The Christmas story of Jesus birth in the stable is tied to one verse of Scripture, Luke 2:7. That's it, no other mention of the manger or the inn! It reads, "She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, for there was no room for them in the inn." (NIV) or as the TNIV puts it, "She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them."
Now there's a big difference between a guest room and an inn. Ben Witherington raised this important point in an article he wrote for Christianity Today last Christmas. He also wrote on his blog, "But there is one more surprise at the end of the tale. When it came time for Mary to deliver the baby, the Greek of Luke’s text says--- “she wrapped him in cloth and laid him in a corn crib, as there was no room in the guest room”. Yes, you heard me right. Luke does not say there was no room in the inn. Luke has a different Greek word for inn (pandeion) which he trots out in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The word he uses here (kataluma) is the very word he uses to describe the room in which Jesus shared the last supper with his disciples—the guest room of a house."
Dose this change the story? Perhaps a little, it certainly makes it less sentimental. It also helps explain why Mary, Joseph and Jesus where still in Jerusalem a couple of years later when the Magi arrived. They were staying and working with family.
Perhaps our traditional understanding is wrong.
