Welcome, Bienvenidos, Bienvenue

It is the Christmas season so what other way to start than to ask, "Was Jesus really born in Bethlehem?" Isn't that just a "Grinch Stole Christmas" kind of thing to say on December 23rd. Well I noticed on the news tonight that the Church of Jesus of Nazareth was closed because of the snow. So at Christmas mass at the Church of Jesus of Nazareth, do they tell you that the wise men went to Bethlehem to see the newborn Jesus? That's like going to Philadelphia to find the Baltimore Ravens. Something just doesn't add up. So here is something that Sr. Mary Steven Joseph probably didn't tell you in school. I was told that Mary and Joseph were traveling to Joseph's native village for the census and that's how they ended up in Bethlehem. This was about a 90 mile journey from Jerusalem, which in the first century BC was about a week. Now in 2009 doctors won't let women who are 9 months pregnant get on a plane, but Mary made it a week on a donkey? I've never given birth, but I've held a leg and yelled push, and I am pretty sure if I had suggested a donkey ride to the hospital I would have been in the ER. So get this. It turns out that there is a Bethlehem just around the corner from Jerusalem. So could there have been some confusion? If the early Christians were in the USA, they may have written that Jesus was from Miami, after all he is Jewish!! They would have built huge Christian Cathedrals all over south Florida only to later find out that he was from Miami, OH like Ben Roethlisberger. Doesn't the Bethlehem just outside of Jerusalem make more sense? Well it creates a huge problem for the new Christians. The Jewish texts all say that the Messiah will come from Judea. The Bethlehem that we all recreate in our Nativity scenes is in Judea. The Bethlehem near Jerusalem is in Galilee. So were the early Christians telling stories to satisfy the Jews and gain followers? If they had told them that Jesus was born in Galilee would there be more dreidels and less jingle bells? Would Charlie Brown have been a blockhead for selecting a subpar Menorah for the Hannukah pageant? This is just a thought to keep you on your toes while you are singing The First Noel at Christmas mass.