Walk With Jesus During Holy Week: Maundy Thursday Midday

In this morning’s post I made reference to the Greek word “kataluma,” which is only found two places in the New Testament.

Kataluma is the Greek word for guest house or lodging place. It is only used in Luke’s version of the birth of Jesus (2:7) – “and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn (kataluma).” – and also in Luke’s version of the Passover meal where Jesus instructs Peter and John as to where this meal will occur (22:11, and its parallel passage, Mark 14:14) – “and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room (kataluma), where I can eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.’”

A few days before Easter why do I give you this information about the birth of Jesus? In the birth narrative, I believe it is probable that Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem only to find Joseph’s ancestral home full of people, thus they ended up in the lower level of the house and laid baby Jesus in the feeding trough (animals were kept in the house, usually in a lower room from the main floor) because there was no vacancy upstairs in the rooms reserved for guests. I actually wrote about that during Advent. Click here if you are interested in what I wrote.

So, is it a coincidence that Jesus began his life in a “lower room” of a kataluma and ended his earthly ministry in the “upper room” of a kataluma? (Matthew’s gospel only references “house” and John has no mention of the location of the Last Supper.)

If you are encouraged by this or any of my writings, you can subscribe to be notified by email when I post something new. To subscribe, click here. Once you put in your email address you will then get an email confirming that you wish to subscribe. Thank you.