Darker Elements of Advent Cause it to Shine Brighter

In A Not So Silent Night, Verlyn Verbrugge attempts to uncover what he calls “the dark side of Christmas,” marked by pain, humiliation, fear, and danger. These negative words are not usually associated with the joy and light that mark our Christmas celebrations. The author is not trying to be a modern “Scrooge” dampening our season of joy; he simply argues that these darker elements convey the meaning of the Advent and cause it to shine even brighter against the dark background of the the first-century Roman and Jewish culture. Until we shed tears with Mary and Joseph and appreciate the war on the horizon, we will never understand the awesome character of what happened in that little town of Bethlehem.

Most Bible versions render Luke 2:7 as follows: “And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (NASB). We read this word I have italicized as an ancient equivalent of a hotel. Now if we have seen this play once, we have seen it a dozen times. Joseph and his heavily pregnant wife are at the door of an inn when the grouchy, heartless innkeeper slams his door in their faces with the infamous two words: “No room!” Is that the picture we should envision?

While there was the equivalent of an inn in ancient times, perhaps we need to revisit this image in light of the ancient practice of lodging strangers and what the original language really conveys. Joseph is headed to the home of his ancestors and presumably he had relatives living there. Other NT references imply that physical and spiritual relatives lodged with those “kinfolk” as they travelled (Gal 6:10; 1 Pet 4:9; 3 John 8). This is precisely the implication of Luke 2:7 with the word that has often been translated “inn.” This Greek word (kataluma) occurs only two other times in the New Testament and in those times, it is not an “inn” but a “guest room.” Jesus asked Peter and John to locate one and make it ready for Him and His disciples to observe the Passover (Mark 14:14 and Luke 22:11). The kataluma was a room in a person’s home—one that was probably not in general use except for special occasions to welcome a guest. A major greek lexicon says this word is “best understood here as a lodging or guest room, with the context permitting the sense of a dining room as well” (BDAG, 521).

There is a perfectly good word for what we think of as an “inn” (pandocheion), and it is even used by Luke in his same book. It is the “inn” to which the “Good Samaritan” took the wounded man and where he paid the innkeeper for the lodging (Luke 10:34). So for that night in Bethlehem, we should envision a relative’s home that was already filled with visiting relatives who were there for the census. The only available “room” was on the first floor, where the animals were kept.

Some may think the relatives quite heartless for not making room for this pregnant “cousin.” While we can’t be dogmatic, perhaps word had spread about her questionable pregnancy and they did not want to approve of her shame by making room for her in the guest room! Whatever be the dynamics, Mary and Joseph find themselves among some animals for the evening. Perhaps this is an early foretaste of what Isaiah 53 said about the Servant being despised and rejected and not esteemed (Isaiah 53). One is also reminded of John 1:11: “He came unto His own and His own did not receive Him.” Evidently such rejection did not wait to begin later at the Passion week!

But what of those oft-quoted words of the Christmas carol: “Peace on earth. Good will to men?” There is linguistic evidence that the expression should be read as “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14). The last word is referring to the Divine good pleasure that rests on those who have accepted His rule and have ceased to fight against Him! The peace of Luke 2:14 is not a generic prayer for disarmament in international relations. It is a prayer that God’s people may experience true shalom (peace) in their relationship with God. That peace is for those on whom His favor rests.

I once saw a cartoon that featured a neighbor looking at the baby Jesus in that manger. He then remarked to the parents, “What a terrible time for a kid to be born!” Could pastors say the same thing today to some young couple presenting their newborn to us for dediction or baptism?  If so, we should also encourage them to face the darkness alongside that little one and teach him or her how to be a bright light in the darkness of the twenyt-first century!

©2023,2024 William Varner. Used with permission.