Luke 2:1-7
Let me invite you, if you would
like, to turn in your Bible to Luke chapter 2. If you’d like
to use the Pew Bible, in the rack in front of you, it’s found
on page 857. Luke chapter 2, beginning at
verse 1, says this. 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. And all went to be registered,
each to his own town, and Joseph also went up from Galilee, from
the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is
called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage
of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was
with child. And while they were there, the
time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn
son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger
because there was no place for them in the inn. Amen. The word of the living God. If you look around the room tonight,
there are just a handful of us. Where is everybody else? Well,
they’re last minute shopping. They’re busy. They’re catching
one more spin cycle at the fitness center before the wait comes
over the next week of too much eating. They’re traveling. Maybe you crossed over the interstate
and saw the highway was a little bit slower. We heard today that
airports are slowing and stopping even. Where is everyone? They’re
busy. Very few stop and look and listen
and ponder the message and the meaning of the coming of Jesus
into this world. So maybe congratulations are
in order. Maybe a pat on the back is due each of you for coming. Not too many think on Jesus,
and we should do that for just a moment. And I hope you won’t
tune out or fall asleep or say, well, we’ve heard this old message
before. I know I’m standing in the way
of my family’s supper, and probably many of you haven’t eaten yet,
so fear not. Don’t be troubled. There’s a
little statement in our shorter catechism. It speaks of two ways
to look at Jesus. One of the ways to look at Jesus
is the exalted Jesus. He’s risen from the dead. He’s
ascended into heaven. He’s at the right hand of God,
the father almighty. He will come again to judge the
living and the dead. He will separate the unrighteous
from the righteous, and he will live forever worshiped by all
his children. But there’s another way our catechism
speaks of Jesus, and it’s not the word exaltation. It’s the
word humiliation. And when it describes Jesus’
humiliation, it says of Christ, he was born and that in a low
condition. He was made under the law. That
is, he had to obey the commandments of God perfectly. Adam failed. Every Israelite failed. They
broke God’s law daily, thought, word, and deed, as we do. Nevertheless, Jesus was made
under that same law. And thanks be to God, he fulfilled
it. But he was born in a low condition, made under the law.
He suffered under the miseries of this life. speculate, he mashed
his finger, stubbed his toe, broke his leg. You know, the
proverbial Jesus in the carpenter shop, you know, he probably has
a couple wounds where the saw hit him and the finger got smashed
and all the rest. Born that in a low condition,
made under the law, suffered under the miseries of this life.
He went to death on a cross, a horrific death, a degrading
death. In fact, an execution for criminals. He was laid in the grave. He
remained in the grave for some time. We speak of Jesus’ humiliation. This passage Luke chapter two
speaks of the beginnings of that humiliation. The apostle Paul
says something interesting in the letter to the Corinthians.
He says, he who was rich for our sakes became poor in order
that we might become rich. Our God, our savior, the second
person of the Trinity left the riches and the glory and the
splendor of heaven. and for our sakes became poor,
even poor unto death in order that we might become rich, not
rich in worldly terms, but rich in spiritual terms. Jesus’ obedience,
his life, his death. gives us His righteousness, gives
us His obedience, gives us that standing before Almighty God
that we need. But these verses we have before
us tonight help us think of those humble beginnings of our Savior. A decree went out. And our passage
tells us it was Caesar Augustus, the son, not the real son, the
adopted son of Julius Caesar. Yes, that one that Shakespeare
writes of. This son, this grand nephew of
Julius Caesar is probably, he’s probably needing some money in
the coffers. And so he takes a census, count the noses, and
then we can count the nickels. You know how it works. What’s
certain in life? Death and taxes. Well, in order
to get taxes, we need a census. And so he issues a decree in
order to pay for his wars and his building projects and his
roads and his empire and his, well, his domination of the world.
And so his census will report to him The number of people in
the number of nations across his vast empire all around the
Mediterranean Sea. He also needs to know how many
fighting men in case he might want to raise an army. This census
takes place in this era every 14 years or so. And instead of a census worker
coming, you know, with their lanyard and their official tag
and their clipboard and knocking on your door, Or instead of filling
out an online form, instead of going to a website and entering
your code and your information, they had to travel to their ancestral
city to be registered. This was considered in its day,
one of the most unpopular, one of the most wasteful, one of
the most, well, it hurt his ratings. Can you imagine Caesar Augustus,
maybe up in the sixties? Maybe he dipped in the 50s because
the tax rate went down, but this got him into the 30s at least.
You’ve got to travel at Christmas. Well, they didn’t know it was
Christmas. But you’ve got to travel at Christmas to your ancestral
city to have your noses counted so your nickels can be taken. Now, lest we think this is an
insignificant piece of information, remember all the prophecy, all
the writings in the old covenant said that Jesus, the Messiah,
would be born of the house and of the lineage of King David. Remember all the promises to
King David? There will not ever be a time, now until eternity,
when a son of yours will sit on your throne. And so Jesus
had to be born in Bethlehem. Jesus could not be born in Nazareth.
He could not be born in Jerusalem. He could not be born anywhere
else in the world except Bethlehem and God and his providence uses
a decree to get Mary and Joseph moving to Bethlehem at just the
right moment when, when the savior would be born. And so there’s
a decree, there’s also a journey, a 90-mile journey. I did a quick
look at the map today and 90 miles from here west is Statesville. 90 miles north is, well, it’s
almost to Roanoke. 90 miles west is maybe Wilson,
the other side of Raleigh. 90 miles kind of south-ish is,
well, Fayetteville. You get the picture. A 90-mile
journey is not that bad. Maybe two hours by car. You’re
talking leather seats, XM stations, maybe heated seats if you’re
prosperous. Maybe a traveling companion,
a bag of chips, something in the cup holder. But this was
a miserable trip. And this, you might say, was
the beginning of Jesus Humiliation. Not only was he in the womb of
a peasant girl, he was five days in her womb, riding side saddled
on a donkey through the dusty Judean countryside. Now, back when our babies were
being born, we went to birthing class, and you know, if the pregnancy’s
going a little long, take your bride down a gravel road. That’ll
get things moving. You can imagine five days of
misery, five days of a pathway down a side road full of ne’er-do-wells. And remember what she knows.
We’ve read Luke chapter one in our time, haven’t we? We know
of her song, Magnificat. My soul magnifies the Lord. My soul rejoices in God, my savior. He has looked upon me, his humble
servant. And now through this child in
my womb, he will visit. and He will redeem Israel, His
servant, from all their sins, and He will become a light to
the world. And as she jostles down the road
from Nazareth to Judea, she’s probably thinking pious thoughts.
You know our thoughts around the 15th of April, taxes, grumble,
grumble, taxes. You know what goes through our
heads. She’s thinking of the promises of God, every jostle
of the donkey, every dust particle in her nose, every fly, every
gnat, every unsightly side of the road scene. She’s thinking
the progress of redemption takes place with every lunge of the
donkey, every clop of the hoof, every miserable night on the
side of the highway in the deserts of Israel. This is the progress
of redemption. They are exposed to all kinds
of things, all kinds of people, and they’re not the only ones
being counted. You can imagine all the people
with them, some going fast, some going slow. You can imagine,
well, just the things that they’re hearing and seeing. But here’s
another interesting thing to ponder. Not only were Roman citizens
on this pathway to go to their ancestral homes to be counted,
but this was a massive trade route. And there is Mary jostled
down the road on the side saddle of this donkey. There would be
those chairs. You’ve seen them, the chairs
with the canopies and the wealthy would be riding on their couches
while the shoulders of their servants carried them even keeled
across the desert pathway. Yet here’s the mother of our
Lord making her way slowly, a five day journey to Bethlehem. The
humiliation of our savior continues. This is a young couple, a young
couple obeying a decree, a young couple on a, on a journey when
they were betrothed or engaged. She was, she was 13. He was,
he was perhaps 17. It’s been a couple of years and
now the, the, well, they’re almost married. You have to understand
the ancient custom of marriage. It was a process. It took time.
And at the very end, they were married, but it was kind of anticlimactic.
All the big things happened. Up until this point, she still
lives at her home, and he at his, slurring his trade, beginning
to become a master carpenter, establishing a home, proving
to the dad, I can make a living. She’s not going to starve. probably 15 and 19 as they make
this journey. The angel has visited Mary. She’s spent a few months with
her cousin, Elizabeth. They’ve had their chitchats together. Their wombs have talked to each
other. John the baptizer in one and
Jesus, the savior of the world in the other. She returned to
Joseph pregnant. He probably didn’t know at this
time. He wished to put her away quietly. Remember we’re told, but the
angel visits him. This is of the Lord. This is
what you are to do. And this is your life. And so
the two devoted teenagers, that’s really what they are. Could you
imagine a 15 year old and a 19 year old in this sort of predicament
in our day, they couldn’t handle it, right? It just wouldn’t be
in their wheelhouse to handle such a thing. But these were
young Hebrews, versed in the scriptures, well taught, well
trained by their parents, well raised by their community of
faith. And they’re devoted to the Lord.
And they come to Bethlehem. There’s no room for them in the
inn. We can, we can speculate, you know, you can go to Israel
and you can see this place of the nativity and that place of
the nativity. And they might even have a few
others. And if you pay a few bucks and it gets a little ridiculous,
but it’s probably some out of the way cave. They were given
some space in this stable and well, that’s where Jesus was
born. Uh, my kids were all born on the something floor. of a
hospital in a big city, probably with 100 professionals all nearby,
a neonatal unit just up the road. I think it cost back in the day
about $25,000 to have them born. And it’s just Mary. And not because he’s a man, but
Joseph was of no help. In his day, you stayed away. You know, nowadays we’re there
with the camera, we cut the cord and do all that business, but
there would have ordinarily been a midwife. There ordinarily would
have been maybe some women in the community to help, but it’s
just Mary. And there’s Jesus, born in an
out of the way place, really already in the beginnings of
the way his life will show true experience, cast off, no room,
no room in the hearts, no room in the end, no room in our city,
cast out of the city, cast out of the synagogues, cast out of
Jerusalem. And so we see as our savior is
born, he undergoes the miseries of this life. We’ve not even
come to the cross or to the grave or to death itself or the spiritual
hell that descended on him. when his father turned his back.
But you see this night in our passage, as we fill in the details
that we can, Jesus was born in a low condition. He was humiliated. But you know, there’s a little
more to this story, isn’t there? You read the verses before and
the verses after. You read the words of Mary. You
read the words of Simeon. You read the words of Anna, the
prophetess who saw him in the temple. He is the exalted one. He is the sunrise or the day
spring from on high. He is the helper of Israel. He
is the visitor or the inspector. He is the redeemer, the light, the
guide, the way to peace. And while our world is still
last minute shopping, still last minute getting in a spin class,
still last minute catching food at a restaurant because, well,
they can’t for a day or two, still getting the cards in the
mail, still the hustle and bustle, there are very few who this night
will stop and think on the wondrous birth of our Redeemer. Let me encourage you. especially
if you’ve not thought a lot of Christ this season, maybe because
you’re busy. Take some time this next 24,
36 hours to think on Christ. Pick up your Bible and read those
unfamiliar or those familiar stories that maybe you’ve forgotten.
Read them together as a family. Maybe some of you have never
really thought on Jesus and you think, oh, this Christmas business,
this birth of Jesus business, I hear about it, but is it real? And I’ll tell you from personal
experience, I’ll tell you from the pages of the scripture, Jesus
loves sinners. And he loves sinners so much
that he who was rich, he who lived in splendor was willing
for our sakes to become poor. Poor in his birth, poor in his
life and ministry, poor in his death, poor in the grave. in
order that he might make us rich spiritually. This is the message
and the hope of Christmas. And I hope it won’t pass you
by. I hope maybe first of the week, middle of the week, first
of the year, you won’t just be back to business as usual, but
you’ll think on the one who came to redeem us for our sins. And perhaps you haven’t trusted
him or put your faith in him. Maybe you’ll think a bit more
of it this Christmas season. And before long you will receive
him and rest in him alone for your salvation. And this little
nativity story won’t be some annual Christmas nuisance to
put up with, but it will be your lifeblood each year as you wait
for his coming again. Let us pray together. Our Lord, our eternal God, we
thank you and bless you that Jesus left the riches of the
throne of glory. He did not count it a curse. He did not count it a hardship
to come into our world and to become like one of us, but he
counted it a joy. He was the one who for the joy
set before him endured the pain of the cross. in order that he
might redeem us and that we might live with him forever and ever.
We thank you for this great message and truth of the incarnation
of Christ for our sake. We pray that you would help us
to think on these things, ponder on them, that they might be rich
in our life, especially to eternal salvation through faith in this
Christ child. It’s in his name we pray, amen.
We want to confess our sins before the Lord together and then hear
an assurance of pardon. And then we’ll stand together
and sing the hymn away in a manger. And it’s on the other side of
your insert. Let’s pray the prayer listed
in the bulletin together saying, Oh Lord God, who inhabits eternity,
the heavens declare your glory, the earth, your riches, and the
universe is your temple. Your presence fills immensity
and you have created life for your own pleasure. We come to
you in the all prevailing name of Jesus with nothing of our
own to plead, no works, no worthiness, no promises. We are often straying,
often knowingly opposing your authority. and often abusing
your goodness. Subdue in us the love of sin. Let us know our need for restoration,
as well as forgiveness, in order to serve and enjoy you forever. We thank you for Jesus, who saves
us by his meritorious life and sacrificial death, and in whose
name we pray, amen. Brothers and sisters in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who by faith have received Jesus and rest in him
alone for your salvation, hear now these words of assurance
of pardon. Thus it is written and thus it
was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the
dead the third day. that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning
at Jerusalem. Amen. The gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Let’s stand and sing of our savior
away in a manger.