DAY FIFTY-THREE:
The Birth of Jesus
Welcome to Christmas in March! With the snow and cold it feels like Christmas. Today we look at an awe-inspiring passage, the Son of God coming into the world in a lowly stable.
"In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria." Augustus, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, greatly expanded the Roman Empire. Wherever Rome came, roads, aqueducts and other public works followed. In addition, the presence of Roman troops brought peace to many troubled regions. All of this cost money, so Augustus ordered censuses to register the people for taxation. There's a lot of debate in the scholarly world as to when this happened. Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (I love Roman names!) didn't become governor of Syria until 6 AD. But the word translated as governor in our passage has a broader meaning than what we understand a governor to be. The word is hegemon, and it refers to anyone who's in charge of something, anyone who wields authority. We read in Roman historical documents that Augustus ordered a census in 8 BC, when a man named Saturninus was governor of Syria. He proved to be incompetent but was too well connected politically to replace. Augustus sent Quirinius to Syria and put him in charge of the census. Quirinius was a shadow governor for a number of years before he became the actual governor. If the decree was issued in 8 BC, it would take up to two years to pull it off. So we're talking about 6 BC or so for the call to register to reach Galilee and Judea. Augustus loved genealogy (the Romans worshipped their ancestors) so he ordered everyone to return to their place of origin.
This posed a problem for Joseph, Mary's intended husband. He was from David's line (a direct descendant- he should have been king). His family left Judea for health reasons- Herod the Great considered the line of David and threat and was not above killing its members. This census meant Joseph would have to go to Bethlehem, nearly 80 miles from Nazareth. Mary was in the last month of pregnancy, making the already difficult journey more so. But they took off. We imagine that Mary rode on a donkey led by Joseph, but there's no direct evidence in our text. They might have had no animal and Mary had to walk. In any event, they arrived in Bethlehem to find the small town full of people registering for the census. There was no room for them in the inn. The inn was not what we would understand as a hotel, but more like a campground. The building had an open courtyard for travelers to stable their animals and sheltered places to sleep. Joseph had relatives, but all of them were already hosting family from out of town. Finally someone offered them a stable. Most likely the stable was in a small cave. It gave them protection from the elements and a measure of privacy. It was here that Mary gave birth to the Son of God. They didn't have a proper bassinet so they laid him in a manger (a feed trough- not majestic at all!). As one of our favorite Christmas carols says, "How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given."
But things didn't stay silent. We read that there were shepherds out on the hillsides around Bethlehem, watching their flocks by night. This would indicated it was the spring, when the ewes were giving birth to their lambs. The shepherds took their sheep down from the hills for the winter and led them back up in the spring. They kept a close watch when the lambs were being born to drive away predators. It was a night like thousands before, with only the light of their campfire and the stars above. But that night was not ordinary. All of a sudden an angel appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord (represented in the Bible as light) shone all around them. They were terrified! The angel gave them a birth announcement: "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." The words "good tidings of great joy" were the exact words used to announce that the Emperor had a son. Their Savior, the Christ (anointed one, Messiah) was born in Bethlehem. Go check it out! You'll find Him wrapped in swaddling cloths (strips of tattered clothing, the last thing you could do with an old garment) and lying in a feed trough. This meant that the Messiah was like them. No doubt their mothers wrapped them in swaddling clothes, and I'm sure many of them were placed in mangers in the absence of anything better. Then the lone angel was joined by "a multitude of the heavenly host." The word multitude in Greek also has a meaning of "the whole number." Did God empty out Heaven and send millions upon millions of angels to announce His Son's birth? Imagine the sky filled with angels from horizon to horizon! They said (perhaps sang) "Glory to God in the highest and on earth, and peace among those with whom he is pleased." God loves you and wishes you peace!
The shepherds ran down the hill and looked in every stable in Bethlehem until they found the Christ Child. They were the first after Mary and Joseph to see the Savior of the world! They went and told everyone what they had seen, and people were amazed! Mary, however, sat quietly and reflected on what had just happened. She had given birth to God's Son! That's a lot to take in and process!
When He was eight days old Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the local synagogue to be circumcised like all Jewish boys. They named Him Jesus (in Aramaic Yeshua, or Joshua), the name the angel told them. Then in forty days after Jesus was born they went to the Temple for Mary's purification after childbirth (Leviticus 12:1-8). They were unable to afford a lamb for the offering, so they brought two doves, the provision for the poor.
While they were there they met an old man named Simeon. It's very possible that he was the father of Rabbi Hillel, one of the greatest scholars in Jewish history. He had received a promise from the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. When Simeon saw Mary and Joseph with their son, he knew immediately that God had fulfilled His promise! He scooped Jesus out of Mary's arms and praised God! Then he prophesied over Jesus: "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed." Then he turned to Mary and said ominously "And a sword will pierce through your own soul also." Then an elderly woman by the name of Anna, who had been married for seven years but was widowed and afterward spent her time praying in the Temple, heard what Simeon said and spread the news about the Child.
At the end of our passage we read that they returned to Nazareth, where Jesus grew up. But according to Matthew they stayed in Bethlehem long enough for the Wise Men to come and then fled to Egypt until Herod's death. The two can be reconciled quite easily. Mary and Joseph went back to Nazareth to show off their son and then moved back to Bethlehem. Perhaps they took a liking to the area. The Wise Men didn't show up the night Jesus was born, as our Nativity Scenes depict. It might have taken them up to two years to make the trip. They found a toddler, not an infant, living in a house, not a stable. If the Wise Men had come before Mary's purification, they would have had the resources to buy a lamb for the sacrifice. The gifts of the Magi gave them what they needed to live on while in Egypt. And when Joseph heard from an angel that Herod the Great was dead, they went back to Judea. But when they found out that Archelaus, who was worse than his father, was ruling Judea, they kept going and went back to Nazareth, where Agrippa, a kinder and gentler son of Herod, was king.
Yesterday we looked at the miracle of the Virgin Birth. Today we see how God uses Providence to accomplish His will. Providence is God's governance over all that happens so that He is glorified and we are blessed. He put it in Caesar Augustus' mind to order the census. He gave Joseph and Mary safe passage to Bethlehem. He provided a private place for His Son to be born. And the only ones to get a birth announcement were lowly shepherds. The high and mighty of the day had no clue that the King of kings was born. Augustus died in 14 AD not ever knowing. Likewise Quirinius passed off the scene. Herod only found out after the fact, when the Wise Men came. Mary's song from Luke 1 was being fulfilled: "...he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty."
I can't think of a more appropriate way to end our time together than with this song:
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