Broadway Christian Church · Columbia, Missouri

The Worship of God · December 24, 2009

Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship

Call to Worship 

O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,

O come, let us adore him, Christ, the Lord!

Gospel Lesson

Luke 2:1-14

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. And Joseph came out of Nazareth in Galilee down to Judea and to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and the lineage of David, there to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. When they were there, it came time for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in the manger, because there was no room in the guest room.

In that region there were shepherds out in the fields, watching over their folks by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and they were sore afraid. But the angel said, “Fear not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall come to all the people; for there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign to you: you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a whole multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is well pleased!”

Meditation

The Guest Room

Tim Carson

I’m not sure how many times I have told the Christmas story. Let’s just say plenty. And like most, I have been inspired and moved by the thought of the holy family, in their trek from Nazareth all the way to Bethlehem, finding no room available in an inn and so had to move out back to a shed.

Anyone in his right mind does well not to meddle with that story. It is a story that has been told for so long. Christmas carols are based on it. Hallmark cards are sent with it. Charities all draw their imagery and their motivation from it. Children’s Christmas pageants are bathed and based on it: See how the world shuts out even the Savior? Imagine the others who are shut out in the cold as well. There is no room in the inn!

Who could think of presenting a different story, especially now, after we have sung the carols, after we have sent the cards, after we have dressed up our children in bathrobes? We have had them visit the baby Jesus in the cow shed, because there was no room for them anywhere else?

As I studied Luke’s Gospel, I noticed something quite unusual. The text tells us that Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem for the enrollment and then, after they were there for a while, it came time for Mary to be delivered. It was only after Mary gave birth that we read about her placing Jesus in the manger because there was no room in the inn.

Now what sense does this make? If they are already staying somewhere in Bethlehem, and have been there for a while, why would, on the day of the birth, they be seeking commercial lodging in an inn some place, only to find themselves out back behind the motel in a shed with the baby in a livestock trough, because there was no room available that night? The answer lies in the Greek word that has been translated into English as inn.

When you hear that word, inn, you probably also think of another story, a parable Jesus told, recorded in Luke’s Gospel.  It is the story of the Good Samaritan. A man, while walking along the Jericho road, was beaten, robbed, left for dead by the side of the road. After several other people passed by, a Samaritan came along. The Samaritan bathed his wounds, bound him up, took him to an inn, and told the innkeeper, “Take care of him. On my way back through town, I will settle up with you.”

The Greek word behind this English word for inn is pandocheion. This Greek word is the most common one in the language used for what we understand to be a place of lodging, a guesthouse, Motel 6.

If this were the word also used in the Christmas story, then the traditional interpretation of events that you and I grew up with, hearing and singing, might be upheld: Mary and Joseph sought accommodations as out-of-town travelers, but when they couldn’t find any, they were relegated to the shed out back. But guess what? It’s not the same Greek word. It’s not even close. And if Luke just wanted to say that they were looking for a motel room, he would have used the common word for that, just as he did in the story of the Good Samaritan.

But in the nativity story, he uses the much-less-common but more specific word, kataluma. They put the baby in the manger, because there was no room in the kataluma. Now translators have rather sloppily used the same English word – inn – for two separate Greek ones. But what is the particular meaning of the Greek word, kataluma, used in the Christmas story?

The kataluma is neither inn nor motel. They put the baby in the manger, because there was no room in the kataluma. But what was it? The kataluma is “a guest room.” It is an “extra room.” It is a side room; it is a room that has been built on to the family home. In the Middle East, in home dwellings, they grew as rooms were needed. They were tacked on. These were called kataluma. These were extra rooms, side rooms, guest rooms. But they were all connected to the family house.

If you visit Middle Eastern houses you often find small interior courtyards and extra rooms that are extensions of the family home. A kataluma could be any extra room built on the back of the house.

What this means is that Mary and Joseph were not homeless, just wandering the streets looking for a place for her to have the baby. Rather, they had returned to their ancestral village and were, most likely, receiving the hospitality of extended family, along with all the others who had come back for the enrollment. They had been staying with family and had been there for some time.

When it came time for Mary to deliver, they were not searching the streets for an available motel room. There was no room in the kataluma, the guest room, to put the baby – perhaps because there were other out-of-town family staying with them for the enrollment – so they placed him in the manger, right there adjoining the house. By the way, the Greek word for manger, phatne, is not only used as a place for animals, but also for guests.

This was not a birth of isolation, accompanied by rejection and cold indifference. It was most likely just the opposite. Most probably Mary and Joseph were surrounded by loving and caring extended family. Mary’s birth was attended by older women who served as midwives, and the child was welcomed into the world amidst adoring and proud aunts and uncles and cousins. It was a family event.

If this is correct, and I believe it is, then our understanding of how God comes into the world changes. We have a different starting place. This is not a story in which the holy is manifested to a world that is hostile to it. The starting place begins in the place of our living, in our homes – where families live. It is where children are born and grandparents get old. It is where we see all the seasons of life. That is where it comes. That is the first place. The beginning of the Christmas story is not one of rejection but of joyful welcome. That’s what the shepherds found as they came stumbling out of their fields. They stumbled down into Bethlehem, and they went to that Bethlehem house, and they looked into the kataluma, the guest room to find the Savior.

And so, on shepherds’ legs, we stumble toward the Bethlehem of the heart, and then within Bethlehem, the house, and within the house, the guest room, and within the guest room, light and more light. 

Lighting of the Christ Candle

Come, listen, the sounds of God-with-us ring clear,

And signs of a cross in the distance appear.

The Word once made flesh, yet the Word ever near.

One candle is lit for the Christ-birthday here.

One Candle Is Lit by Mary Anne Parott. ãCopyright 1995, Chalice Press. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission under license #L11441, LicenSingOnline.

Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin mother and child, holy infant so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night, wondrous star, lend thy light;

With the angels let us sing, alleluia to our King;

Christ, the Savior, is born, Christ, the Savior, is born.

Silent Night, Holy Night, words by Joseph Mohr. Lyrics in Public Domain.

Benediction

Jacob Thorne

On this holy night, the light of Christ calls us to love without reservation, to hope with qualification, and to rejoice without hesitation. The light of Christ is the light that is Life. Amen.