And the Word Became Flesh

Today, we had a chance to take a formal tour of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. This is the oldest church in the Holy Land, and one of the oldest in the world. What stood out to me most was learning about the oral tradition and considering the way faith has spread over the years.
 The day started with a rainy bus trip to the church. It was cold outside too, so when we arrived it felt good to go down into the cave. That’s the cool part of the Nativity church: the original home or inn was in the cave, but by the time Jesus was born, they had built a building above it and the cave was where the animals lived. That is where Mary and Joseph went and where Jesus was born. Today the same cave remains, but the church is built up over it.


We learned that the oral tradition was instrumental in finding this place of the Nativity. Our tour guide shared that as early as A.D. 38 people venerated the place of Jesus’ birth. The church was not built until the time of Constantine in the Fourth Century.  The reason they were able to find the location was because people had continued to pray and visit the place even when building a church there would have been impossible. The people in power could “re-write” history, and one previous emperor built a pagan temple over the place, but this could not squelch the faith of the people.

What’s also special is that I think we even saw this tradition alive today. For one thing, we were learning from a tour guide. But also, we saw many other groups celebrating mass and prayers in the place with various languages. I saw a little more clearly that faith is something handed on to us - “But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?” (Romans 10:14)- Our faith in Jesus Christ is held in common with millions from around the world, people we have never even met! It comes to us from others, and we, in turn, hand it on as well. Our faith in Christ comes to us as a gift, just like the Christ Child was born in Bethlehem to Mary and Joseph and the whole world.