God With Us – Luke 2:1-14

A text – Luke 2:1-14

2 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ All went to their own towns to be registered. ⁴ Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. ⁵ He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.

⁸ Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹ to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

A reflection:

Christmas Eve usually finds us exposed to Luke 2, the story of Jesus’s birth. Sometimes this takes the form of a children’s Christmas pageant, with always adorable little reenactors dressed as shepherds and angels and the holy family. So even when the story is read to us without benefit of costumed kids, we may picture the story in those terms. At least I do.

But Luke is spelling out for us in this passage some things kids cannot cutely act out. Caesar Augustus, called by his own propaganda, “Good news for all people” and “the savior of the world,” wants to tax the entire world he is proclaimed to save, so he makes a mandatory census, overseen by far-flung governors like Quirinius. These laws make long, inconvenient journeys mandatory, and young Mary is taken from her home and the female relatives who would have helped her birth her child, and she goes with her fiancée to be registered for taxes. And when they get to Bethlehem, there is no room in any inns or even any relatives’ guest rooms because of the confusion of the census and all the taxable people flocking to family hubs. These facts aren’t adorably acted out for us. But the holy family manages to cope.

Then comes the announcement, counter to Rome’s propaganda, of “good tidings that shall be to all people: Unto you is born this day in the City of David a savior which is the Messiah (the Christ), the Lord.” This savior isn’t Caesar. This good news isn’t from Rome. This message comes from a choir of angels, scaring the heck out of some shepherds living rough in the fields with their flocks. Have you ever smelled a flock of sheep? I can only image the smell of the humans living out there with them for weeks at a time without a bath. Hardworking people, scraping out a living tending mostly other people’s animals. They are the ones God sends angels to. Not kings, not Caesar, not even the sheep flock’s owners. And they learn exactly where to find this little family. And they go there! And they become the first apostles, the first evangelists, tellers of the good news, because they understand who this baby will become and that God has come to dwell with humans on earth. They have heard a choir of angels, for heaven’s sake. They have a lot to tell.

Most of the story doesn’t fit the Christmas pageant mode. But it is the reality God chose to be recreated into. It’s the real world that is very rough on many, many people. It is not soft on Jesus, either. We are blessed receivers of God’s love. What a transformation to go through just to live with human beings. Think of the reality of that. God reborn as one of us, among tyranny and taxes and torn-apart-ness. God with us.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for coming to live in such a messy world. Thank you for choosing Mary and Joseph and those shepherds. Help us to remember the miracle that you came to live among us to show your love. Amen.