(Please note: This is largely tongue-in-cheek. Despite the apparent tone, I'm mostly just joking around.)
Nativity. The word means just generally "birth", but it is almost exclusively used for the Nativity -- the birth of Christ. Now, I've already said how important the event is, so you shouldn't be surprised at what I'm about to say. Once ... just once I'd like to see an accurate Nativity scene.
Your typical Nativity scene includes Mary and Joseph in proximity to a manger with a baby in it, at least one shepherd, three kings or magi or whatever you want to call them, a star, and an angel. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Consider. Matthew's account talks about the wisemen/magi/kings. There is no reference to "three." The only reason the tradition is three is because three gifts are mentioned (and Roman Catholic lore with Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar has cemented them in place, including racial indications). We don't actually know how many showed up. We don't actually know where they came from beyond "the East." What we do know is that their arrival caused quite a stir (Matt 2:3), but why would 3 guys on camels cause a stir? What we do know is they were not at the birth. That's right. We have some certain clues on that. Herod ordered the deaths of all male babies under the age of 2, a ridiculous thing to do if He was not even a day old. Further, we knew they were in a stable (or so), but Matthew says they were "going into the house" (Matt 2:11). Not the same place He was born. Not the same time. Moving on, I'm okay with one shepherd, although I'm pretty sure it was the whole group of them, but Scripture says nothing about an angel overhead. The shepherds had a visitation from angels, but nothing is mentioned about being where Jesus was. (And the star didn't move over His home until the wise men arrived ... which we've already discussed.)
Okay, so far has been logic, conjecture, clues and conclusions. This last one, though, is not. We know the shepherds got word from angels and went into town to find "this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us" (Luke 2:15). The following text is explicit. "And they went with haste and found Mary, and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger" (Luke 2:16). Clear as a bell. When the shepherds arrived, there weren't two parents standing by while a baby laid in the manger. No, no. The text says that entire family -- Mary and Joseph and the baby -- were lying in the manger. So, let me know when you find a version of the Nativity that gets all that right. In the meantime, I'll live with what we've got ... if I must.
4 comments:
That would be an uncomfortable image, three people laying in a manger, one of whom you never see laying in a bed with mother and child, even today.
You are right, Stan--it is amusing to picture Baby Jesus and His parents lounging in a “family bed” in a “nativity scene” on one’s mantel, coffee table, or front lawn (and it’s even funnier for a live nativity scene! :). But, alas, the version of Luke 2:16 that is imbedded in your post reads, “… found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger,” thereby setting me straight. Now that you have mentioned it, though (and because I often have my tongue in my cheek), I will no doubt picture it that way hereon in! :)
Sure, Lorna, that's how your Bible puts it, but Greek didn't have punctuation. :) I noticed that, while most punctuated it the way yours does, various Bibles had it various ways. King James says, "Mary, and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger." The NET says they "located Mary and Joseph, and found the baby lying in a manger." Some translators will go far to keep us from thinking the couple was sharing their bed with their baby, won't they? :)
Actually, my Bible (NKJV) has the family lounging together; it was your post's imbedded Bible verse that I mentioned. (I always hover my mouse over those as I read along.) In any case, it gave me a good laugh, so thanks for that! (I laugh easily :)
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