A New Christmas Pageant
Estimated reading time: 15 minutes
Variant Readings From Luke Chapter 2
God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman—born on Christmas Day—oh dear!
We have heard these carols all our lives and never thought about them—are they right? To save us all from Satan’s power—that part is great!!!
Typical: shepherds and wise men together with the star—oh dear! The wise men were not at the birth, and neither was the star!
When I was growing up, my family went to church every Sunday. When it came to Christmas time, we had a pageant put on by our Sunday School. I asked my Mom if she remembered, and she said she didn’t. I only remember ever being an angel. I guess that was because even then I was pretty tall (and skinny too)—somehow angels are always thin!
Maybe some of you have been in these children’s pageants, too.
Here is an image from one such production:
I saw a video on YouTube with a little girl who was the angel—she was so cute. When it got to the part with the angel, she said “Shepherds, do not be afraid,” holding her arms out….
I saw another site with a shepherd boy about 4 years old carrying a stuffed sheep under his arm, and they kept hanging down nose-first.
How did we get these ideas of what happened at the birth of Christ? TRADITION! We will be going through the record in Luke 2 and will see that the “new” Christmas pageant is actually so much more beautiful than the traditions.
Which would we rather have? Tradition or truth?
This is a real question that I want you to ponder today. The truth about tradition…
I know this is a good question, because I have taught this “revised” version of the story in Luke 2 several times before, and even I find myself humming the old tunes. The traditions pop up again very quickly!!! So I thought that, with this presentation and by pointing out some of the errors in our familiar Christmas carols, we would have something more vivid to replace the tradition in our minds.
I want to share the Luke 2 story from the Peshitta and then add in the variant readings from the Old Syriac. This is an Aramaic manuscript of the gospels found in St Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai Desert. It is called a palimpsest, meaning that the old writing of the Gospels was found underneath a 9th-century manuscript about 40 women martyrs. There is another Old Syriac manuscript, called the Curetonian manuscript, with slight variations. I compared the two to identify the variant readings.
Note that this was the “first” enrollment and that the variant reading is “in the years.”
There are problems with this verse regarding the history of who was the governor of Syria in 3 BC. And that this is about the people being taxed.
Cyrenius: the Greek form of the Roman name Quirinus. His full name is Publius Sulpicius Quirinus. He was made governor of Syria after the banishment of Archelaus in A.D. 6. In 3 BC, he was actually a procurator, which is a personal representative of Caesar who had powers directly from Augustus.
The reason for this enrollment was that in 2 BC, Augustus would be 60 years old and in the 25th year of his reign. He was going to receive an award called Pater Patriae, the Father of the Country. He demanded before he got this award that all of the people in his territories would take an oath of allegiance to him, especially anyone who was of a kingly family. It was an enrollment for allegiance, not taxation. The taxes collected in Israel stayed in the country and were given to Herod.
There were 2 enrollments- this is the first one and the reason that both Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem. The second happened in 6 AD as mentioned in Acts 5:37 when Quirinius was the actual governor of Syria. See how wonderfully the truth fits with history!!!!
Now we see why both Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem. As we will see later, it is the fall of the year, so they timed their visit to arrive before Mary had the baby and right around the time of the Feast of Tabernacles.
The King James says that Mary was “his espoused wife.” And most people believe that Joseph and Mary were only engaged at this point. The NIV says, “pledged to be married.”
We know that Mary was already Joseph’s wife because of Matthew 1:18-25
Matthew 1:20 (APNT):
But while he was considering these [things], an angel of the LORD appeared to him in a dream and said to him, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife, for he that is fathered in her [is] from the Holy Spirit.
“Take” is a beautiful word. It means to join to oneself, but also to accept, or receive as one’s own.
“While they were there” — you mean Mary didn’t have the baby on the way to Bethlehem???’
The other picture that we have from the pageants, as well as Christmas cards and many other scenes, is that Joseph and Mary were traveling alone to Bethlehem. That would not be normal in the culture. They were not the only ones of the house of David. They must have had other aunts, uncles, grandparents, parents, who also would have been traveling to the Feast of Tabernacles as well as to be enrolled and to pledge their allegiance to Caesar.
The phrase “in the inn” is not in the Old Syriac. This makes so much more sense with the culture. Since Mary and Joseph were not traveling alone, when they arrived in Bethlehem, there would have been many homes of relatives that would have opened to host all the guests. Also, if you were staying in an inn in those days, you would need to bring everything with you – all your bedding and food, and there would be about 8 rooms around a central courtyard where all the animals were held. That is not a kind of place where you could have a baby.
The text says that there was no room for them or a place for them. The word “inn”, even in Greek, means guest house. Where Joseph and Mary ended up staying was in the part of the house where the animals were kept at night. In a one-room house, this area would have been on a lower level than the main house. Culturally, when Mary was having the baby, all the women in the family, along with the midwives, would have surrounded her and helped with the birth. No men would have been allowed in the house.
Verse 8 says that there were shepherds in the fields. It would have to be the fall and not winter, because sheep were not kept outside in the winter. Also, since the shepherds go immediately to see the child after the angel announcement, it would have been in the day. And it was not usual to go to visit someone’s house after dark and certainly not if you were a stranger.
The women are taking care of Mary, and when the baby is born. They did the common practice in Palestine at that time. They wash the baby with salted water and take long strips of cloth, put the arms and legs of the baby very straight, and then wrap the baby with these strips. This is called swaddling clothes. Swaddling was a custom that continued for hundreds of years. I have some customs books that show that it was still being done in the 1900’s. We actually have a similar custom. If you go to the hospital, you can see newborn babies all lined up in their cribs with the blankets wrapped tightly around them (like a burrito).
Here is a drawing that shows the different levels of a one-room house with the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and a stone manger for feeding the animals.
Such a beautiful, humble picture of everyday existence in Israel at that time.
One angel comes toward them, not flying out of the sky
Luke 2:8 (APNT):
And there were shepherds in that region who were abiding there and keeping watch over their flocks at night.
The Peshitta includes “at night,” but the Old Syriac does not. Shepherds did not have their sheep out at night.
Tradition teaches that these shepherds were just ordinary men out in the fields. But why did God send an angel to announce the birth to these particular shepherds? There is Rabbinic teaching that the fields 5 miles around Jerusalem were for the temple animals- to preserve them from being without spot and blemish. The fields northeast of Jerusalem even have a special name that they belonged to the temple. I believe that these shepherds were Levites who were genuinely looking for and expecting the Messiah. Cf. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah.
(KJV) Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Savior: life giver or the Peshitta has parocha, meaning deliverer – much stronger Variant reading: the Messiah of the LORD – the LORD’s Messiah is the deliverer that was promised to you!
Sign: Wait a minute! I thought that swaddling clothes were a common custom. Sign is spelled ATA in Aramaic, and ATA also means he has come!!!! There were no vowel markings until after the 3rd century AD.
So how would the shepherds find the baby if the swaddling clothes are not a sign? All the prophecies in the Old Testament had shown that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of the line of David the king. Everyone in the city would know where the family of the kingly line of David lived. So it was simple matter of going to that part of the city and to begin calling out and inquiring – where is the newborn baby?
Let’s go back to the shepherds as they heard from the angel.
There appeared by him — not necessarily up in the sky! Many angels!
For the word favor or good will there is another variant reading — I told you this would be a new pageant!
Good hope = reconciliation, which has its root verb, “to shepherd, rule, tend”, then literally “to the sons of men.”
(KJV) Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
The angels did not appear to the high priest or anyone else, but to these shepherds — they must have been wonderful believing men!!!
Shepherds were faithful to bring the word of comfort to Joseph and Mary that this baby was very very special- he is the deliverer!!!!
Same message to us today also. Not the baby Jesus, but the Messiah or CHRIST of the LORD! This must have been astounding to the family of Joseph and Mary too, because they probably still had some doubts about the legitimacy of the baby.
We can speak about the things we have seen and heard, also — Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. He is no longer a baby in Bethlehem but the risen Lord, seated next to the right hand of the throne of God, ever living to make intercession for us.
He is the deliverer already come!!! And he is coming again!
There you have the new Christmas pageant:
Joseph and Mary come to Bethlehem with their relatives for the feast of Tabernacles, and while they are there, the city is full of visitors so they are staying in a humble house in the part of the house where the animals are kept. Mary is taken care of when she has the baby, and there is great rejoicing over the birth of a son! Then the shepherds come to visit and tell of a majestic report from an angel that the DELIVERER has come! They comfort Joseph and Mary with these words and encourage them, and then go to broadcast abroad what they have seen and heard.
Joy to the World, one of the carols that is the closest to the truth!
See Also:
Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (APNT) taken from the Aramaic Peshitta New Testament Translation: With explanatory footnotes marking variant readings, customs and figures of speech, Copyright © 2006 by Janet M. Magiera, Light of the Word Ministry, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.lightofword.org)
OS = Old Syriac
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