All this time I was thinking that Jesus was born in a manger because there was no room at the inn, not because they couldnt afford one.
Wasnt there a crowd on the move at the time because hey had to register in their home towns.?
I doubtJesus family was rich, but I gather they were of Middle income range. Joseph had a trade after all.
Joseph was a capitalist!
The Gospel says there was no room, implying that if there was room, they could have afforded a room.
If Mary and Joseph were actually wealthy, they could have paid an existing occupant enough to let them take over his room.
Carpentry in a tiny hamlet of less than 100 families in an isolated valley was hardly a lucrative job. Wood was scarce in the area, and St. Joseph would have had to pay a good amount for the little wood available just to make it into something. He would have been in no position to mark up his costs a lot to turn a handsome profit. Besides, carpentry was somewhat looked-down upon as a profession: necessary, sure, but kind of like “leftovers” as far as honorable work would go. St. Joseph would have been able to provide in his day, at best, what we would today call a lower-middle-class lifestyle.