Do not be Afraid

Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem
In the distance is the short entry door known as the Door of Humility

On this Christmas Eve many of us prepare to celebrate the birth of the most written about person in world history.  If not for those pesky Romans wanting to get an idea of the population of their empire, Jesus would have been born in Nazareth.  Score one for Bethlehem. Joseph had to journey south from Nazareth to Bethlehem with a very pregnant women.  Bethlehem (actually most of the places we visited) has an interesting geography.  Limestone rock outcroppings are everywhere, and of course water eats away at limestone; Eons ago, the caves today were likely Karst topography.   The chemical reaction between water and limestone gives us what we commonly know as sink holes.  You know sink holes, they devour roads, cars and houses, but I will spare the chemical-geological details. Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and their surroundings have a great number of caves.  John the Baptist was born in one, and so was Jesus.  Caves were not just for animals, but as we know, many people also lived in them.

A shepherd cave, with benches for mass

The first people to visit the Christ child were shepherds.  Considered a lower level occupation, these men (at least they are always portrayed as men) regularly pulled all-nighters, well before it became popular with college students, to attend to a rather docile animal.  They also lived in caves among the fields in which their sheep grazed.   They were in the valley in a small community known as Beit Sahour, although today it is indistinguishable from Bethlehem.  As I looked to the rear of what became my home for four nights this past April, I could see the Shepherd fields. To this day, a shepherd is used as an analogy for members of the church hierarchy. So we have this group of men gathering themselves after a once in a lifetime experience of having an angel appears to them and proclaim: "Glory to God in the Highest Heaven & on Earth Peace Among those Whom He Favors." (Luke 2:14) Over the rocks, between the olive trees, and up the hills they would trudge to visit a small baby boy who would set forth a new course for human-kind.

Shepherd's Field.  The metal structure protects excavations

As we celebrate Christ's birth, let us also recall that in some respects the holy family was not unlike families today. Today the rate of out of wedlock birth is high, as is divorce.  In this Holy Family we have the young woman, Mary, being told by an angel that she would bear a son, and to call him Emmanuel.  Of course, the angel departs, leaving her to figure out what to do.  What, we wonder, does she tell her parents, Anne and Joachim.  How does she figure a way to tell her husband-to-be that not only is she pregnant, but it is not his child. Then there is Joseph.  What must he have felt like to be told his fiance is pregnant, realize no way can you be the father, but be informed that she is giving birth to the son of God.  (Somebody saying that today would be hauled off for psychiatric or for substance abuse treatment.)  To be told such a story, he must have wondered what she had been smoking.  Being the nice guy he was, to avoid scandal and ridicule being heaped upon Mary, he was going to silently leave her.  But, God kept the angels busy and one appeared to Joseph who said to him that the child "conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit."  So for the first time in human history, at least before artificial insemination, we have a virgin conceiving and giving birth to a child.

Birthplace of Christ, Church of the Nativity

Detail of location marking Christ's birth

Poor Joseph, he must have felt like the odd man out in that family.  He married to a women who was chosen to give birth to the son of God, and who was born without original sin.  As if having one holy person was not enough, his stepson outdoes his mother by being the son of God.  Joseph is due the title "Saint" if for no other reason than that identified in Matthew 1:25.  Do you think Joseph ever won an argument in that family? It is hard enough for a man to win an argument with his wife, much less one who lived without actual sin.  I hope she and Jesus cut him a little slack and realized his frailty as a standard human.  On the other hand, God knew something that we need to re-learn today.  A father is important.  A growing literature seemingly supports the view on the importance of a father in the life a child, particularly for boys.  God at least recognized the need for a male figure in Jesus' life and provided him the carpenter; while today one-parent households are more common than perhaps they should, Jesus was not from a one parent household.

But, the difficulties do not end with the birth of the boy in a cave, wrapped in linen and lying in a manger.  A madman decides to kill all young males to avoid the possibility of a usurper to his throne.  Little did he know the chosen kingdom was not of this earth.  To allow Jesus to avoid the slaughter, yet another angel is called upon.  This time it appears to Joseph in yet another cave, just beyond where Christ was born, and tells him to take his family to Egypt.  Further down the path, Mary was breast-feeding the infant.  It is here that some of that nourishing mother's milk dropped to the limestone floor of yet another cave; this location is now known as the Milk Grotto.  As hard as Joseph's choice to leave his home country must have been, think of all the mothers and fathers who lost their young sons in the rant of this madman.  I hope God reserved a special place in heaven for the souls of the young  boys and their parents.  Joseph, Mary and the newborn head off through the desert to find refuge from the madman.  Today, we are left with the places they had been.  I don't think we could make a story like that up today.

Location where an angel appeared to Joseph
telling him to take his family to Egypt

The Mid-East was then, and is now, a hot-bed of discontent. Depending on one's point of view it is either rather ironic, or appropriate, that the Prince of Peace was born at a location where there is constant turmoil.  A place where much of the population has yet to learn to live together peacefully, while drawing visitors from all over the world; a place of constant bickering, but yet home to three of the world's major religions; a place where walls are built to limit movement, but where Christ's message is for an open heart.  While we may dismay over the difficulties and strife in the modern age, on this one day a year we should remember Christ having been born--and the hope, joy, love and mercy offered by the results of that event. In other words, do not be afraid. Nonetheless, when trials and tribulations of daily existence get us down, let us realize that two thousand years ago that Jesus, Mary and Joseph did not have it so easy either.

Moon over Bethlehem.  I should have taken 10 minutes to walk back and
get a shot of the moon  over the Church of the Nativity

Have a joy-filled Christmas!

The photos in this post were taken in April 2013 while in the Holy Land.