As I read again the Christmas story found in Luke 2, something occurred to me that I had never seen before – perhaps it has escaped you too. So, I offer one final question to be considered, one final thought to be pondered, and one final inquiry that may change the entire way you look at the Nativity on your mantle.

Have you ever seen a hotel with only one parking space?

Think about this. How many parking spaces surround the Hilton’s, the Hampton Inn’s, and the Marriott’s where you lodge when traveling?

Literally, a lot! A parking lot!

What is it that makes us think the blessed stable housed only three people and a few animals that first Christmas night? Surely, in a small town like Bethlehem, there were not many inns. So, the few, if not the only, hotels would have had, most likely, a fairly large parking garage for all the animals of the inn’s patrons.

Out back, behind Bethlehem’s Motel 6, would not have been a stable for a few farm animals. It would have been a barn filled with animals of travel – camels, mules, donkeys, maybe a few horses. It would have been filled with the Jeeps, the Hondas, the Fords, and the Toyotas of that day. It would have been huge.

Also, what makes us think that only Joseph and Mary were turned away by the innkeeper? Were there not other visitors to Bethlehem that evening who needed a warm place? Would not a good man of business offer everyone a reduced rate for second-class accommodations in the barn?

Think about this…what was the stable actually like?

If any of these thoughts are true, then Mary gave birth in a mass of people. Unknown women may have quickly left their stalls to assist the young girl in labor. Strangers may have talked with Joseph and the children in the stable assuring them all that Mary’s cries were of joy due to the coming child. Who knows what pandemonium was going on with packed-out people and an abundance of animals?

What makes me think of this? Luke 2:16-18

"And they (the shepherds) went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them."

“And ALL WHO HEARD IT…” 

The shepherds went to see what had been described to them. They went to the most obvious place—the parking garage of the largest motel in the village. They made their way through the people to the back, where in one stall, there was a set of new parents and a baby in a manger.

It may have been quiet by that point. Perhaps, conversations still may have been going on. But I doubt if after Jesus was born Joseph announced to everyone around that “My son is going to be your Savior.”  Mary most likely didn’t say to the mothers in the next stalls over that “my baby is more special than yours.”

No, that part of the story was left to some lowly evangelists who had been spending time with the sheep. The shepherds came in and told of the miraculous appearing of angels and their even more miraculous message…  

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

They were the ones who first shared the Gospel message to all those in the barn… “And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.”

What a sermon those shepherds preached! It’s the kind of sermon that makes the congregation sit in awe, stare in wonder, and consider eternity. And that’s what they did!

What an affirmation and confirmation to Mary this would have been. That this was in fact God’s plan for His handmaiden; so… “Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.”

God the Father was reassuring this new mother that she indeed was blessed among women having found great favor with God and that her child had a heavenly mission—to save us all from our sins. God the Father was announcing Joy to the World, the Lord has come.

O Holy Night! Immanuel! God with us!

So, as I sit in the soft glow of the lighted Christmas tree and gaze upon the nearby Nativity, I find a renewed wonder at the Gospel and how it came to earth in the form of a baby and how it became known to its first hearers through the simple story of the shepherds…possibly in a far larger stable than my mantle can hold.

I pray that the awe I sense, like the shepherds, drives me to leave my day-to-day busyness, move into the masses, look anew on Christ, and share the Good News with those around.