The First Christmas Was Inconvenient Series

HoHum:

Oak Ridge Boys sang a song some years ago called an Inconvenient Christmas. Inspiration for this series and going over parts of the song, finishing the last part, well really the middle part of the song, this week: Among the bills that I'd received was a postcard marked “Apologies, The Christmas gifts you ordered aren't in stock” So I packed up the kids for Grandpa's house Then a blizzard blew in and the car broke down So, we shared a quart of eggnog at a truck stop And I said, "Kids, this is unfortunate You think it's bad? Well it's inconvenient” But the most inconvenient Christmas ever was Was the first one, when God came so far to give himself to us So when the stress hits each December How it helps me to remember God is with us most when things just can't get worse The most inconvenient Christmas ever was, was the first

By the time we got to Grandpa's house  His Christmas lights had burned it down So we had to take him home to live with us But he couldn't stand to leave the farm So now there's cattle in our yard Sheep on the rug, pigs in the tub, and a rooster at dawn And I said, "Now honey, this is unfortunate You think this is bad, well it's inconvenient” But the most inconvenient Christmas ever was Was the first one, when God came so far to give himself to us So when the stress hits each December How it helps me to remember  God is with us most when things just can't get worse The most inconvenient Christmas ever was, was the first

WBTU:

Want to focus on Grandpa and all of those animals in the house. Many were inconvenienced on that first Christmas. The angels came from heaven to deliver the news. The shepherds left their flocks at night to go to Bethlehem (did the sheep go with them?) and see the child (probably the least inconvenienced were the shepherds). We could go on from there and talk about the Magi who left their nation and came hundreds of miles to worship the Christ child. We could talk about King Herod who was disturbed, so disturbed that he had the baby boys in Bethlehem killed. The mothers of those babies were more than inconvenienced, they were mourning. Mary and Joseph were inconvenienced at that time because went to Egypt. I digress here because this is going beyond the first Christmas. Job read the story of the first Christmas. We're not given the emotional responses of Mary and Joseph here but if it were me, when the decree was given I could see myself saying, "are you kidding me? You need to take a census now? My wife is close to having God's child and we need to pack up and go to Bethlehem. God, why would you let this happen? How is this part of your plan? This is so inconvenient"

From Nazareth to Bethlehem is about 80 miles. That's nothing to us who have cars but for the ones who were traveling by foot and donkey, this was no afternoon trip. This would've taken about a week. Think of Mary. I'm sure the last thing she wanted to do was to hop on a donkey (did they have a donkey?, not mentioned) at nearly full-term and make that trip. Inconvenient.

And then, to top it all off, they get to Bethlehem and Mary starts going into labor. It could very well have been from all the jostling around on the journey. Then there was even more inconvenience. Let's add insult to injury by not being able to get in the inn. Let’s stop there, the Greek word for “inn” can be translated as lodging place or guest room. Jewish people would avoid an inn at all costs. When the Romans built roads, they would have an inn or rest stop at regular intervals. Did Bethlehem have an inn? No evidence either way. Inns in that day were first come first served. Inns usually had one big room where all of the guests would stay (more like an open rescue mission). If the inn had an innkeeper (often mentioned in Christmas plays) that innkeeper was not paid. The way that the innkeeper made money was to engage in unscrupulous business practices (not going to delve into those). Jewish travelers often relied on the hospitality of others, staying in guest rooms or homes of acquaintances. The concept of hospitality was highly valued in Jewish culture, and providing a place for travelers to stay was considered a virtuous act. I take it that Mary and Joseph had distant cousins in Bethlehem and tried to stay there but they were already full. This family did not want to just kick them out to the street so had them stay in the stable. Also notice that the word stable is not used in this text. It is reasonable to infer this because the baby Jesus was placed in a manger. A manger is a feeding trough used for animals so this must be a stable, a barn. We think of a barn as separate from a house where people live but in that day, the stable was often under the house, kind of like a walk out basement area. The stable might be near the house in a cave and one of the possible sites for the birth of the Christ child is a cave in Israel. Either way, Mary and Joseph were in a stable filled with smelly animals to have God's child. Again, we're not told of the emotions or responses from Joseph and Mary but if I was told my wife would give birth in a stable, I probably would've been like, "This is just great! I can't believe this is happening right now. Stay in Nazareth and give birth in our nice, cozy home. Is that too much to ask? I guess so.”