Strange Story: The Birth of Jesus Part 12 Lots of Visitors

When the shepherds left the small cave, they were all thinking the same thing – they had to tell everyone they could about what they had heard and seen. But they also felt badly for the one shepherd who had stay behind with the sheep because they could all lose their jobs if all of them left at the same time. So one of them ran to switch places with him while the others ran into town.

Dawn was beginning to greet the people of “The House of Bread” and the excited shepherds were a part of that heavenly greeting. This greeting went out energetically to everyone who would listen and even to those who did not want to listen. These ragamuffin messengers were the most energetic and excited messengers one could ever imagine, and their message was almost impossible to believe.

Often their explanation consisted of repeating what the angel had said to them: “The savior you have been expecting has arrived in the city of ‘The One Who Is Loved,’ he is ‘The Anointed Messiah,’ in fact he is ‘The Supreme Ruler Himself.’ And this will be the sign that confirms all this for you; you will be able to find the one I am speaking of, he is a newborn, and he is suffering rejection just like you are. May there be glory in the highest heavens to ‘The Creator and Owner of All Things’ and let there be peace on the whole earth among men who have been recipients of His kind intentions” Luke 2:11 Luke 2:12.

Like a wildfire propelled by a strong wind, talk about this newborn baby swept through the town. Some believed he must be the Messiah because it was announced by angels, others were convinced that this was a hoax because God would never announce something to those dirty, witless shepherds without first announcing it to educated, proper people like themselves. Others could not make up their minds. The debate raged on.

In a culture where privacy was an unknown concept, bursting in on a mother who had just had a baby was no problem, but leaving one’s questions unanswered, now that was a problem. Therefore a good number of those people that heard the account of the shepherds went out to find the cave and visit this child who was born in such unique circumstances. “Up” and “Reb” felt extremely self-conscious about having guests visit them in this dank, smelly cave. A few of those who heard the report of the shepherds did not stick around to listen to the back-and-forth debate; they decided immediately to go see for themselves. The first to arrive caught “Reb” off guard. However, God gave her a small reprieve after the first visitor in which to do a few things that would make her feel at least a little bit better about having other visitors come. And come they did. Some came to worship, others to mock, others to question, and others because they were curious. Thankfully a couple of them gave “Reb” some food they had with them because they saw how gaunt and pale she looked. In contrast “Up” did not eat anything that day. All day long was filled with activity, movement and chatter. “Reb” tried to catch a few moments of sleep amid the commotion but it was difficult. The day passed with no opportunity for “Up” to gather firewood or go into town and buy food.

When evening finally came, they were both exhausted, again. They hadn’t rested well in a number of days. On this night “Up” tied all the animals more tightly than usual and then crashed on the floor between his wife and the feeding trough turned baby crib.

The next morning “Up” left early and went into “The House of Bread” to buy bread and other food supplies. He also inquired as to the process and timing of the census.

He arrived back at the cave to find that the fire was out and visitors had already started arriving. This day saw just as many visitors as the first day, but at least they had some food. Whenever he saw the need, “Up” simply dismissed himself and went to find firewood.

The third day was similar but by the afternoon the stream of visitors had dwindled to a trickle. Apparently, everyone who wanted to see this scene for themselves had already done so.

Somewhere during these hectic days, “Up” had told the visitors that he needed to go to town and register, and he did so.

On the fourth day there was only one visitor. About mid-morning an elderly man approached alone and with a tortured gait. “Up” welcomed him and helped him sit down on a rock in the cave. After a minute to catch his breath, the old man introduced himself by name and then told them that he was the owner of the property. “Up” feared that the old man would disapprove of their staying there without permission, but his fears proved unnecessary as the old man anticipated this and addressed the issue directly and with no condemnation. This old man who had never seemed to care about others showed genuine interest in the situation of this young couple and their new baby.

In the course of their conversation the old man shared his story and the young couple opened up and shared their story. The old man understood about rejection and told them that he despised family politics. He confirmed that there would be no place in this small town where this couple could move into because of the rejection by all their relatives. They would not even be able to build a house on any of their relative’s land, except this land. The old man had noticed the cart with builder’s tools in it and surmised that “Up” was a builder. He gave the young couple permission to build something on his land if they wished. The problem that “Up” saw was that acquiring enough material would be difficult in a short amount of time. Instead he asked if he could fix up the cave, seal up the roof and build a house-front across the mouth of the cave to make it look like a house built into a cliff. The old man liked the idea. It turned out that the old man’s son who would inherit this property had a business in the big city and cared nothing about what happened to this cave or the property around it so they need not worry about what would happen after the old man died.

To navigate to Part 13 of this story click on The Birth of Jesus Part 13 A Cave-House.