Greetings,
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I’d like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and thank you for your prayers and support. My efforts in Niger are slow but fulfilling. New possibilities seem to be hovering in the future, and I pray for wisdom. I couldn’t be here without your help. Blessings!
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– Christmas –
Well, Christmas is upon us. I had forgotten Niger’s lack of Christmas atmosphere. I am trying to get accustomed again to no Christmas lights, no cold weather, no Salvation Army bell-ringers at department stores, no department stores, and few Christmas trees.
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Christmas for Nigerien Christians is a big holiday. It gives them the chance to celebrate Jesus with other Christians, and it lets them know that they are not alone. The missionary community also celebrates Christmas with activities and events. So, I should be able to keep myself quite occupied.
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I have a friend who has not been a Christian very long. His family is not happy that he has become a Christian. They meet with him and talk to him but they are quite upset. This Christmas season, I pray that he will find himself surrounded by Christian friends.
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– Luke 2:7 –
There is a common scene in many Christmas programs that includes a stressed-out innkeeper shaking an angry finger of denial in the faces of Joseph and Mary. The cause of this idea arises from the tail-end of Luke 2:7. Most American Christians have no problem with this scene. However, Nigerien Christians hesitate. In Niger, a family member (including a family member with a different religion) would seldom ever be relegated to looking for outside possibilities of lodging. Barring an intense rift between family members, a visiting relative is always given at least a basic level of hospitality, food, and shelter. The similarities between West African culture and Biblical culture are striking. Most ethnic groups in Niger have lived the same style of life for the last several hundreds of years. So, what gives? Were Joseph and Mary really out scouring the streets of Bethlehem looking for a place to spend the night?
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In short… no… or, most probably not. It could very well be possible that Joseph and Mary were given the barn due to Mary’s perceived disgrace, but they would not be left without lodging. The end of Luke 2:7 says, “… because there was no room for them in the inn.” The entire scene of Joseph frantically searching for a place to stay while Mary enters into childbirth is totally assumed from the word ‘inn’. And so, naturally, the first problem with this scene arises from word ‘inn’.
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The word that is translated ‘inn’ has several possibilities of meaning. ‘Inn’ or ‘hotel’ is the third or fourth possibility. The primary usage for this word would be better translated as ‘guestroom’. As human readers, we often automatically project our own experiences into a Biblical passage. We read this verse and envision ourselves walking tiredly into a Motel 8 at midnight and watching helplessly as the overworked lady behind the desk explains that the attendees of the Star Trek convention have taken all the rooms.
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Bethlehem was the town of the origin of Joseph’s family. In Western culture, when we talk about family, we are referring to a father, mother, children, grandparents, uncles, cousins, nephews, etc. This extended family unit usually numbers from 20-50 people who get together for holidays and the occasional family reunion. This unit of family members have little daily interaction with each other.
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However, in ancient cultures and some cultures today, the idea of family has a much wider scope. Many men had multiple wives and extended family members were encountered on a daily basis. In fact, the adjective ‘extended’ would not be used; family is family. The family would include 2nd and 3rd cousins, every generation of grandparents, the unrelated midwife who helped deliver the family’s children, the unmarried goat-vendor who uses a nearby field, the young man in the village whose parents were killed by Roman soldiers, etc, etc. As such, family homes would better be described as housing compounds. Here in Niger, I have a friend whose father had multiple wives; he has about 80 brothers and sisters. My friend’s case is probably an extreme example but it is evidence of the different scope of family. For example, The Zarma language in Niger has seperate words for children in genereal and biological children. The Jewish concern for family and lineage can be seen in the fact that the New Testament includes two genealogies for Jesus. Therefore, when the Bible speaks of family, it is referring to an exponentially larger group of people than what we think of in our Western minds.
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While inns and small hotels were in existence during Biblical times, they were not nearly so prevalent as they are today. Most journeys were planned so that the travelers could stay with family and friends. Bethlehem was Joseph’s hometown, and probably half of his family lived there. It is probable that his father was no longer living. So, they almost definitely were staying with, at least, a distantly related family member. Further, we can deduce from Herod’s edict to kill all boys under the age of two that Joseph and Mary spent about two years in Bethlehem after Jesus’ birth. They probably didn’t spend two years in a hotel.
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Further, Americans have long ceased living in close proximity to animals. However, animals were such an integral part of daily life that humans and animals frequently shared the same housing structure. Bethlehem sat on a rocky stretch of land, and the many caves were often used as houses or as housing extensions, especially by the common people. A room for animals was frequently attached to the main house or located within the compound. In Niger, chickens and goats often fill a living room, taking shelter from the hot sun. Due to the census, Bethlehem (a popular town due its identity as David’s city) was crowded and every house was full. It is likely that the barn, perhaps a cave, was the only room in the city that provided peace and solitude for the pregnant Mary.
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As an end note, it is interesting to draw attention to Mary’s sacrifice after Jesus’ birth. She offered two birds to fulfill the requirements of the Law of Moses. The sacrifice of birds was only allowed for poor people who could not afford a bull or ram. Therefore, Joseph and Mary were poor and probably accustomed to impoverished conditions. For them, spending the night with animals would have been an unexceptional experience. I’d also like to point out the parade of special visitors- from shepherds to wise men, to aging Temple-dwellers. Joseph and Mary were surrounded by friends both old and new. The image we have of Joseph and Mary is one of a poor couple, struggling though the difficult situation of Mary’s pregnancy, but supported by the heavenly and humanly provision of God.
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This Christmas season, be nice to your family and be kind to that distant cousin who always hogs the cheesecake. You may be entertaining a Joseph or a Mary.
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