The Pen is Mightier than the Sword
Happy Christ-myth
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There is much surrounding the Christmas story which can really only be described as MYTH, when the message of this special season should be described as HOPE. These myths we take for granted, some sadly accept them as fact, even though, strictly speaking, they are not correct. Certain things have become a matter of tradition rather than truth.
But do these inaccuracies dampen or destroy the HOPE emanating from this important event in the life of our Lord? On the surface it would appear that the answer is “no” — it makes little or no difference at all. It is only when we begin to dig deeper, below the surface, that we realise how important it is to get the Bible right if we are going to be certain of, and able to benefit from, the HOPE embodied in the Christmas message.
Many of these inaccuracies stem from our Nativity Plays and the Crib Scenes in our churches. For example, depict the manger scene as a warm, comfortable, well-lit stable complete with inviting straw-covered floor and wooden roof beams: in reality, it was a dark, possibly damp, unpleasant smelling cave, for was the nature of stables in those days. Above the stable we place the star: in reality, once the angels had left the shepherds on the hillside, all was darkness. Two years were to pass before the star appeared in Bethlehem. Into the Crib Scene we place shepherds and wise me side by side: in reality, the wise men, of Magi, never came anywhere near the stable. They came two years later, led by the star, to the hired house in Bethlehem where Mary, Joseph and the child, Jesus, were living. The shepherds visited the baby, the wise men visited the child —check the Bible narrative to prove the accuracy of this statement!
Always, it would appear, we refer to the Three Wise Men (or Three Kings): in reality there may have been several more, because the Bible does not reveal exactly how many. Check it out! Presenting three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh may imply three, but it does not confirm only three wise men. What the Bible does do is confirm that there were at least two wise men, because it uses the plural “men” rather than “man”, but the actual number above two is not recorded.
There is one other thing we take for granted — the innkeeper. What innkeeper? There is no reference in the Bible to an innkeeper! We are not even certain that Mary and Joseph were directed to a stable by an innkeeper, or anyone else associated with an inn, nor that they trudged from inn to inn seeking accommodation. We are simply told that when Jesus was born He was laid in a manger, “because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). Strictly speaking, we are not even told that He was born in a stable; we simply assume that the manger was in a stable, because that is the normal place for it to be! It is only an assumption, it is not a statement of fact!
So we come back to our original question, do these inaccuracies dampen or destroy the HOPE emanating from this important event in the life of our Lord? We have suggested the answer is “no” — we could even be accused of nit-picking, which can be very unproductive — but such an answer is only valid when we look on the surface. In themselves these inaccuracies would appear to make very little, if any, difference. The facts are still there.
But do these inaccuracies dampen or destroy the HOPE emanating from this important event in the life of our Lord? On the surface it would appear that the answer is “no” — it makes little or no difference at all. It is only when we begin to dig deeper, below the surface, that we realise how important it is to get the Bible right if we are going to be certain of, and able to benefit from, the HOPE embodied in the Christmas message.
Many of these inaccuracies stem from our Nativity Plays and the Crib Scenes in our churches. For example, depict the manger scene as a warm, comfortable, well-lit stable complete with inviting straw-covered floor and wooden roof beams: in reality, it was a dark, possibly damp, unpleasant smelling cave, for was the nature of stables in those days. Above the stable we place the star: in reality, once the angels had left the shepherds on the hillside, all was darkness. Two years were to pass before the star appeared in Bethlehem. Into the Crib Scene we place shepherds and wise me side by side: in reality, the wise men, of Magi, never came anywhere near the stable. They came two years later, led by the star, to the hired house in Bethlehem where Mary, Joseph and the child, Jesus, were living. The shepherds visited the baby, the wise men visited the child —check the Bible narrative to prove the accuracy of this statement!
Always, it would appear, we refer to the Three Wise Men (or Three Kings): in reality there may have been several more, because the Bible does not reveal exactly how many. Check it out! Presenting three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh may imply three, but it does not confirm only three wise men. What the Bible does do is confirm that there were at least two wise men, because it uses the plural “men” rather than “man”, but the actual number above two is not recorded.
There is one other thing we take for granted — the innkeeper. What innkeeper? There is no reference in the Bible to an innkeeper! We are not even certain that Mary and Joseph were directed to a stable by an innkeeper, or anyone else associated with an inn, nor that they trudged from inn to inn seeking accommodation. We are simply told that when Jesus was born He was laid in a manger, “because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). Strictly speaking, we are not even told that He was born in a stable; we simply assume that the manger was in a stable, because that is the normal place for it to be! It is only an assumption, it is not a statement of fact!
So we come back to our original question, do these inaccuracies dampen or destroy the HOPE emanating from this important event in the life of our Lord? We have suggested the answer is “no” — we could even be accused of nit-picking, which can be very unproductive — but such an answer is only valid when we look on the surface. In themselves these inaccuracies would appear to make very little, if any, difference. The facts are still there.
1. Jesus was born.
2. His first cradle was a manger.
3. He was worshipped, first by shepherds, later by wise men.
4. Three gifts were presented.
5. There was a star.
2. His first cradle was a manger.
3. He was worshipped, first by shepherds, later by wise men.
4. Three gifts were presented.
5. There was a star.
Whether or not there was an innkeeper is open to question. Ironically, by assuming for the moment that there was, and by allowing ourselves a little imagination to project our thoughts into his mind, we begin to dig deeper, below the surface, and discover some valuable truths concerning the HOPE embodied in the Christmas message — looking, as it were, beyond the MYTHS surrounding this beautiful story.
The Bible has much to say about HOPE, a word closely allied to faith. As the writer to the Hebrews puts it, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (11:1). HOPE is really a combination of expectation and desire. Our imaginary innkeeper must have had HOPE. None of us go through life without hope of some kind. We will assume that he was a regular attender at the local synagogue, and therefore would have some knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament of our Bible. Like the Psalmist he would say, “I have put my hope in your word” (119:74), and he would be in obedience to the Psalmist when he hears the Rabbi read, “Put your hope in the Lord” (130:7). Here, then, is the twin focus of his expectation and desire — the Lord and His Word. His HOPE is in both, and both emanate from the birth of Jesus; yet, in our imagination, we see the innkeeper turning the Saviour away from his door, away from his life. Inadvertently rather than deliberately, maybe, but rejection just the same.
What truths, then, can we discover as we dig deeper? What lessons can we learn from our search below the surface? We have precious little HOPE in this world today. Apart from the Lord and His Word, we might say, we have no HOPE worth speaking about. At Christmas time we are reminded once again of the HOPE possessed by every true Christian. Because of the birth, death and resurrection — we cannot divorce them from each other — of our Lord, our expectation and desire of Eternal Life can be, and is, fulfilled. We have a sure and certain HOPE that we will one day enter into His presence in Heaven. In the meantime we have a sure and certain HOPE that we are travelling the right pathway to Heaven, following the right directions, because of the equally sure and certain Guide Book we follow — His Word. But here we have to be careful, because, like our imaginary innkeeper, we can reject this “sure and certain hope”.
How can we do this? There are many ways. We will suggest here just two. Like the innkeeper, we can turn Him away from the door of our heart, turn Him away from our life, we can fail to “put [y]our HOPE in the Lord” by failing to recognise Him in our lives. We reject Him by replacing Him with things more important to us, things that take first place, actions and activities where He does not even have a place. (How easy it is to do that over the Christmas period, where the emphasis is on tinsel and trimmings rather than the real meaning of the season! Jesus is the reason for the season!)
“Have you any room for Jesus, He who bore your load of sin, as He knocks and asks admission, sinner, will you let Him in?” The hymn writer has asked the question, only we can supply the answer for ourselves. It is a personal question requiring a personal answer.
Then, secondly, we may fail to say, “I have put my HOPE in your word.” Indeed, we would know very little about the Lord Himself were it not for His Word. This in itself strengthens the bond of the twin focus of our expectation and desire — the Lord and His Word. The only HOPE we have in God’s Word, and through it in God Himself, is the fact that it is infallible. We must acknowledge it as such, accepting it as it is, not changing it to suit our own ideas as do the cults, and not read into it what is not there.
This is where we came in! What the Bible says, this must be our pattern, not what we think it says, nor even what we would like it to say — and that could be the MYTHS surrounding the Christmas story built up by tradition through the years. If we replace fact with MYTH, however innocent it might appear, we could risk losing HOPE, both in the Lord Himself and in His Word. Perhaps we should begin by getting the Christmas story right, innkeeper included!
Or should that be, innkeeper excluded?
What truths, then, can we discover as we dig deeper? What lessons can we learn from our search below the surface? We have precious little HOPE in this world today. Apart from the Lord and His Word, we might say, we have no HOPE worth speaking about. At Christmas time we are reminded once again of the HOPE possessed by every true Christian. Because of the birth, death and resurrection — we cannot divorce them from each other — of our Lord, our expectation and desire of Eternal Life can be, and is, fulfilled. We have a sure and certain HOPE that we will one day enter into His presence in Heaven. In the meantime we have a sure and certain HOPE that we are travelling the right pathway to Heaven, following the right directions, because of the equally sure and certain Guide Book we follow — His Word. But here we have to be careful, because, like our imaginary innkeeper, we can reject this “sure and certain hope”.
How can we do this? There are many ways. We will suggest here just two. Like the innkeeper, we can turn Him away from the door of our heart, turn Him away from our life, we can fail to “put [y]our HOPE in the Lord” by failing to recognise Him in our lives. We reject Him by replacing Him with things more important to us, things that take first place, actions and activities where He does not even have a place. (How easy it is to do that over the Christmas period, where the emphasis is on tinsel and trimmings rather than the real meaning of the season! Jesus is the reason for the season!)
“Have you any room for Jesus, He who bore your load of sin, as He knocks and asks admission, sinner, will you let Him in?” The hymn writer has asked the question, only we can supply the answer for ourselves. It is a personal question requiring a personal answer.
Then, secondly, we may fail to say, “I have put my HOPE in your word.” Indeed, we would know very little about the Lord Himself were it not for His Word. This in itself strengthens the bond of the twin focus of our expectation and desire — the Lord and His Word. The only HOPE we have in God’s Word, and through it in God Himself, is the fact that it is infallible. We must acknowledge it as such, accepting it as it is, not changing it to suit our own ideas as do the cults, and not read into it what is not there.
This is where we came in! What the Bible says, this must be our pattern, not what we think it says, nor even what we would like it to say — and that could be the MYTHS surrounding the Christmas story built up by tradition through the years. If we replace fact with MYTH, however innocent it might appear, we could risk losing HOPE, both in the Lord Himself and in His Word. Perhaps we should begin by getting the Christmas story right, innkeeper included!
Or should that be, innkeeper excluded?
© 2006 Denis A. Wheadon. All rights reserved. Website: http://www.Pen4God.co.uk. This document is the property of the Author and
must not be displayed on any other websites without permission. Copies may be downloaded and printed for personal use only. Any contact with
the writer or comments concerning an article, can be made by email addressed to: denis.wheadon@Pen4God.co.uk
must not be displayed on any other websites without permission. Copies may be downloaded and printed for personal use only. Any contact with
the writer or comments concerning an article, can be made by email addressed to: denis.wheadon@Pen4God.co.uk
