The Ultimate Passover Lamb

Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! — John 1:29

Where, exactly, in Bethlehem was Jesus born? Modern people from the European tradition often picture the nativity happening in a stable, yet the Bible never states this. Luke 2:7 tells us only that “there was no place for them in the kataluma,” so Mary laid the Baby in an animal’s feeding trough. The Greek word kataluma can mean any kind of lodging place where someone would spend the night. Was this an “inn” with a stable out back like we so often hear?

Not quite. Our idea of an inn as a place where multiple sojourners find overnight lodging doesn’t fit the context of Joseph and Mary at all.

The Romans did have two types of such lodging, but one was for imperial government travelers with official permission to stay there, and the other was associated with thievery, carousing, and prostitution. An upright Jew like Joseph never would have taken his pregnant wife to such a place, even if one had existed in Bethlehem, which was unlikely in a backwater village far from the main highway. And when the Bible wishes to speak of that kind of inn, it uses a different Greek word (a pandocheion, Luke 10:34).

A kataluma in the biblical context refers to the guest room that most ancient Jewish homes kept available for visitors. It was a spare multipurpose room for providing hospitality in that courteous culture. The same word was used of the “guest room” where Jesus’ disciples celebrated the Last Supper (Luke 22:11). Almost certainly,

• Joseph first tried to bring Mary into his hometown of Bethlehem, where he could lodge in a village house among relatives who would provide their kataluma for the guests.

But due to overcrowding caused by other relatives arriving for the census registration, Scripture tells us that when the time came for Jesus’ birth, no private place was available for the laboring mother in the guest room (Luke 2:1–7). What could a godly husband like Joseph do? Although the Bible doesn’t provide details, the ancient Christian traditions that have come down to us help us imagine the scene.

According to The Original Gospel of James, the holy couple was traveling along the road when Mary felt an urgency within her womb. She asked Joseph to take her down from the donkey. The widower Joseph and some of his sons from his previous marriage nobly wanted to guard Mary’s privacy by taking her into a nearby cave. Several ancient Christian sources attested that the birth happened in a cave. Even today, the eastern Mediterranean depictions of the nativity (such as Greek Orthodox icons) always set the event in a craggy cavern, not a European stable made of wood.

Does a cave seem like a strange place for Jesus to be born? If it does, perhaps that is because our mental picture of Christmas has been conditioned by sentimental Victorian images instead of God’s Word and a strong knowledge of Israelite culture. We need a new, more biblical image of Christmas!

Opening the Way to God

Not many people today know that the region around Bethlehem was an important area where lambs were raised for a specific purpose. There, at the House of Bread, lambs were birthed for the following year’s Passover sacrifice in the Jerusalem temple. All faithful Jews marked that annual holiday with a family feast of roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs.

In order to provide enough sacrificial lambs for the nation, special priestly shepherds raised sheep near Bethlehem. During the cold winter months, they sheltered their flocks inside local caves. Since the Scripture says the shepherds were outdoors at night during the first Christmas when an angel appeared to them (Luke 2:8–9), it couldn’t have occurred in December.

Instead, the Savior’s birth most likely occurred during the autumn festival of Sukkot, which marked God’s provision for the Israelites during the exodus, while they wandered in the wilderness. Later generations of Jews commemorated the transient “booths,” or shelters, that their ancestors had lived in while wandering, as well as the shelters used during the busy harvest when God’s bountiful crop was reaped. Sukkot fell about nine months after Hanukkah, when lamps were lit to celebrate the restoration of God’s worship at the temple. No longer were the people cut off from God; now they had access to him again. That was the prophetic moment when the angel had announced Mary’s virginal conception.

Birth of a Lamb

In that cave, at last the birth pangs struck Mary in earnest. The first-time mother’s travails were fierce, not at all mitigated because the baby was destined to be the messianic king; for he was also a normal human. Yet even in the midst of her suffering, Mary’s soul rejoiced in the good work God was doing.

After little Jesus had come forth, Mary nursed Him, then swaddled Him like one of the sacred lambs and laid him upon some soft grass in the feeding trough. In this beautiful way, the meaning of the ancient Israelite festival of Passover reached its fulfillment. When John the Baptist later saw the adult Jesus coming toward him, he exclaimed,

Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! — John 1:29

Peter likewise said we are redeemed by “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19). And the apostle Paul wrote,

For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. — 1 Corinthians 5:7

Both the birth and the death of Messiah Jesus proved Him to be the ultimate Passover Lamb.

Heavenly Father, thank you for coming to earth as a Baby born in a cave who grew into a Man who would become the Lamb to take away my sin. Amen.

Adapted with permission from Herod and Mary by Kathie Lee Gifford and Bryan M. Litfin, PHD.

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Your Turn

Think about the symbolism of Jesus, the Bread of Life, being born in The House of Bread (Bethlehem, where sacrificial lambs were raised) to be the Lamb of God! Isn’t that stunning? Praise God for making the fact that Jesus is our Savior as clear as day! ~ Devotionals Daily