A couple Christmas eve thoughts...
1) In the Birth narrative we hear that there was no room in the "Kataluma" - this is not likely to be an "Inn", "Kataluma" normally refers to the guest room of a house. Joseph would not have to stay at an Inn, he/his family were from Bethlehem so he would have a right to stay in a house belonging to any of his relatives. So they would have stayed in a "Kataluma" but, as we read it was full so they were given space under the guest room where normally the animals were housed and/or food was stored... where there would normally be a manger. (NB. when the Magi visit the text says they entered a "House")
In the "Passion" the story of the events leading up to and surrounding Jesus' death, we hear about the Seder/Passover meal they share in an "Upper room" or "Kataluma"... at the start of his life Jesus is born in a place which does not belong to him/his family - not even in the guest quarters to which he has a right to. At the end of his life Jesus and the disciples have no place to share the passover meal of their own so they eat in a "Kataluma" - Jesus at the start, during and the end of his life exists with this tension between being fully here and and also a stranger/guest... he is at home here but in some ways he is never at home.
2) When the Angel visits the Shepherds we are told that "the glory of the Lord shone around them [the shepherds]". But we know from the Jewish faith that there was only one place that the glory of God was present on Earth - the Holy of Holies in the Temple.
As Jesus dies we are told that the Temple Curtain ripped. This Curtain was what separated the Holy of Holies from the people - and even the High Priests had to undertake thorough cleansing rituals before they could enter it. So the death of Jesus rips the fabric of Religion, it ruptures the structures and blows wide the gates! The glory of God is now immanent - it is here, there and everywhere, within everybody's reach (as Paul says to the Athenians in the Areopagus)... but if we go back to the Birth narrative, we find the glory of God present on Earth outside of the Temple/religious system already! So it seems that Jesus incarnation as well as his death is part of this action - by his Birth, not just by his death the system becomes defunct, by his birth we are able to exist within the glory of God, by his birth we are forgiven, and by his death it is completed and open to everyone.
So I guess, we have to see the whole story not just the Baby Jesus but also not just the Man on the Cross - neither stand alone - both and all that lies between them are vital to grapple with the story of God on Earth.
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