It is a time for thanksgiving. Right now I have very thankful that I had 14 years with the most wonderful man I have ever known. I am thankful for my church family and for my friends and family. With out them I would not be here right now. I am also thankful for the education I have received over the past 4 years. However, this will lead to the season of Advent, as we prepare for the arrival of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus and the day we celebrate his birth. However, I was reading something that caused me to wonder at the many myths around Christ Jesus. #1) Jesus family was poor. This is absurd, Joseph was a skilled worker who owned his own business, he was not rich but he was certainly comfortable. Add to that, the simple fact that a group of Magi gave him and his family gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, gifts of great value. #2) There were three Magi. This comes from the mention of 3 types of gifts, people assumed that there was one gift made of gold, one of frankincense, and one of myrrh. This is not what scripture says, it clearly says gifts, plural, of each material. Scripture does not say how many Magi there were but it is likely there were a lot more than three. #3) Jesus, Joseph, and Mary were still staying in the stable area when the Magi arrived. Since Herod known as The Great, was holding court in Jerusalem when the Magi arrived it was of a certainty around Passover when the Magi arrived, probably about a year after the birth. #4) Jesus, Joseph, and Mary were homeless. People, people, people, they were staying in the stable area because the Inn did not have an available room for them. They were traveling, there home was in Nazareth, some 75 miles to the north (a 4 day trip with an infant.) #5) The stable was a separate building from the inn. No people, the inn would have had an area within the structure of the inn for the animals, not a separate building. Too much chance of animals being stolen if they were in a separate building, not to mention the cost of building a separate barn. #6) There were animals in the stable area with Jesus and his family. Jesus was laid in the manger. A manger is a feeding trough. It would have been too dangerous for animals to be in the same area, they might try to eat and hurt or kill the baby by biting it. Nope, the animals were kept outside during this time. We have our traditions, we have our creches, and they are wonderful and I do not want anyone to change them. It is one thing, though, to have a symbol of the uniqueness of the birth and another thing to know the truth about what happened. We have known for a very long time that Jesus was not born anywhere near 25 December, but we are NOT going to change the date of this precious day of celebration and we should not change its date either. However, this does not mean we should not be aware of the truth.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 01:17:15 +0000
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