Introduction
The Archbishop of Canterbury got in trouble the other day in the press. Nothing
new in that, you might think. Perhaps you saw the story. He gave a radio
interview on BBC Five Live to Simon Mayo. Newspapers
screamed that he had denied
the Nativity Story, calling the ‘three wise men’ a ‘legend’. The poor man
hadn’t denied the biblical story at all, as even the Daily Telegraph’s website
admits, by publishing
the transcript. Mayo asked him,
And the wise men with the gold, frankincense, and Myrrh –
with one of the wise men normally being black and the other two being white,
for some reason?
Williams replied,
Well Matthew’s gospel doesn’t tell us that there were three
of them, doesn’t tell us they were kings, doesn’t tell us where they came from,
it says they’re astrologers, wise men, priests from somewhere outside the Roman
Empire. That’s all we’re really told so, yes, ‘the three kings with the one
from Africa’ – that’s legend; it works quite well as legend.
In other words, he only called the idea that there were
three kings from Africa and one of them was black a legend. He untied tradition
from the biblical account. He never denied Matthew’s Gospel.
Why talk about that tonight? Especially when the reading we
have heard is not about the Magi but the birth in Bethlehem and the visit of
the shepherds? Because I want to do something similar. Rowan Williams was disentangling
‘Christmas card Christmas’ from biblical Christmas. I want to take the account
from Luke 2 and suggest to you that we have read it wrongly for centuries. I
want to offer some different understandings of the story that might help us
engage with what was in Luke’s mind in writing his account of the Nativity.
What is this story really about, and what might it mean for us?
1. Protection
I think there’s a case for arguing that the trip to Bethlehem is about Joseph
protecting Mary. That may seem odd – how is taking your heavily pregnant
fiancée from Nazareth in the north of Palestine to Bethlehem in the south
protective?
I think it goes something like this. The census is the
issue. Most of our translations say it happened ‘while Quirinius was governor of
Syria’ (verse 2). However, it’s just as possible to translate it, ‘before Quirinius was governor of Syria’.
Not only does this resolve some problems of chronology, it is a way of saying,
‘This wasn’t the big census you all know about. This was the head tax, where
every able-bodied person between the ages of 13 and 62 had to register for the
‘render unto Caesar’ payment.[1]
Now if that is the case, why go to Bethlehem? Luke tells us
Joseph went there, because of his family tree. But that doesn’t mean every Jew
travelled to their ancestral home. I think it means Joseph went to a place
where he knew there were supportive family members.
Why is that important? Mary is pregnant outside marriage. It
is a scandal. Joseph has chosen not to reject her, but to stand with her in her
rejection. He wants her away from those who would pick up stones or say nasty
things about her. So he takes her back to his roots, to Bethlehem.
Later, according to Matthew, Joseph will protect his wife
and the baby from Herod by taking them away from his murderous intentions into
Egypt until it is safe to return. Joseph is protective of his family.
There will be other times in Jesus’ life when he is
protected. He slips through the crowd in Nazareth that want to throw him off a
cliff after his sermon in the synagogue. Other times he thwarts the religious
leaders. But he will not always be protected. He will end up on a cross.
At this point, however, God uses Joseph to protect Mary and
Jesus. God is protecting his rescue mission. Whatever opposition comes to the
kingdom of God, one thing is sure: God is ensuring that no one and nothing
derails his big plans. The purposes of God are secure.
Now isn’t that something to rejoice in at Christmas? I
repeat: the purposes of God are secure. Discouragement or opposition can suck
the spiritual life out of us. But the Christmas story assures us that the
purposes of God are secure. He will ensure that his will is done. He has
determined to send his Son. Whatever human beings do, God will overrule. Human
beings have free will, but God has greater free will.
So be encouraged this Christmas. Things may go wrong in your
life, in the life of this congregation, and even in God’s wider Church. But
that does not mean hope has gone. As Joseph protected Mary from scandal, so God
protects his kingdom plans and his great story of love and salvation. This is
Christmas Good News.
2. Provision
This is where I really get controversial. Despite being the father of a
primary-school-age daughter, what I am about to say probably ruins most school
nativity plays. It also undermines some of our popular approaches to the
nativity in church. But I think we have misunderstood Luke for centuries.
Ready? Here goes:
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in
bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them
in the inn. (Verse 7)
Suppose I said that the familiar words, ‘no room at the inn’
were wrong. A mistranslation, in fact. Luke doesn’t use the Greek word for an
inn here. He knows that word, because he uses it later in the Parable of the
Good Samaritan. But he doesn’t deploy it here. He uses the word for a ‘guest
room’.[2]
In other words, all those plays you see where Mary and
Joseph go desperately from one Bethlehem inn to another, being told they are
all fully booked for the census, are mistaken. They owe more to mediaeval or
later English translators who knew the tradition of the wayfaring inn. The idea
that there is no room in the world for the Messiah is not what Luke is saying
here.
In fact, it is unthinkable that in Middle Eastern culture,
the family would not find a place for Mary and Joseph. They simply cannot
squeeze into the guest room. However, homes often had a cave at the back where
they kept the animals. This is where family members put up the young couple. As
Ben Witherington puts it,
This is not a story about ‘no room in the inn’ or about the
world’s giving Jesus the cold shoulder. It’s a story about no inn in the room!
It’s a story about a family making do when more relatives than expected
suddenly show up on the doorstep. It’s a story most of us can relate to in one
way or another. Jesus was born in his relative’s home, in the place where they
kept the most precious of their animals. One can well imagine the smell in that
room, and probably the shock of the Magi when they saw where the King was born.
Here, then, in the privations of a peasant family, God makes
provision for the care and nurture of his Son. Not in the wealth of a TV
evangelist. Nor in the extravagance of a Western Christmas. In basic,
subsistence-level living, God provides for his Son. In that respect, ‘no room
in the guest room’ subverts our Christmas and our lifestyle.
And it’s about how the family always takes the trouble to
make room and offer hospitality, however difficult the circumstances. So it is
also a call for us as the family of God always to make room for Jesus and not
push him out. It is the reminder that we can always say ‘Yes’ to Jesus, even
when the pressure is on. He will always accept our ‘Yes’ to him. There is
always space for him, even when we are stressed. In fact, in those
circumstances, he is perhaps at his most gentle and kind.
3. Privilege
I mentioned in the village carol service that society disdained the shepherds. They
were welcome to provide lambs for temple sacrifices, but the authorities
regarded them as ‘unclean’, and popular opinion viewed them as being like
common criminals. Yet they receive an angelic visitation. These people first
hear about the birth of Messiah. Not the religious leaders, not the
politicians, not the tastemakers and opinion-shapers. Despised shepherds. Theirs
is the privilege.
But it’s not the only way in which ordinary human
understandings of privilege are turned upside-down (or right side up?) in the
story. Privilege comes not in society honouring someone. It comes in the
shepherds responding to the announcement and visiting Jesus. It comes in them
telling everybody what the angels had told them – theirs is the privilege of
witness. It comes not in social recognition but in Mary treasuring the words of
the shepherds and pondering them in her heart. It becomes a privilege to praise
and glorify God for what he has done (and continues to do) in Christ.
So the Christmas story would have us ask the question, where
and why do we seek acclaim? Are we desperate to have other people like us? Do we
want social recognition? Would honour, promotion or a high public profile make
us happy? If so, there is a part of us that has not yet been converted to the
Gospel.
For the Gospel puts privilege, recognition and status in
radically different terms. Privilege comes in the call of God that has nothing
to do with social standing. God bases his call entirely upon grace towards
sinners, not the warped idea that he somehow owes us a favour. Privilege comes
in being a child of God, not by gaining what impresses the world. Privilege is
found in being a witness, telling the world what we have seen, heard and experienced
of Jesus. Privilege is expressed in treasuring the word and works of God,
especially as we see that work in others. Privilege is not in receiving
accolades, but in giving and serving. It is not in buffing up our image, but in
the worship of a God who has done his most revolutionary work in a weak,
vulnerable baby.
Conclusion
It’s not just, then, about turning upside down some traditional understandings
of this story. The Nativity Story itself upends so many of our values. The Church
may be in trouble in the West and some may have written her off, but God always
protects his ultimate purposes in Christ. There may have been no room in the
guest room rather than the inn, but that means Jesus can always find space in
our lives, even when we are at our most hassled. Finally, the Incarnation
entirely redefines privilege: rather than what we can gain for ourselves, real
privilege in Jesus terms is in what we can offer, give and serve.
In short, Christmas is a time for revolution: the revolution
of God’s kingdom as brought by Jesus. Here is where we sign up.
[1]
See Ben
Witherington’s fine sermon for more on this and other points I develop
here.
[2]
See Witherington again, who partly depends on Kenneth Bailey (quoted here by Dick France). Colin
Chapman first introduced me to Bailey’s approach in 1986.
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