No room in the inn...

The reality is that we presume upon the Biblical texts from our own experience and custom.  It is perfectly normal though often mistaken to impose upon the Scriptures our own overlay of normal life in order to explain or understand the Biblical word.  Nowhere is this more true than in the way we look at the proverbial inn at Bethlehem and presume the evil innkeeper cares more about high paying clientele over poor Joseph and Mary.  Even in art, the imagery over Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is more reflective of the shape of things in the medieval culture of Europe than the actual circumstance of the time in which Jesus was born.  So we put out our stables made of wood as if this was the barn that was alone available to the Holy Family.  In this we owe a greater debt to St. Francis than to Scripture.  In many works of art of the same period, the inn looks like the tavern or hotel typical of the age.  

In so doing, it is not simply the Christmas story which suffers from the imposition of another time upon the Biblical story.  We lose out much of the many and varied connections that began with the upper room that was full and of the one place available to the Holy Family by not an uncaring innkeeper but a compassionate family member.  It all begins with that word inn.  The word Greek we translate is kataluma.  Like many words then and now, it has several meanings but at its core it simply means a place of temporary lodging -- a guest room!

Along with being master road builders and a highly mechanized and sophisticated military machine, Rome was also practical in the administration of its vast empire.  Along the Roman built roads about ever ten miles or so were relay stations much in the same way the old pony express had places where riders exchanged horses and took care of personal needs.  These were called mutationes.  Every twenty-five miles or so were larger accommodations.  These were formal guesthouses with accommodations for official Roman guests and along side were public hostels.  St Luke references these pandocheion in the parable of the Good Samaritan (also called katagōgia).  They were the Motel 6 or Howard Johnsons of the ay -- basic accommodations and meals served up cheap.  They were not always reputable and were sometimes known for the more unseemly things that went on as well.  

Bethlehem was a very small village, perhaps about 500 maximum, and so it was without any of these official or even disreputable places for the occasional traveler.  But Bethlehem would have known and valued hospitality.  What would have been available to a stranger at your door would certainly have been made available to someone coming back to his home town.  Relatives did not have to be coerced into this duty.  Of course, we know that Joseph was not the only one who went back home to register at the order of the Caesar.

The homes of the day were rather basic -- one roomed buildings made of mud brick, often next to a cave, with outdoor living space on the roof.  Often this rooftop space had the roughed in outline of another room that was to be finished when the son brought home his bride to live with the family.  This is also likely the space that St. Luke was referencing for the Upper Room Jesus sent His disciples to prepare for the Passover.  It was called kataluma and was for the son's bridal chamber or an extra room for guests. Is this what St. Luke is referencing in the Christmas story?  Not to mention that this is the word St. Luke uses for the Upper Room on Maundy Thursday.  There is another detour in the story.  Is this like “the prophet’s room” of I King 17 where Elijah takes refuge with the widow of Zarepath?

In John 14 this is flesh out even more by Jesus own word.  “In my Father’s house are many rooms and I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go away to prepare a place for you I will come again and take you to myself…”  Everyone of the day knew what Jesus was saying.  This was not some heavenly motel or stone mansion but framed in the marriage customs of the time.  It began when two families would seek to find a suitable spouse for a son and daughter.  It was not some contrived arranged marriage but a family seeking someone who was stable, honest, and good for their child.  Then a betrothal would take place in the fiancée’s home with both families present as the son and daughter consented to the union.  Then time passed as the bride and her family prepared for the wedding and dowry and the groom returned home to finish the kataluma or upper room where they would reside.  Sometimes building took longer than expected and so this was not a precise date.  When finally the wedding day came and accommodations were complete, the groom returned to bring his bride home.  Here is where the parable of the virgins comes in.  When that day came, the groom and his party processed to the bride’s family home where the bride and her bridesmaids awaited. 

Why was there no place for Joseph and Mary in the kataluma?  Well, there is that business of the registration or census and the crowd of people fulfilling their civic duty and the fact that this was not the house of Joseph's father.  Furthermore, they were not consummating their marriage and blessed Mary was already pregnant with Jesus.  But the family would not turn them away and so they offered them the lower part of the house where the animals were secured for the night or perhaps the cave that would corral the animals in the same way.  It was warm and safe and that was as good as they had to offer.  

Now you cannot connect the dots.  The Upper Room of the Last Supper, kataluma, brings to bear the bridal imagery of the Eucharist and the nuptial character to the Sacrament.  Christ is the bridegroom and the Church His bride and the Eucharist is the marriage feast -- the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in His kingdom without end that we experience in foretaste until we shall finally experience it in full when Christ comes to bring His bride to the Father's House.  The end times are then a consummation of the eternal marriage that not even death can end.   There is certainly another hint to all of this.  St. John says He “came to His own but His own receive Him not” -- a reflection of the way God framed Israel's rejection throughout the Old Testament (violating the marriage and becoming an adulterous bride) and the way Christ weeps over Jerusalem whom He would have gathered to Him by they would not.  Also according to St. John, Revelation gives us the picture of the end where rejection gives way to rejoicing and the bride and the bridegroom enter into the eternal home for the everlasting feast.  It sort of all fits.  And so does Christmas and Easter and the end of the Pentecost Season.  The connection is revealed by a word -- kataluma.