I’ve been repurposing the website to help visitors to Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island have a great vacation, with a purpose… However, Pastor Burt Lowry shared a very encouraging message this past Sunday at Ellsworth Assembly of God… And I wanted to share with you.

Pastor Lowry gave credit to the work of Kenneth E. Bailey for much of what He discovered about Bethlehem at the time of the birth of Christ. Throughout his life, Dr. Bailey studied Middle Eastern languages and culture, particularly as it relates to where Christ lived.

Jesus was welcomed in Bethlehem

The paragraphs below provide a lot of details to substantiate our conclusion. However, for those of you who don’t have time to delve into the details, here is what Pastor Lowry and Dr. Bailey discovered:

Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem to take part in the census. They did not stay in an inn, but rather in the guest room with one of their family members.

Mary may not have ridden on a donkey to get there. The Bible does not say either way.

However, Mary probably did not go into labor on the way to Bethlehem. Instead, “while they were there, the days were fulfilled that she would give birth to her child.” (Luke 2:6).

When the days were fulfilled, the women of Bethlehem sent all the men away, and attended to Mary to help her deliver her baby. The guest room being full with luggage, the baby had to be born in the room where the family animals stayed.

Once He was born, he was wrapped up in rags and placed in a carved-out hole in the room of the host family.

The honor of Bethlehem is preserved

Thus, the honor of Bethlehem is preserved. He was born in a town of ordinary people, in an ordinary home. His earthly relatives surrounded Him, and welcomed His birth.

He was not born in a palace, among royalty. Those who surrounded Him, though they were poor and unaware of who He was, gave what they could to welcome His arrival into the world.

And once the shepherds came and reported the news of angels singing “Glory be to God!,” all of Bethlehem was surprised at what they heard!

Six problems with the traditional story of Christmas

1. Middle Eastern culture at the time of Christ was very welcoming. As a result, if ever the husband of Mary would have introduced himself at the door of any home in Bethlehem as “Joseph, son of Heli, son of Matthat, son of Levi…” (Luke 3:23-24), he would have instantly been welcomed.
2. As a son of David alone, Joseph and his bride would have been welcomed into any home in Bethlehem.
3. In the culture, to not help a pregnant woman at the time of her delivery would have brought shame to the whole town.
4. Even Mary had relatives in Judea she could have stayed with, such as Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-40)
5. Mary did not arrive in Bethlehem on the day of her delivery. It was “while they were there” that the time came for her to deliver her baby (Luke 2:1-7).
6. Even if the town had not welcomed her into her home, the shepherds would have been forced by the culture to see to her needs. Otherwise, they could never live down the shame of leaving a family in their time of need.

The Infancy Gospel of James

Much of the modern story of Christ’ birth comes from a book not included in the Canon of Scripture. The Infancy Gospel of James is a book written before 200 AD. In this book, Mary allegedly asked Joseph to help her off the donkey she was riding to Bethlehem, “for that which is in me presses to come forth.” (paragraph 17)

Homes in Bible times had stables

In addition, much of western society does not know how homes in the time of the Bible were set up. To provide heat for the home in the winter months, the stable was attached to the family room. Thus, the heat from the livestock’s bodies would help to warm the house.

The stable was attached to the family room in Biblical times. This is why the witch of Endor had a calf in her house to offer to Saul (I Samuel 28:24-25). And why Jepthah promised to offer the first thing that met him out of his house. He probably expected one of his cattle, a sheep or a goat to meet him, and not his daughter (Judges 11:30-40). And why even the Pharisees broke the law by untying their animal from the stable, even on the Sabbath day (Luke 13:10-17).

Pandocheion or kataluma?

Finally, the guest room was next to the family room. These two rooms were separated by a wall to provide privacy for the guests and the family.

The New Testament word for inn is πανδοχεῖον (pandocheion, Strongs Concordance Number G3829). It is a public house for the welcoming of strangers. This word is only found in Luke 10:34-35, in reference to the Good Samaritan who brought the wounded man to the inn, and paid the innkeeper.

However, there is another word translated inn, in most Bibles. It is κατάλυμα (kataluma, Strongs Concordance Number G2646). This word is used to describe the guest room of a home. This is the word found in Mark 14:14 and Luke 22:11, to describe the guest room where Jesus enjoyed the last supper with his disciples.

Who got it right?

So, which word do you think was used to describe the place where there was no room for Mary and Joseph, in Luke 2:7?

The word used in Luke 2:7 was κατάλυμα (kataluma). It is a mistranslation, found in most English translations of the Bible.

There were so many people staying in Bethlehem that there was no room in the guest room of the home where Joseph and Mary were staying for the baby to be born there. He was born in the stable of the home where the family stayed. After He was born, He was laid in the manger in the family room, not the guest room… and certainly not in an inn!

In my research, I only found three English translations that got it right: Young’s Literal Translation (“there was not a place for them in the guest-chamber”), the Pesheeto Syriac New Testament (“there was no place for them where they stayed”)… and the Wycliffe Bible.

Because John Wycliffe got it right, the Modern Wycliffe New Testament did as well: “there was no place for him in a room”)

This is how Jesus was welcomed into the world. As Kenneth Bailey said, “At his birth the holy family was welcomed into a peasant home. These people did their best, and it was enough.”

Will we welcome Him daily into our homes and everyday lives…dust, junk and all?

To learn more, please read my article about the sacrifice of Christ.