Luke 2:6-7
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Reflection
Merry Christmas! Again today we have the story of Mary and Joseph unable to find room in the inn. On Tuesday we discussed how there is no actual innkeeper and why that might be. But you see there is a bit more to this story. The word here that is translated to have the phrase no room for them in the inn is a problem with the English translation. You see what the author is talking about here is there was no guest room available, meaning a room upstairs in a main house and because of the times this presumably Joseph’s extended family. Instead they are allowed to stay in the lower room of the house where animals would have been kept. This could be because there was no room, but it also may have been done to keep the families honor as Mary and Joseph having a baby would have been quite a scandal. Have you ever thought about the birth of Christ as a scandal? What does this mean for our faith today?
