Posted 12/29/2008

LIFE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST

There’s one more big thing you have to be thankful for this holiday season: That you were born in the 20th century and not the first century.

This article will take you into the homes and shops of Bethlehem during the time of Christ. We are able to do this with the tremendous help of the hard-working members of Florida's North Naples United Methodist Church, who each year build the village of Bethlehem as it existed two thousand years ago.

How many of us could have survived in the middle-class lifestyle of first-century Bethlehem?

The typical Jewish home is built of dark volcanic rock and wood. The roof is made of wood, palm leaves and clay. It must be rebuilt each year. Wealthier people plaster their walls with mud and straw. A wall surrounds your small garden to give you shade. You grow nuts, dates and grains because you cannot afford the water and space necessary for flowers.

Your kitchen has a domed oven heated by a fire made up of animal dung, pressed olives and small branches.

At night, you sleep on a cot made of dried tree branches, rope and palm leaves. But most of the time, you sleep on the roof for the added coolness and to escape the rats and rodents which run along the ground.

Besides gardening and raising small animals for food, you make things to sell in the market.

Some of you stamp straw into a wetted mixture of clay and sand, producing the mixture needed for bricks.

Some buy the mixture and fashion mud bricks which are set out in the sun to dry.

Some sell grains, nuts and dates in the village food market.

Some build wooden implements and furniture.

Some sell hand-crafted perfumes to the ladies who have little water for bathing.

Some bake bread, which is often dipped in salt to provide both food and minerals in the hot, desert climate. Having salt gives you middle-class status.

Some sell spices to add flavor to overly bland rice dishes.

Some weave fabrics and sew.

And some wear helmets and breastplates and carry huge swords. They are the Romans soldiers who keep the order.

Everyone works from sun-up to sundown. There is little in the way of recreation beyond laying back and enjoying a tasty fig or date.

And of course, there is much sex to create babies and compensate for a staggering infant mortality rate.

Day in and day out, there are infestations of flies, lice and critters. It is difficult to protect you precious food from spoilage and rodents.

No one enjoys the fruits of political or economic freedom.

It is a terrible and harsh existence.

No matter how difficult things get this Christmas season, think how fortunate you are to live in America in the 21st century.

Celebrate that this year.

(click here for a printable version of this article)