Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Milford

John 14:1-9 [NLTse]

¹ “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me. ² There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? ³ When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with Me where I am. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.” u

⁵ “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where You are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me. ⁷ If you had really known Me, you would know Who My Father is. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him!”

⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied. u

⁹ Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know Who I am? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father!

The typical story we hear repeated is:

“It’s about 2000 years ago, the evening of December 25th. Mary rides into Bethlehem on a donkey, urgently needing to deliver her baby. Although it’s an emergency, all the innkeepers turn them away. So they deliver baby Jesus in a stable. Then angels sing to the shepherds. Afterwards, they all join three kings with camels in worshipping the quiet, newborn.”

The problem is, this story may be almost entirely wrong. The events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ have been retold so many times and in so many ways—in plays, poetry, books and movies—that most people have a distorted view of the true events, at least as the Bible portrays them.

Q1) u Did Mary ride a donkey to Bethlehem? Perhaps, but there are various other possibilities. The Bible doesn’t say how she got to Bethlehem. It only says that she came with Joseph.

Q2) Did Mary arrive in Bethlehem the night she gave birth? The Bible doesn’t suggest this. They could have arrived weeks earlier. God’s Word simply states, “while they were there [that is, while they were there in Bethlehem], the days were accomplished that she should be delivered” (Luke 2:6). If the census had been announced so that she could arrive in Joseph’s ancestral home well before her due date that would make more sense.

Q3) Did Joseph or Mary talk to any innkeepers? Perhaps, but there is no solid, biblical reason to believe that they did. Although innkeepers play a prominent part in many Christmas plays, no innkeeper is actually mentioned in the biblical record of Christ’s birth. Furthermore, it is just as likely, instead of an inn, that Mary and Joseph actually stayed in a house with relatives.

Q4) u Was Jesus born in a stable? Or a barn? Or a cave? The Bible does not mention any of these three places in connection with Christ’s birth, only that in place of an actual baby’s bed He was laid in a feeding trough, a manger. The Bible says they laid Jesus in a feeding trough because there was no room for Him in the kataluma.

I use the Greek word kataluma because it refer to an “inn”, but it can also indicate a “guest room” or “lodging place”. The only other time the word is used in the New Testament, it refers to what has come to be called the “upper room” where Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Last Supper (Mark 14:14-15). So the Lord could have been born in the stable of an inn, but He could have also been born in the house of one of Joseph’s relatives living in Bethlehem. And yet because the guest room may have been already occupied by others who were visiting for the census, Jesus and Mary and Joseph had to stay in the rooms under the house where the animals were kept: And they laid Jesus in the manger.

Q5) “Away in a manger the baby awakes, but little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.” Although this is part of a beautiful song, we cannot be sure that Jesus did not cry. The Bible does not report that He was exceptional in this way.

Q6) u Did angels sing to the shepherds outside of Bethlehem? Perhaps, but the Bible doesn’t specifically say that the angels sang. It says that first an angel appeared and spoke, and then “a multitude of the heavenly host [God’s heavenly army, appeared] praising God” (Luke 2:13).

Q7) Were angels present at Jesus’ birth? It seems logical to assume that they were, however, Scripture does not report it. And there is no evidence that any angels were visible to Mary and Joseph at this time.

Q8) u Did three kings riding camels come to honor Jesus’ birth? Believe it or not, the Bible does not say that any kings or camels visited young Jesus.

Matthew tells us that wise men – literally “magi” (carrying the idea of court magicians or ancient scientists) came, but it does not say how many. None of the early Church Fathers suggested that any of the magi were kings. And since the word “magi” used in the Bible is plural, there were apparently at least two, and there might have been three—but there could have been even more. Three seems to be represented in stories and art because the Bible mentions three gifts these “magi” presented: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

In addition, these “magi” (or wise men) did not necessarily visit Jesus the night He was born (as is commonly shown on greeting cards and in plays). And they may not have arrived for up to two years afterwards! Matthew refers to Jesus as “child” not a “baby” at the time of their visit, so it is possible that little Jesus was walking and talking by then! Even so, we know it would not have been after He was two, because King Herod met with the wise men before they reached Bethlehem, and when Herod sought to destroy the “newborn king”, to do so he had every boy in Bethlehem two years old or younger put to death “according to what he had learned from the wise men.”

All these inaccuracies and misconceptions about Christ’s birth have led many enemies of Christianity to challenge the accuracy of the gospel in general: “If we can’t get the Christmas story right,” they argue, “what else are we getting so very wrong?” And many believers, unfamiliar with the discrepancies, are caught off-guard and unable to give a faithful rebuttal and response. All to remind us that the plays and movies can be stirring and helpful in understanding the historical realities of these events, but we always need to test everything we hear against God’s Word, no matter what the source. The Bible is the final authority.

All this being said, the actual facts of Jesus’ birth – as recorded so simply in the Scriptures – are so much more wonderful than anything we might want to edit or add. u He was indeed born of a virgin in the city of Bethlehem exactly as prophesied many years before. u Jesus was conceived in Mary, not by a man, but by the Holy Spirit of God. u The Lord Jesus existed before the Creation of the world, part of u the Holy Trinity we speak of as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. u He took off His divinity and was born as a human being for a purpose: To show us God the Father; to die as a willing sacrifice in payment for our sins; and to baptize us with the Holy Spirit, providing God’s salvation, now and always, as a free gift to all who will accept it and love Him, and trust Him, and follow Him.

During Advent, of course, we also celebrate the fact that He’s has gone ahead of us into God’s Paradise to prepare a place for us. And He’s promised, when everything is ready, u that He will come back and get us, so that we will always be with Him where He is.

“And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory. And He will send out His angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather His chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the Earth and Heaven… You must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.” (24:3-31, 44)

Come, Lord Jesus!