Christ Enters In
Scripture
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them. (Luke 2:1–7).
Reflection
Jesus, the child of Jewish peasants, was born in Bethlehem, a small town in a backwater province of the Roman Empire. He was delivered in a stable with a manger for his first crib. There was nothing pretentious about his birth, nothing to suggest greatness. He would grow up working with his hands, he would proclaim the nearness of the reign of God in his ministry, and he would be executed on a Roman cross.
Augustus, on the other hand, was the child of privilege, adopted by Julius Caesar as a youth. He would succeed his father as ruler of a vast empire. He lived in a palace, enjoyed great luxury from the moment of his birth, and reigned over his dominions for almost sixty years. He was the most powerful man on earth. He ushered in the Pax Romana (the peace of Rome), a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity throughout the world. It would last more than two hundred years. Ironically, it is not Augustus but the insignificant child of Mary who would be known forever as the “Prince of Peace.”
Jesus’ birth was not easy, not for Mary, not for Joseph. While from Nazareth in Galilee, the young couple was required by Augustus’ decree to travel to Bethlehem and register for a census; it was a ninety-mile trip and not an easy one. Once they arrived in Bethlehem, they could find no lodging and were required to take shelter in a stable, and it was here that Jesus was born and laid in a bed made for him in a manger.
Few observed this birth that would shake the Roman Empire to its core in a few short years—and ultimately change the arc of world history. Some shepherds came, having heard angels singing God’s glory over the birth of a child in Bethlehem, and three foreigners came from a distant land bringing gifts to “the newborn King,” but really, few others took notice.
Few in Bethlehem recognized Jesus for who he was; for most, he was considered a poor child of a poor Jewish peasant couple—no one special. It took a chorus of angels to get a handful of shepherds who were out on the hillsides tending their sheep to begin to understand that God was, in and through this child, moving powerfully among his people.
We often fail to hear those herald angels singing today, yet their words do ring on. They invite us to see God’s presence and power moving in the world still.
How silently, how silently
The wondrous Gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven
No ear may hear His coming
But in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive Him still
The dear Christ enters in.
O Little Town of Bethlehem verse 3
Prayer
Faithful God, in Jesus, divinity entered humanity to rescue and save your people from sin and death. As we reflect on his coming to us as a humble child in Bethlehem, let us not forget that he will come again. Thank you, that when he comes, he will usher in the new heaven and new earth.
Activity
There are many children today who are born in humble circumstances; their families are poor, sometimes too poor to even afford Christmas presents. Find some way to make Christmas better for a family in need.
Watching and Waiting For the Lion of Judah: Advent Day by Day
Rev. Richard Hasselbach