Not in a stable, but surrounded by the family

I don't think its going to make much impression on your standard nativity play, but really there is not much evidence that Jesus was born in a stable, and that famous line 'there was no room at the inn' is almost certainly a mistranslation.

Sacrilege! I hear you cry, but its true.

There's no mention of a stable in either Matthew or Luke, but Luke does tell us that the baby was laid in a manger, and people have kind of assumed that this implies a stable (as it would do in Britain), especially after just being told by the same writer that 'there was no room for them to stay in the inn.'

Except the Greek word translated 'inn' in most English translations, doesn't mean 'inn' (there is another word for that). The actual word used is kataluma, which means 'the spare or upper room in a private house, where travellers received hospitality.'

To unravel the mystery, you need to understand what a typical home looked like in those days. There was one main room where the family lived and slept. At night the animals would be brought in to sleep in the same room as the family (hence the mangers).

The guest room was reserved for visitors, who every family was expected to welcome and offer hospitality to.

Here's what happened when Mary and Joseph turned up. The guest room was already full, so rather than being relegated to a stable (not even the animals slept there at night), the couple were welcomed into the main room with the rest of the family. And when the baby was born, the manger was the obvious place to lay him.

Theologian Ian Paul comments 'In the Christmas story, Jesus is not sad and lonely, some distance away in the stable, needing our sympathy. He is in the midst of the family, and all the visiting relations, right in the thick of it and demanding our attention.'

And for his street Advent Calendar he produced this 'historically accurate nativity' (above).

You can read Ian's full article on his blog here