The Back Story on the Real Christmas Pt. 2 by Chris White

Traditional Cave of Nativity in Bethlehem today

Was Jesus really born in a stable?  In the Holy Land, the Church of the Nativity is built over a small cave in Bethlehem where it is believed Jesus was born.  Again, there is good reason to believe this since people did use caves for their livestock and even sometimes as homes in this part of the world.  If this is the case, the wooden barn that is frequently depicted on Christmas cards or store bought crèches is entirely inaccurate.  It could also mean that Joseph and Mary’s shelter for the night of the nativity while modest was not terrible.  Caves, especially ones carved into the soft stone of Israel, can hold a temperature that is warmer than the outside air.  It is the wooden barns of our experience that can be quite chilly at night.  If this be the case, the stable Jesus was born in outside of Bethlehem looked more like a grotto than a barn.

There is also an alternative explanation for Jesus’ birthplace.  We are told in the story that there was ‘no room for Joseph and Mary at the inn’.  The word that is translated ‘inn’ is more commonly used for a guest room in a house.  Inns as we know them existed but were usually in towns on a major land route and were not usually used by Jews.  The Jews were a pilgrimage people traveling to Jerusalem for festivals and such and hospitality was a centerpiece of their culture.  People did not usually pay anything to stay in a person’s home because hospitality was a very reciprocal arrangement.

So, Bethlehem is swollen with people taking the census.  Joseph and Mary can’t find an open guest room, but they are given hospitality in the bottom floor of a wealthier person’s home where the animals are kept or in a single room of a poor person’s home where because of humble means they had to sleep with their animals.  This would also explain why in Matthew’s Gospel the wise men find them at a house perhaps they stayed there for a while.  Whether it was a shepherd’s cave or the bottom story of a house in Bethlehem, the main point is that the King of Kings came to earth in a humble way to identify with the human race he would eventually save through the cross.  He became like us, that we might become like Him.

Small, Real, Abiding Faith by Chris White

Mulberry Tree

“The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’  And the Lord said, ‘If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it would obey you.’” Lk.17:5-6

In the sphere of human endeavor, great tasks or accomplishments require great resources and efforts.  It is quite natural for us to assume that great works of spiritual value must also require great amounts of faith.  But the Lord’s reply to His apostles request was just the opposite.  You don’t need a great amount of small faith, you need only a small amount of great faith.  What’s the difference?  It must be the conviction that God is in no way limited by situations and circumstances and can answer all prayers in accordance with His will.  The mulberry tree in Israel is deeply and broadly rooted but also could not survive being planted only in water.  It would be impossible to pull it out by human effort and impossible for it to thrive without divine intervention.  This is the kind of faith that can trust God for the impossible.  The call to this kind of faith must also be tempered with not putting the Lord to the test.  Jesus wasn’t afraid to jump off the pillar of the Temple because the Lord wouldn’t catch him, He was afraid to presume to do something the Father had not told him to do.  Presumption is not faith, it’s really a species of disobedience.  The way to avoid this trap is to trust God enough to not move beyond what you’re certain He has told you to do and not to move beyond His provision.  This is always hardest with people who have a bias towards action, but waiting on the Lord is the mark of real trust and humility.  As with all things spiritual, the Lord Jesus looks not to the quantity, but the quality of our faith.  If it is real, a small amount is all you need.