noses in the truth of what they'd done.

It got him killed, with many more to come.

First of Many

The line of martyrs with Stephen at its head has by no means come to an end. On this Feast of Stephen googling "latest attacks on christians" immediately brings up a story in USA Today reporting that, "Christmas attacks by Muslim rebels in Christian villages in the southern Philippines left at least 14 people dead." The numbers of Christians in the middle east are rapidly decreasing as they do their best to escape barbaric treatment. But don't think (as so many tend to) that it's purely a problem with radical muslim extremists. Open Doors, a group that monitors Christian persecution, reports that the country most hostile to Jesus of Nazareth's followers is North Korea.

In the comfortable, hermetically sealed western world we inhabit it's easy to assume the days of Christians being martyred for their faith is long past, that it may have happened back in "barbaric" Roman times, but not today. It's particularly easy when we are warm and full from the traditional holiday buying binge.

The Feast of Stephen helps us remember right after Christmas that that's not quite the case.

"...If the incarnation was just a ghost..."

Meditation for a Sunday Morning

" The Word became flesh
    and made his home among us.
We have seen his glory,
    glory like that of a father’s only son,
        full of grace and truth."

(Gospel of John chapter 1 verse 14, Common English Bible)

__________________________

Our guest blogger this morning is Cyril of Jerusalem, an important Christian thinker in the mid-300s, and one of the best early teachers of simple, basic Christianity. Here Cyril speaks on Jesus' "incarnation."

Believe then that this only-begotten Son of God, for our sins, came down from heaven to earth and took upon himself this human nature with the same emotions and urges as we have. He was begotten of the Holy Virgin and the Holy Spirit, and was made human, not seemingly or as a mere show, but for real. And not by passing through the Virgin like a stream, but through her becoming actual flesh. He was actually nursed on milk, and actually ate and drank as we do.  For if the incarnation was a just a ghost, then salvation is a ghost as well.

The Christ had two natures, human in what was visible, but God in what was invisible. As a human, actually eating like us, since He had the same feelings in his body as us, but as God feeding the five thousand from five loaves. As a human actually dying, but as God raising a man [Lazarus] that had been dead four days. Actually sleeping in the ship like a human, and walking upon the waters as God.

Cyril of Jerusalem (AD 313 - 386)
Catecheses number 4 section 9

"...Humanity Added to Divinity..."

Earliest portrait of St. Augustine

Meditation for a Sunday Morning

"But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights."

Letter to the Galatians chapter 4 verses 4-5

__________________________

(Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest thinkers the Christian movement ever produced, talks about the miracle we just finished celebrating -- the incarnation of God.)

Let us rejoice, my brethren, let the nations exult and be glad because, not the visible sun, but the invisible Creator of the sun has consecrated this day [Christmas] on which the Virgin, a true but inviolate Mother, gave birth to Him who became visible for our sake and by whom she herself was created.

A virgin conceives, yet remains a virgin. A virgin is heavy with child, a virgin brings forth her child, yet she is always a virgin... The same One who is Man is God, and the same One who is God is Man, not by a confusion of nature but by a unity of person. Finally, He who is the Son of God, being born of the Father, is always co-eternal with His Father; He, being born of the Virgin, became the Son of Man. Thus, humanity was added to the divinity of the Son without producing a fourfold union of Persons; the Trinity remains.

Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354 - 430)
Sermon 186

What Seemed Most Natural

Some people say we humans are hard-wired to believe in God, that that is the natural state of mankind.

Forty-five years ago next Tuesday human beings circled another celestial body for the very first time. Stretched out beneath them the crew of Apollo 8 could see the gray, cratered wasteland of the Moon. And there, floating serenely in the ebony blackness, precious and lovely, was a tiny blue and white sphere that held every person, every form of life, every idea and deed they knew.

I have always thought it was interesting that in that moment the thing that seemed most natural was to speak God's primordial words of creation back to him:

"'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good,' (Book of Genesis, chapter 1 verses 1 - 10, King James Version)."

"...and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth!"

Going Home

Synchroblog is a little community of essentially Christian blogs that post on a particular subject each month. Read more about it here and (assuming you're on Facebook) here. This month our topic is "Coming Home for Christmas." The bloggers who posted are listed at the bottom of this post for you to peruse. Visit them all! We're an interesting and eclectic group!

_______________

It may be that this Synchroblog was intended to conjure up images of festive times and happy reunions. But I'm afraid this one may be be a bit morose, although I still find joy in it. This is the first Christmas without my mom. She passed on in July after a couple of years of progressive dementia. I preached her funeral sermon.

My mother had an interesting relationship with Christmas. When we were kids it was the highpoint of her year. She loved to pick out -- or make -- presents for us and would sit there on the couch so sparklingly happy to watch us enjoy our new toys.

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and people I had no earthly idea who they were would wedge themselves into our little house or we went to theirs. There was much too much turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pies.  Christmas records by Frank Sinatra and Perry Como blared, the living room was covered with yet more decorations than last year, and we had a little tradition: every year each of us boys would take one of the new Christmas tree ornaments and write our names and the year on it. She treasured those glass bulbs and guarded them with her life. That was her personal record of the blissful Christmases we shared together. With all the happy hubbub this was when mom was totally in her element.

End of Christmas

But later on, as I mentioned in my last Synchroblog, she accepted the idea some groups teach that Christmas and other traditional Christian holidays are based on old pagan practices and should be rejected. Following Christ as best she understood it was even more important to her than Christmas. So those joyous, raucous, happy, happy, so very happy Christmases essentially ceased for us in the mid-70's. Even later, when she grew old and came to believe she had been mistaken about the pagan holidays, she never celebrated Christmas again. Just ignored it.

So now she is gone and "at home with the Lord." I'm sure you can see where this is going. She is, as I believe, in the one place where people are the most at home of all, transcendently at home. The being Christmas is about is right there with her. Mom always said she'd have a lot of questions for him. Whatever the truth about Christmas really is, she knows it now and can joyfully, loudly celebrate Jesus and his invasion of this world with her parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and on and on backwards through the entire vast throng of her ancestors. And with our own celebrating here too. Because this Christian faith we profess insists that death is just a doorway and all of Jesus' people are eternally linked together in a "communion of the saints."

It's funny. When I think of mom and Christmas now I can only see the pre-1973, exuberant, close, warm ones with my enthusiastic mother running here and there, eagerly soaking in the joy all around her. We're not travelling anywhere this year. Physically, I'm already home with our tree up, ready for Christmas, enjoying my own family. And happy. But when I think of going home for Christmas, I'm afraid there is only one home I can think of.

~     ~     ~

Here are the December Synchroblog blogs. Lots of thoughtful people here:

Christine Sine - Is There Room for Jesus to Find a Home In Your Heart?

Jeremy Myers - It Sounds Like Christmas

Nathan Kitchen - Coming Home

Michelle at Moments with Michelle - Home 

Mallory Pickering - I’m Kind of Homesick 

Bobi Ann Allen - Coming Home 

J.A. Carter - Going Home 

Glenn Hager - Where the Adventure Begins 

Marta Layton - Can You Ever Come Home Again? 

Peggy at Abisomeone - Abi Has Finally Come Home For Christmas 

Amy Hetland - Coming Home 

Coffeesnob - Home 

Carol Kuniholm - Advent Three: Redefining Home 

Liz Dyer - Advent 2013 The Way Home 

Harriet Long - The Body and the Sacred: Coming Home 

Edwin Pastor Fedex Aldrich - Who I Was Made to Be 

Emkay Anderson - Homemaking

Anita Coleman - At Home in the Kingdom of God

Kathy Escobar – Mobile Homes (Not That Kind) 

Jennifer Clark Tinker - My Itinerant Home 

Doreen Mannion - Heart is Where the Home is 

Why Was the Messiah Born in a Stable?

(I usually repost this article during Advent because the question keeps coming up.)


Everyone is familiar with the fact that Jesus' parents couldn't find a place to stay when they arrived in Bethlehem. But why didn't just stay with relatives? After all, this was supposedly Joseph's hometown.

Luke, who tells this story in the 2nd chapter of his Gospel, does not elaborate. To him the point is that the King of the Universe was born in the most abject of circumstances -- abject to the point that he had to be laid in a feeding trough.

Even if there had been "room for them in the inn," the surroundings would not have been opulent. The "inn" of a small, first century, middle eastern village like Bethlehem would have been a few crude lean-to's for traveling people and animals found on the edge of town. Even those were full, and very old tradition says Mary and Joseph found shelter in a little cave (more like a nook in the rock).

But what about Joseph's relatives? Scholars put forward two possible reasons they didn't provide shelter for the two travelers that night (aside from suggesting Mary and Joseph never went to Bethlehem, which we will deal with elsewhere). Both are conjectures of course and neither is supported by any of the early Christian writers, so you can decide for yourself which seems more likely.

One explanation is that Joseph may not have had any relatives in Bethlehem. He and Mary traveled there because it was the ancestral home of King David, Joseph's ancestor, but it's quite possible that in the 1000 years since David's time his descendants had spread to the four winds. Joseph had, of course. At some point he or his family had chosen to move 90 miles north to tiny Nazareth.

This possibility is made more likely by the fact that, being of royal stock, the family of  David was often a target of suspicion by the authorities.  We know for instance that relatives of Jesus were examined at the end of the first century for just this reason.  So  the harder it was for current rulers like Herod and the Romans to locate David's descendents, the better. It may be then that, when Caesar decreed his census, the entire lineage of David found themselves in the same situation as Joseph -- having to find a place to stay in a tiny, overcrowded village where they knew nobody.

Another Alternative
Or... There may well have been some of David's descendants still living in Bethlehem. But imagine it: They must have been completely overwhelmed by the influx of travellers. Bethlehem was a poor, miniscule hamlet at this time, so small that there's no clear archaeological evidence that it even existed (though from documentary evidence it's certain that it did). Several hundred people -- including many with other ancestors besides David -- suddenly descending upon it looking for a temporary place to stay probably created havoc.

Recently a number of scholars (such as C. S. Keene and Ben Witherington III) have pointed out that kataluma (the Greek word translated "inn") actually refers to many different types of lodging places, including whatever kind of guest room Joseph's relatives might have had available. In fact, the recently published Common English Bible translates this famous passage as, "She... laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guestroom," (Gospel of Luke chapter 2, verse 7)

So what Luke may be telling us is that, by the time Joseph and Mary reached Bethlehem, "the guest room in the relatives’ house... would have been filled beyond capacity with all the other relatives who had to journey to Bethlehem for the census."

All they had left to offer the holy family was the stable.

Advent - "...Determined to Exalt Us..."

Meditation for an Advent Sunday Morning


"This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

Gospel of Matthew chapter 1 verse 1

___________________

Early Christian leader and theologian John Chrysostom describes the amazing transaction that occurred when God became a man -- all to our benefit.

Hearing these things [i.e., that God would become a man], arise, and conclude nothing low: because of this very thing most of all should you be amazed, that being Son of the uncreated God, and His true Son, He allowed Himself to be called also Son of David, that He might make you son of God. He permitted a slave to be father to Him, that He might make the Lord Father to you, a slave.

Do you see now from the beginning of what nature the Gospels are? If you doubt concerning the things that pertain to you, from what belongs to Him believe these also. For it is far more difficult, judging by human reason, for God to become man, than for a man to be proclaimed a Son of God. So when you are told that the Son of God is Son of David and Abraham, doubt not anymore that you too, the son of Adam, shall be son of God. For not at random, nor in vain did He lower Himself so greatly, for He was determined to exalt us. Thus He was born after the flesh, that you might be born after the Spirit. He was born of a woman, that you might cease to be the son of a woman.

And so the birth was twofold, both made like us and also surpassing ours. For to be born of a woman indeed was our lot, but to be "born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of man,” but of the Holy Spirit, was to proclaim beforehand the birth surpassing us, the birth to come, which He was about freely to give us of the Spirit. And everything else too was like this. So His baptism also was of the same kind, for it partook of the old, and it partook also of the new. To be baptized by the prophet marked the old, but the coming down of the Spirit shadowed out the new. And just as if someone were to place himself between two persons standing apart, and stretching both his hands out were to lay hold on either side and bind them together, that is what he has done -- joining the old covenant with the new, God’s nature with man’s, the things that are His with ours.

John Chrysostom (AD 347 - 407)
Second Homily on the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 3

Three Short Videos: God Makes His Move

One of my core beliefs is that Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, but assumed to be trite, familiar, and boring and passed up for shinier things. As a result I'm a sucker for videos like these.

The comfortable, sanitized tale we all know of gentle Jesus in a manger walls us off from the shocking and rather scandalous story it truly is. Some of this site's Advent meditations will try to help us think about the scandal rather than the safe story. These three short videos also attempt to breach that wall by asking, "What if this had happened this month? What if God made his move today?"

Christmastide - The Ordinary Extraordinary

Were there 9 ladies a-dancing around Jesus' crib on this date in 4 BC? Probably not, and if there were they would most likely have been little Bethlehem neighbor girls come to see the new baby. In a town so small it didn't even leave physical evidence that it existed at this time, babies were fairly rare.

The Christian Movement's calendar goes off to commemorate 2 important theologians on this date, and really does not come back to the Savior of the World until the last Day of Christmas, Epiphany. And, to speak anachronistically for a moment, Jesus at this point was probably quite happy the calendar had nothing scheduled today. Yesterday was a big, painful, and exhausting day: his circumcision. The newborn king was no doubt rather uncomfortable today.

It would have been easier to come up with blog subjects if I'd chosen the supposed spiritual meanings embedded in that famous old Yule ditty about Lords a-leaping and pear trees. But the pattern for the 12 Days of Christmas that we find in the Christian calendar (all flavors), the pattern of a few important events surrounded by days and days of utter ordinariness, is even more significant because it is so like our lives. The manifestation of the Messiah was happening in this way because God chose to become utterly human.

Here the Common English Bible's rendering of the traditional phrase "Son of Man" as "the Human One" comes into its own, I think, because it points up (and perhaps even overemphasizes) the human-ness of Jesus. With the signs and wonders that fill Jesus' story it can be, and in fact has proven to be, all too easy to think of him simply as a divine being. We forget that that is not what the Christian Movement teaches.

"'Who do people say the Human One is?'" He is "'the Christ, the Son of the living God,'" (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16 verses 13 and 16, CEB).

After much struggle on exactly how to define such a unique thing, theologians finally realized that the data of Scripture demanded that he was not just God, not a man who became God, not a man whom God temporarily used then discarded, but the most mysterious alternative of all: Fully God and Fully human. The God of the universe living as a human in full, being and experiencing all that it is to be human while never ceasing to be God in every way. This is one of the things about Christianity that you can never reach the end of.

Interestingly, the 2 important theologians I mentioned earlier were pivotal in figuring this out. Maybe this day in the Christian calendar is about Christmastide after all.

Christmastide - Extended Family

Photo courtesy of Mindaugas Urbonas

Now we are at the 7th Day of Christmas and find that, after celebrating Jesus' early home life yesterday, this is another day with nothing planned. Are we getting bored yet with these famous 12 Days? Certainly it would be much more fun to rub our eyes at the extravagant gift of 7 swans a-swimming and all the rest (particularly the several sets of "5 golden rings" that are accumulating!). Getting stuff is so much more fun. Just look at how much we enjoyed it on Christmas Day!

But maybe that's the point. Other than the Magi's gifts there is no record Jesus and his family got any stuff or reveled in any festivities. If anything they were getting ready to circumcise him tomorrow -- an exceedingly important day in the life of a young Jewish family, but not quite the same as having an feast of french hen, goose, and pears.

If the Lord Messiah had chosen to be born in a royal palace instead of a dank cave (a choice he surely had) you may be sure he would have been welcomed with an extravaganza every bit as opulent and enthusiastic as that immortalized in "The 12 Days of Christmas." But he chose differently. And on this day the only extravagance is the love shown him by his little family of Mary and Joseph.

"Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"

Interestingly then, when he had grown to be a popular rabbi with a knack for turning the most mundane situation into a profound lesson, he defined his followers in family terms:

He replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Looking around at those seated around him in a circle, he said, “Look, here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does God’s will is my brother, sister, and mother.”

(Gospel of Mark, chapter 3 verses 33 - 35, Common English Bible)

The commonplace love of his early family Jesus extended to all of us. In effect, we are the Holy Family today, and Jesus is the "first of many brothers and sisters," (Letter to the Romans, chapter 8 verse 29, CEB).

Christmastide - Downtime

On the 5th Day of Christmas there was downtime. In the version of the Christian calendar we're following in this series this is just known as "The Fifth Day of the Octave (i.e., 8 days) of Christmas."  There are no feasts today, no commemorations. If you happen to be a big fan of Thomas Becket this would be the day you remember him, though it has nothing to do with Christmas (except that he was slaughtered so soon after it)...

Christmastide - Innocents

According to the old carol, on the fourth day of Christmas your true love sends to you four calling birds. But in the old calendar observed by many in the Christian Movement this day brings with it something quite different. The fourth day of Christmastide is the "Day of the Holy Innocents" when we are brought up short by the fact that, in the midst of Mary and Joseph's joy over "the newborn king," other babies were being slaughtered in an effort to eliminate him...

Christmastide - Martyrdom

Stoning of St. Stephen, by Rembrandt

Even though his feast day is not technically connected with Christmas, it's interesting to me that the first day after it is the day Jesus' followers commemorate the execution of Stephen, the Christian Movement's first martyr. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that Stephen is celebrated here, but it serves as a none-too-subtle reminder that the Messiah wasn't born yesterday to bring us bright baubles and candy canes; this is serious business...

The Tide of Christmas Comes In

The tide comes in
Photo courtesy of SM14

For Jesus' followers, citizens of a different country as we are, Christmas didn't mark the end of Advent so much as the start of "Christmastide". We have our own calendar you know, set up to run us through the words and deeds of Jesus year after year so that, more and more, we breathe his atmosphere -- think like he thinks, react as he would react.

For a lot of very fine people (including me until fairly recently) the fact of this calendar only surfaces in their brains on Christmas and Easter, making the period we're in right now just that nice vacation time when we eat leftovers, play video games, and wait for New Years Day. The only reminder that something Noel-like may still be going on is that odd little song about there being "12 Days of Christmas..."