Katalyma, the Farmer, and the Geese

 

In the story of the Nativity, my new bible translation used the word guest room instead of inn. 

What? That can’t be right. But it is. The actual word Luke used in his description of the birth of Christ (Luke 2:7) was katalyma, which translates as a guest room.

According to my research, early Jewish homes had a space set aside for guests. A room often close to the enclosure where they kept their animals. So, with all the guest rooms already filled by the time Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, a family member offered them the animal enclosure. 

I’ve been in many barns and I can’t imagine giving birth in one. Yet a God so powerful, he created the universe, our world, and everything in it, including us, chose the lowliest of births.

It’s hard to wrap my mind around that.

However, the following story illustrates one reason this humble beginning makes sense.

The Farmer and Geese in a Snowstorm

The farmer rejected all that Christmas nonsense. Why would an all-powerful God humble himself to become a man like him? In fact, he mocked those who believed in something so absurd.

That Christmas Eve, a blizzard raged outside. With his animals safe in the barn, and him tucked in his favorite chair next to a crackling fire, the man ignored the storm - until something thumped against the house. The farmer got up from his chair, but before he made it to the window, there was another thump. This time at the door. He jerked the door open and looked out, but saw nothing but blinding snow. Another thump against the house propelled him outside.

Squinting against the snow, he saw a flock of geese in his field. As he watched, several took to the air. Within minutes, the driving wind and snow disoriented them, and they flew into the side of the house. Stunned, they sat dazed while the wind howled around them.

He had to ease their panic and give them shelter from the storm or they would surely die.

The barn. It would offer them shelter from the wind and snow. He opened the barn doors and waited for them to notice. Instead, they continued their erratic behavior with more and more of them hitting the sides of his buildings.

He stepped forward, hoping to herd them into the barn, but they fled from him in fear.

Undeterred, he went into the barn, took a bucket of grain, and made a trail from the barn to the field. The geese were too panicked to notice the grain.

How was he to lead them to the barn and safety? How might he save them?

“If only I was a goose, they’d follow me to the safety of the barn and I could save them.”

If I become one of them, they would follow me and I could save them.

Those words dropped him to his knees. That’s why God humbled himself and became a man - like him.

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Matthew 1:23