Christmas and Bethlehem

I've been to Bethlehem several times, even on Christmas day. I've entered the Church of the Nativity and waited in the line to go down into the grotto where it is believed that Jesus was born. In the grotto it is usually quiet except for the clicking of cameras. Many of the visitors reach back into the cave to touch or kiss the silver star which is supposed to be the place where Mary and Joseph laid the Christ child. When I'd leave the grotto there were often several groups singing Christmas carols. It was beautiful as they sang in various languages. When I'd leave the Church of the Nativity into Market Square, I was always surrounded by small boys tugging on my sleeve and blocking the entrance into our tour bus hoping that I would purchase their souvenir postcards.

I'm usually turned off by the large crowds and the commercialization, especially around religious settings. However, I've also wondered if this might not have been what it was really like when Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem. They were there because they had to be "enrolled" along with others who were from that lineage. So, I suspect there were crowds in Bethlehem that first century. So crowded that there was no room in the inn. Wherever there are crowds, there are usually folks who are trying to make a living by selling their various goods. There must have been noisy commercialization in Bethlehem that first century. Maybe it is my romantic images of Christmas and Bethlehem that are unrealistic. The significant issue is not what was happening in Bethlehem back in that first century but, rather, what is happening in my life today.
Shalom