CHRISTMAS FACTS?

I re-read the story of Jesus' birth this year as I've done for many years around this time. I've also listened to a few sermons, read some book exerpts, and seen a few movies on the subject. I was watching "studio 60 on the sunset strip" for the first time with my wife and her sisters earlier this week and they were going off on how so much of the story is a hoax and false. I was wishing I had it recorded. But, much of what they were saying, many scholars don't debate much either. But, it got me thinking again about how much is assumed and "normal" to the story that we are not so sure of today and that many are pretty sure was not "NORMAL" to Jesus' day. Here's my list:

1. JESUS WAS BORN IN A BARN: Bethlehem barns were caves. Jesus was likely born in what a 21st century American would call a cave. This is not surprising to those who live in Israel. To me.. this was shocking when I was there.
   
   
2. MARY RODE A DONKEY: Maybe. But likely not. Donkeys are expensive. It would be rare for her to be able to afford one. She probably walked. There's no mention of a donkey in the text of Matthew or Luke- which are the the only two of the 4 gospels that even mention the birth details.
   
   
3. MARY WAS LIKE 13-16 YEARS OLD: We don't know this. We are guessing based
   on data that was "normal" for marriage and such during her culture. Many scholars say this is the case. The Bible doesn't tell us.
   
   
4. MARY AND ELIZABETH WERE SISTERS: The text says relatives according to the NIV, NASB, NLT, ESV and a bagillion more. It doesn't say sisters, cousins, aunts, ..... nothing. It says they were relatives. The message paraphrase says "cousin". But I think he's guessing.
   
   
5. JOSEPH WAS 40 or 14 or? I've heard so much variation on this one it's mind boggling. Again, we're guessing here.
   
   
6. THERE WAS NO ROOM IN THE INN: Some say this is true. Others say not so much. One of the most recent English translations- the TNIV- translates the word for "inn" as "guest room". Some say this is more accurate. Like Joseph went door to door, not to the Motel 6 in the small town.
   
   
7. THE INN KEEPER WON'T LET THEM STAY AND IS ANNOYED AT THEIR ASKING. HIS WIFE BUGS HIM TO HAVE PITY. THEY THEN END UP ALONE WITH A COW IN THE BARN AND AN ANGEL LIGHTING THE SPACE WITH ITS GLOW: This is how it goes in every play I've ever seen on the Nativity. None of it is in the story.
   
   
8. THE WISEMEN SHOWED UP AT THE CAVE/BARN? Maybe.. maybe not. Again, this is debated. Since it says they showed up at their "home" in Matthew 2:11 and because Herod has children 2 years or older killed in an attempt to destroy Jesus, many say they must have come at least a year after the child was born. Others say this is not true, they came to the Cave and the age that Herod used was based on when the star appeared in the sky, not when the Magi arrived. Uh.. who knows?
   
   
9. THEY WERE WISEMEN. We don't know what they were. I've heard kings, scholars, wisemen, magi, astrologers, scholars... and evidently all of those are valid translations of the word used to describe them. So, they were smart, rich, influential travelers of some sort.
   
   
10. THERE WERE 3 WISEMEN: We don't know this either. The text says there were 3 gifts. We therefore assume one per person. But it could have been 3 gifts from 2 people or 3 gifts from 20. We just don't know.
    
    
11. THE WISEMEN CAME FROM EGYPT ON A CAMEL: I'm not sure where I got this one, but this is what I've always thought. But it doesn' t say this in the text. It says they were Wisemen form the another country to the East who arrived in Jerusalem before meeting Jesus in either Bethlehem or Nazareth, depending on how you read the story.
    
    
12. JESUS WAS BORN ON DECEMBER 25TH like in the year Zero AD. Nope. Not likely. Probably born 5 BCish and more like in the Springtime based on the shepherds in the field and the difficulty of a traveling census in December make that month unlikely.
    
    

None of this ruins me or makes me feel I've been lied to. It just means that a lot of what is "central" to the story for a lot of church going people like me is not "CENTRAL" to the story. Here's to pondering the story, as Matthew and Luke record it for us- minus my culture read back into it. Following Jesus often gets muddied- not by the text as it's written, so much as how it's re-writen in my modern day messed up mind.