A CHRISTMAS MYSTERY

 

“She gave birth to her firstborn, a son . . . and placed him in a manger.” 

 

In the Bible’s nativity story, Luke says it three times, “in a manger,” . . . “in a manger,” . . . “in a manger.”  Like this is some sort of riddle.  He says, “This will be a sign to you.”  Like this is something we are supposed to “get.”

 

Well, what is there to “get”?  I’ve puzzled over this.  According to my Webster, a manger is “a trough or open box for livestock feed or fodder.”  Are we supposed to think that the manger is filled with grain?  That this baby who later reportedly fed five thousand people miraculously with only five loaves of bread (Luke 9: 12-17), is lying on a bed of wheat grain? 

 

I realized I needed some help with this so I asked someone how the original Greek text could be translated.  The original text can mean either, “in a manger,” or “in a stable.”  A stable!!!

 

Well, “she placed him in a stable, because there was no room in the inn,” makes much more sense than, “she placed him in a manger, because there was no room in the inn.”  Mary, the Holy Mother, could have put her baby in her manger regardless of whether her caravan was at the “inn” (likely a caravanserai, basically just a courtyard where the pack animals could be corralled and watered), or somewhere else. 

 

I was still asking myself if the baby was placed in a “stable,” when I watched the DVD, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, about a tomb found in Talpiot, Israel.  I was mesmerized by the symbol carved on what might or might not be the tomb of Jesus.  The carving is fairly large, I’d guess about two or three feet high, a circle or ring inside an upside-down “V,” or an upside-down “Y” with a mini-stem, directly above the low entrance.  Could this be what Luke was referring to?  Could this be the “baby in a stable?”  Do I think that there is a nativity scene on the tomb?  No, but could Luke have been pointing to this symbol and what the symbol stood for?

 

 

 

Caption:  The Talpiot tomb symbol, photo by Amos Kloner, March 1980.

 

But what does the symbol on the Talpiot tomb mean?  Apparently, no one knows for sure.  Whatever it means, someone made a tremendous effort to carve it – it is a relief sculpture (set out several inches from the broad rock face), not engraved in the rock.

 

I’ve asked myself if the tomb symbol could be just what it seems to be – the circle of a baby’s head appearing within a birth canal, within the outline of a vulva – a symbol of birth or re-birth?  Certainly a fitting symbol for a sect whose central belief was resurrection.

 

The converging lines in the tomb symbol remind me of the Horn of Plenty or “cornucopia.”  The horn was a symbol of Divine Providence in Greek mythology, a symbol of the fertile bounty of the Earth.  Also, the converging lines remind me of the very symmetrical entryway to the prehistoric Main Gallery in the caves at Lascaux, France (click “discover,” then “virtual visit”).  The entryway there is shaped like an upside-down “V.”  An entryway into the sacred womb of the Earth from which new life emerges?

 

The tomb symbol reminds me of something in a pyramid.  A corpse in a tomb?  No, not a corpse, but rather the “Ka” or soul of the Divine King.  Not in a tomb, but rather in a womb; the womb of Earthly existence birthing the soul into the afterlife.  Mary and her husband Joseph had spent many years in Egypt and maybe the pyramid, a construction that conveyed the god-pharaohs into the “afterlife,” had some significance for their family. 

 

Could the Talpiot tomb symbol be the “sign of Jonah”?  Luke reports that Jesus said that no sign would be given his generation except the “Sign of Jonah” (Luke 11:29-30).  Jonah was swallowed by an enormous fish, lived in its belly, and then was disgorged safely onto dry land.  Clearly the Jonah story in the Bible can be one of entering an earthly existence with subsequent resurrection and new life.  The belly of the fish gave up its contents, just as a womb ejects the newborn.

 

Luke immediately follows his Jonah discussion with a discussion of “the light within you” which is like “the light of a lamp.”  He is urging us to be filled with Divine light.  The upside-down “V” on the Talpiot tomb does remind me of the shape of the functional end of an ancient lamp; the circle of the symbol, the flame.  Luke weaves in a second metaphor here – the “eye” being the light of the “body.”  I’ll guess he means the inner life of the soul illuminates and resides in the body; the light shines forth from us illuminating all we see and giving definition to what we see.

 

The Talpiot tomb symbol reminds me of the circle within converging lines found on every US one-dollar bill.  On the bill, the circle is the iris in the eye and the converging lines meet in the apex above the eye, above what is a partial pyramid.  Tradition has it that the eye is the “eye of God” – I’ll guess it is not a spying eye, but the Divine spark in each soul.  I used an online translator to find the meaning of the Latin words on the US one-dollar bill over the eye-pyramid thingy:  “Annuit coeptis” means “to obliterate to begin,” reminiscent of death and new life. 

 

The Talpiot tomb symbol reminds me of the lines of the steeples found on so many Christian churches and cathedrals, the steeple above the doorway opening into the body of the church.

 

The circle in the tomb symbol reminds me of the modern practice of placing decorative Christmas wreaths on doors, and also, placing wreaths of flowers on graves; (wreaths symbolizing birth and re-birth?). 

 

Could the Talpiot tomb symbol be an ancient symbol of fertility and new life?  The Talpiot tomb symbol might have been not just the “sign of Jonah,” but also a convenient way to signal opposition to the establishment religion by borrowing a symbol rooted in earlier times.  The symbol does seem to mesh neatly with the New Testament themes of Divine indwelling, abundant Grace, and resurrection.

 

Maybe the Talpiot tomb symbol is none of the above. 

 

Maybe it is just a symbol which at the time of Jesus meant “tomb.”  Then again, maybe the symbol can be understood on more than one level.  More theories (scroll down to May 5, 2007 post.

 

Is Luke melding together nativity and resurrection themes with his “baby in a stable” clues?

 

Are nativity and resurrection stories inseparable?  Of course.  Each of us is a Child of the Divine.  Each of us has a Divine soul.  Each of us is in this womb of existence.  Each of us will be birthed to a new life.  Or so many believe.

 

I am remembering the nativity and resurrection themes portrayed in drawings on the walls inside the Egyptian temple at Abydos, far older than Christianity.  In a video shown on public television, Michael Wood, the narrator, explains the temple images and hieroglyphs:

 

“Here, too, are many motifs familiar to Christians, especially the role of the Divine Mother Isis.  Here Isis is caressing Seti [the god-king] on her knee.  She says to him, ‘You’re my son.  Come out of me.  I have nourished you that you may be Lord of the two lands.  I have made your body strong in victory against all the enemies who may come against you.  Your Majesty is King of Eternity, a falcon abiding forever.’  Here is Isis giving the breath of life to Seti.  Above her, her words are, ‘You have made your mansion, your temple to magnify our nature and adorned it with all the kinds of excellent stone work, and your reward for this will be the life span of the sky, or as long as Abydos shall exist.’ ” – Legacy, Egypt:  The Habit of Civilization

 

Then the drawings portray Seti, the “King of Eternity,” being restored to life after death.  Interesting.  Some ideas must be very old.

 

I decided to dig a little deeper into Luke’s nativity story, and opened my newly acquired Greek dictionary (in The Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, 1983.)  I had already noticed that the Bible’s New International Version says Mary “placed” her baby (Luke 2:7), rather than the traditional “laid.”  In my dictionary, I discovered that the Greek word typically translated as “lying” in verses 12 and 16  can also be translated as “be” or “exist.”  So “lying in a stable” could also mean being, existing, or having life within a stable.  Yes, “within” is also a possible translation.  This meshes nicely with Luke’s story of Jonah living within the huge fish, Luke’s story of the spark of Divine life within the lamp of the body, Luke’s assertion that the Kingdom of God (the realm of the Divine) is within each of us (Luke 17:21).  The Greek word meaning lie/laid/be/exist can also mean “destined.”  So at that level we can understand that life is a process – we have a destiny.  The process is one of Divine indwelling and resurrection.

 

I will always remember the thrill I felt when I looked at the Talpiot tomb symbol, and I suddenly realized I could see a baby in a stable!!!  Can you imagine Luke telling this story to first century listeners?  He says, “baby in a stable” a couple of times, and then the third time, he stabs the air with his index finger making a circle to signify a baby wrapped up in “swaddling cloths” with no arms or legs showing, then he holds his hands up to make the roofline of a stable.  Chuckling, his listeners instantly recognize the symbol of their faith.  They wink and nudge each other.

 

 

 

Caption:  A nativity scene integrated with the Talpiot tomb symbol.

 

Do you see the “baby in the stable”?

 

Let me add that for all I know, the Talpiot tomb symbol was carved long after Jesus’ time.  The DVD tries to show that the symbol is not only on the Talpiot tomb but also on at least two ossuaries (bone boxes) taken from other tombs; however, in one case there is no circle under the upside-down “V” and in the other, there is a dot where a circle should be, (but only the first box is presumed to be that of a Christian).  In my opinion, the strongest indication so far that the Talpiot symbol might be a symbol of first-century Christians, is Luke’s lamp story, Luke’s reference to the sign of Jonah, and of course, Luke’s nativity riddle.  An intriguing mystery.

 

Slide show and music on my main page.

 

-2007-

 

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