December 25, 2022.
Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-20.
Well, it’s just very inconvenient isn’t it? Being stuck, with all the things that really need doing in daily life having to be set aside. Wait, were you thinking of the repeated power outages in our islands? What about Joseph and Mary’s trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem in Judah for Caesar’s registration? Consider, for a moment, their situation.
The time-consuming journey to Bethlehem meant interrupting Joseph’s work, thereby affecting their income. The roads were not necessarily safe from thieves. (Remember the Good Samaritan’s bad road!) With Mary heavily pregnant this was not a great time for her to travel even if she was carried by a donkey, which isn’t part of this text even though there’s one in every Christmas pageant.
Why did Joseph and Mary have to travel to Bethlehem to be registered? So the empire didn’t have to staff the registration with enumerators? Because Rome needed to increase the tax base to fund forces for growing and managing the empire?
The primary reason is confirmed in the gospel text. The command went out to “all the world”. Which meant quite specifically in this case, all of Rome’s conquered lands and peoples. This was a chance for Rome to make a public statement. Rome wanted its subjugated peoples to know exactly how powerful the empire was. And some say that Rome used these registration records to set the tax rates that paid for the local troops who kept watch over the people.
Why did Joseph take Mary away from her family and the women who would typically assist her in the birth? Was it because God had given him the role of protector for Mary and the child? Or because Joseph and Mary expected to find women kinfolk in Bethlehem who would assist in the birth if they didn’t make it back to Nazareth in time?
Again Luke’s gospel suggests a reason. That everyone had to be registered in person. This would explain why there was no place for Mary and Joseph to stay in Bethlehem. All family members who were living in other areas had returned to their tribal home to register, filling all the guest rooms in the town.
As much as Rome may have manufactured inconvenience for Joseph, Mary, and everyone else during that registration, there is of course more to this story. Only Luke and Matthew give us narratives of the nativity of Jesus. These stories exist for more important reasons than just giving us good content for Christmas carols, poems, and pageants.
One reason is Israel’s attention to prophetic fulfilment, also a matter of great interest to the first Christians. Isaiah promised a child born to the house of David. And the child would be named with all the holiness of God – wisdom, might, everlasting being, and peace. Micah announced a promise that a ruler of greatness for Israel would be born in Bethlehem, which Matthew included in his nativity narrative.
More important however than fulfilling the scriptures, is the fulfillment of God’s promise to be there for God’s faithful ones. By the way, what song of God‘s promise did the angelic hosts of heaven sing to the shepherds in the fields by night?
Actually, the heavenly host sang no song at all. Their announcement was spoken. But it was this: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” We’ve come to know this verse so well.
But do we really know what it says? Who are the favored? The text actually says, Glory in highest to God and on earth peace to people of good will. Which is a most amazingly inclusive promise indeed. The glory of God delivers peace to all people of good will.
What’s also surprising in this gospel is that against the empire’s show of domination, God’s proclamation is…on another scale entirely. God sends a heavenly host. And the word for host is the same word as for troops. So while the empire shows up with its power and might, God counters with something greater, something even more mighty; something way beyond marvelous.
This is the zeal of a humanly contrived empire confronted with the zeal of the Lord of hosts. This is not something to get in the way of. Zeal, in Hebrew is a feminine word. God’s zeal is like a woman on a mission. Need I say more? Titus says that Jesus gave his life up to redeem all people who are zealous for good deeds. Zealous in Greek is masculine and means someone who is especially devoted. How great is that?
God is never done calling forth a reign of joy, justice, and righteousness. God will use whatever means necessary, from the tiniest infant child in a manger, to night workers in fields, to you and me. May we all be agents of Christmas good news, zealous for God’s good will, and for the doing of good deeds. A blessed Christmas to you!
Pastor Elizabeth Eden, Christmas Eve 2020