{"id":832,"date":"2015-12-23T23:07:51","date_gmt":"2015-12-23T23:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/?p=832"},"modified":"2015-12-29T23:24:24","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T23:24:24","slug":"katalyma-no-room-inn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/katalyma-no-room-inn\/","title":{"rendered":"KATALYMA | NO ROOM AT THE INN"},"content":{"rendered":"

W<\/span>hy the Shepherds?<\/b>\u00a0Why did the angel announce Jesus\u2019 birth to shepherds? Given the resources of heaven they could have pulled off one very spectacular announcement in Bethlehem or, come to think of it, in Jerusalem.<\/span><\/p>\n

We need to go back to the story of ancient Israel.\u00a0Prophets such as Ezekiel spoke of the kings of Israel as shepherds<\/b>. But Ezekiel knew what many of them were like: self-indulgent, exploiting people and plundering their property. In Ezekiel\u2019s time Israel had been conquered by the Babylonians. Jerusalem was in ruins and its people were in exile. Ezekiel 34 tells us it was the fault of the shepherds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ezekiel\u2019s good news was that God would raise up a\u00a0new and perfect king\u00a0\u2013<\/b> a shepherd-king \u2013 in the line of king David, but greater than David.\u00a0<\/b>So it was that the angel announced to the shepherds:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cDo not be afraid; for see\u2014<\/i>I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord\u201d<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/i>(Luke 2:10f).<\/span><\/p>\n

It was the fulfillment of Ezekiel\u2019s promise that God himself\u00a0would raise up a ruler, a shepherd-king, who would do things that Israel\u2019s kings hadn\u2019t done\u2014 restore the weak and gather the lost.\u00a0\u201cThen they will know that I the Lord their God am with them\u201d<\/i>\u00a0Ezekiel said (34:30).\u00a0It was good news<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>At the time of Jesus\u2019 birth the shepherds were at the bottom of the social order. They were the lost, the outsiders. Yet it was to them the angel made the announcement.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And there is something significant about the place where Jesus was born. Dr Kenneth Bailey has recently raised questions about our culture\u2019s Christmas story. Our story is that Jesus was born in a barn or a stable because there was no room in the local inn. But when we look more carefully at the Bible text another picture emerges.<\/span><\/p>\n

NO ROOM AT THE INN?<\/h2>\n

In Luke 2:7 we read:\u00a0And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.<\/i>\u00a0\u2018Inn\u2019\u00a0<\/i>is not really the best translation of the original word. The usual Greek word for\u00a0\u2018inn\u2019\u00a0<\/i>is found in the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:34).\u00a0The word in Luke 2 is the word\u00a0katalyma<\/i>, literally meaning \u2018a place to stay\u2019 or \u2018guest room\u2019<\/b>. We find this once more in Luke\u2019s Gospel \u2013 the \u2018guest room\u2019 in a private house in Jerusalem where Jesus planned to celebrate the Passover with his disciples (22:11).<\/span><\/p>\n

In Jesus\u2019 day poorer families lived in homes with one large extended room. Sometimes there was a \u2018guest room\u2019 on the same level or on the roof. And there was always a small area at ground level under the same roof where the family animals were kept at night to keep them secure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luke is telling us that there was literally\u00a0no room<\/i>, \u2018no place\u2019 in the guest room of a private home. A member of the House of David, Joseph would have had a welcoming family in Bethlehem to take them both in. However the guest room was already occupied.\u00a0Mary had to make do for the birth of Jesus in the living room. What\u2019s more, she used the cattle feeding-trough or manger<\/b>, set up at the end of the raised floor of the living room\u00a0to lay the baby down<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The announcement of the birth of Jesus Christ to shepherds is very significant for it tells us that God has reached down from the glory of highest heaven to rescue and transform the lives of the lowliest, even the outcasts. Furthermore, if the angel had told the shepherds that they would find the baby in the home of a highly placed or wealthy official they would have hesitated to go and see him. Instead of asking if they were dreaming or discussing miracles, they said, \u201cLet\u2019s go and see this baby for ourselves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Their response sets us a challenge<\/b>. We weren\u2019t there that night, but we have the record of eyewitnesses. Like the shepherds we need to find out for ourselves whether this baby is as special as those eyewitnesses made out. It means carrying out our own investigation and encouraging everyone we know to do the same \u2013 perhaps by giving them a gift of one of the Gospels to read.<\/span><\/p>\n

Too often we fail to find the joy and peace of Christmas because we have not truly found God\u2019s shepherd-king ourselves. As circumstances have recently reminded me,\u00a0we are all in need of a savior \u2013 someone to whom we need to apologize and whose forgiveness we need to ask<\/b>. Only when we turn to Jesus and meet him personally in this way will we be able to say to one another and really mean it, \u2018Merry Christmas’.<\/span><\/p>\n

May you know the joy, peace and goodwill that the message of Christmas brings us – during this Christmas season and in the New Year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

hy the Shepherds?\u00a0Why did the angel announce Jesus\u2019 birth to shepherds? Given the resources of heaven they could have pulled off one very spectacular announcement in Bethlehem or, come to think of it, in Jerusalem. We need to go back to the story of ancient Israel.\u00a0Prophets such as Ezekiel spoke of the kings of Israel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-on-wednesday"],"yoast_head":"\nKATALYMA | NO ROOM AT THE INN - The Anglican Connection<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"KATALYMA | Was there really no room at the inn for Jesus?\u00a0Too often we fail to find the joy of Christmas because we have not found God\u2019s shepherd-king.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/katalyma-no-room-inn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"KATALYMA | NO ROOM AT THE INN - 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