Christmas Quiz

Here’s a few checks for the differences between Christmas traditions and what is actually written in the gospels about Jesus’ birth.

1. The date of December 25. ‘Christmas Day’ was attached to the Saturnalian festival held on December 25 – a way of connecting Christian faith with the local culture.

2. How did Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem? The Christmas cards usually show Joseph walking and Mary riding on the donkey. In fact there’s no mention of a donkey in Matthew and Luke, the two gospels that cover the birth of Jesus.

3. Did the innkeeper tell Mary and Joseph there was no room in the inn? Actually there’s no mention of an innkeeper, though we can assume that someone told Joseph and Mary they could use the hay. The stable isn’t mentioned anywhere – it’s just assumed that because Jesus was put down to sleep in a feeding trough that it was in a stable.

4. Which animals does the Bible say were present at Jesus’ birth? Cows, sheep, goats, donkeys? There’s actually no mention of any animals.

5. How many angels spoke to the shepherds? Just one.

6. What’s a heavenly host? A host is an army. So we’re not talking about the angel choir, we’re talking about an army of angels.

7. There is no mention of how many ‘wise men’ there were – just that there were ‘magi’ from the East who had consulted the stars – in other words astrologers.

8. The magi found Jesus in a house with Mary. We assume the house was in Bethlehem.

Matthew 1:18-25 (Contemporary English Version)
This is how Jesus Christ was born. A young woman named Mary was engaged to Joseph from King David’s family. But before they were married, she learned that she was going to have a baby by God’s Holy Spirit. Joseph was a good man and did not want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone. So he decided to quietly call off the wedding. While Joseph was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her. Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” So the Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet had said, “A virgin will have a baby boy, and he will be called Immanuel,” which means “God is with us.”
After Joseph woke up, he and Mary were soon married, just as the Lord’s angel had told him to do. But they did not sleep together before her baby was born. Then Joseph named him Jesus.

Luke 2:1-7 (Contemporary English Version)
About that time Emperor Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books. These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed. So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David’s hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David’s family.
Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby, and while they were there, she gave birth to her first-born son. She dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn.