Away in a Manger... Or Under a Palm Tree?

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It’s Christmas. At this time of the year, families get together and share presents. Santa Claus makes many — especially the kids — happy. Meanwhile, not all but hopefully many people will remember what this colorful celebration is really about: Jesus of Nazareth was born in the holy city (or if you’re more partial to the carol version, “the little town”) of Bethlehem.

We know this story from the two sources in the New Testament: the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Although their accounts differ somewhat, both tell that Jesus was born from his virgin mother Mary in Bethlehem. Luke adds that Mary swaddled her newborn and “laid him in a manger.” This has become the popular narrative, inspiring countless works of Christian art depicting an infant Jesus in a barn, surrounded by docile animals.

However, the early Christian narratives about the birth of Jesus — also called the Nativity — were more diverse. And there was even another religion that offered a take on this story: Islam.

A key Christian document that diverges from the gospels of Matthew and Luke on the Nativity is the Protevangelium of James — a “Gospel” that didn’t make it into the New Testament and thus remained “apocryphal.” Its purported author is James, the brother of Jesus, but scholars think that it was written generations later, sometime in the latter half of the second century. It is called a “protevangelium,” or “pre-Gospel,” because it highlights the life of the infant Jesus, which is not discussed much in the New Testament.

In the Protevangelium, we read that Jesus was born not in Bethlehem but somewhere in the “desert” between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Mary, according to this story, went into labor while riding between the towns. Her husband, Joseph, found a nearby “cave” for her and went out to Bethlehem to find a “Hebrew midwife.” When Joseph returned with her, Jesus was born. “My soul has been magnified this day,” the midwife said, according to James’s account, “because my eyes have seen strange things, because salvation has been brought forth to Israel.”

The Protevangelium was largely unknown to Western Christians until the 16th century, but it was widely used among Eastern Christians. A powerful testimony to this is the Chora Church, a medieval Byzantine church in Istanbul, which features beautiful mosaics that reflect themes from the Protevangelium.

But there is another source that locates the Nativity in the wilderness: the Quran.

Many Christians may not be aware — especially in today’s confrontational political climate — but Islam’s scripture shows great adoration for Mary and Jesus, and tells their story in detail. Many aspects of this story are line with the New Testament: The Quran praises Jesus as the “messiah” and the “word” of God, and tells that he was born of Mary without a biological father. It narrates the Annunciation — when the angel Gabriel told Mary that she would give birth to Jesus — similarly to the Gospel of Luke.

When it comes to the Nativity, however, the Quran differs from the New Testament. Mary, the Muslim text says, “withdrew to a distant place.” This seems to be in line with the Protevangelium of James.

But the Muslim text goes on to describe a Nativity scene that isn’t found in the Protevangelium. In the Quran’s telling of the story, in the “distant place,” the pains of labor drove Mary to “the trunk of a date-palm.” A miraculous voice told her: “Do not grieve! Your Lord has placed a small stream at your feet.” Mary is told to eat from the dates of the palm tree, drink from the water and trust in God.

For centuries, Western scholars wondered where the Quranic story of Mary giving birth under a palm tree came from. Some pointed out that another apocryphal document, “The Infancy Gospel of Matthew,” also depicts Mary eating from a palm tree and drinking from a miraculous spring. There, however, the incident takes place not during the birth of Jesus but years later.

An archaeological discovery shed more light on this curious matter. In 1992, while widening a road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the Israeli authorities uncovered the ruins of a long-forgotten Byzantine church: Kathisma of the Theotokos, or “Seat of the God-bearer.”

“God-bearer” is a title for Mary in Eastern Christianity. A common legend held that the Kathisma church was built on a rock on which Mary rested during the flight into Egypt, which, according to the Gospel of Matthew, took place after Jesus was born. But according to scholars, earlier generations believed that this was the very location where Jesus was born — in line with the Protevangelium that describes a midpoint between Jerusalem and Bethlehem — and with the “distant place” described in the Quran.

Moreover, a medieval pilgrim wrote about a sacred water “which came from a rock” at the church. Furthermore, archaeologists found mosaics, and one of them depicted — lo and behold — a palm tree laden with dates! Stephen J. Shoemaker, a professor of religious studies at the University of Oregon, believes “this is almost certainly a representation of the date palm from which the Virgin Mary was miraculously fed.”

What does this all mean? Does this tell us where Jesus was really born? In Bethlehem or on the road between it and Jerusalem?

We will probably never know. We have different scriptures and traditions, which tell different versions of the same story. It really depends on which, if any, you take as your guide.

But we can know something: Jesus of Nazareth must have been an amazing man. Had he been a just a Jewish carpenter from rural Galilee or one of the many militants at his time pretending to be a political Messiah, today we would not be discussing where he was born.

Jesus of Nazareth must rather have been an amazing man who, with his striking persona and fascinating teachings, captured the hearts and minds of not just his contemporaries but also many more to come. His legacy is so great that two of the world’s great religions, Christianity and Islam, sing his praises — even if they disagree on his theological nature or his exact birthplace.

So this Christmas, say, “Glory be to him,” as Christians say — or “Peace be upon him,” as we Muslims do. And either way, merry Christmas to us all!