Working Preacher Narrative – Tuesday, Christmas Eve, 24 December
2013
Lectionary Scriptures:
Luke The Birth of
Jesus
2: In those days a decree went out from Emperor 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 for them in the inn.
The Shepherds and the Angels
8 In that 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,[a] 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,[b] praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace
among those whom he favors!”[c]
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the
shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing
that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they went
with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17
When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child;
18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But
Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds
returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it
had been told them.
Footnotes:
a. Luke 2:11 Or the Christ
b. Luke 2:13 Gk army
c.Luke 2:14 Other ancient authorities read peace, goodwill among
people
Psalm 96: 7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord
glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and
come into his courts.
9 Worship the Lord in holy splendor;
tremble before him,
all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord is king!
The world is firmly
established; it shall never be moved.
He will judge the
peoples with equity.”
Commentary on Luke 2:1-14(15-20) by Karl Kuhn
This beautifully written account has inspired countless hymns,
liturgies, works of art, and nearly every celebration of Jesus’ advent.
However, as important as this story has been to the church’s
remembrance of Jesus’ birth, I wonder if most North American Christians today
truly connect with the significance Luke intended it to express.
This story is much more than an eloquently told, romantic tale
about Jesus’ birth that resources our Christmas programs, nativity scenes, and
holiday cards. Luke scribed this story, and Luke’s first readers would have heard
it as a bold, outlandish, even dangerous tale, about one whose birth shakes the
very foundations of the world and whose life challenges all claims to power and
authority.
Thus far in his gospel, Luke has been focusing on Israel and
Jerusalem as the settings of the stories he tells. Now the purview of the
narrative widens, for the one hailed by countless multitudes as Lord speaks his
will to “all the world” (2:1). Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperor, orders a
census to be taken and his underlings, such as Quirinius, Governor of Syria,
make it happen. Caesar wants to take stock of his subjects and possessions, the
objects of his rule and sources of revenue.
Roman domination over the Mediterranean world and beyond was
fueled by military supremacy and economic exploitation. Nearly all of the
resources in this agriculturally based economy were produced by the poor,
peasants, and slaves, but most of those resources were claimed by the ruling
class through land ownership, slavery, and taxation. As a result, most of the
non-elite population lived near or below the subsistence level. But Roman might
compelled compliance, and so “all went to their own towns to be registered”
(verse 3) in obedience to this “penetrating symbol of Roman overlordship.”1 The
father of Jesus is no exception: “Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in
Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem” (verse 4). Caesar’s
command rules the cosmos, or so it seems.
In her song of praise, Mary announced that the coming of her
child would result in the bringing down of the powerful from their thrones and
the lifting up of the lowly (1:52). But even this prophecy leaves the reader
unprepared for Luke’s description of the humble state of Jesus’ birth and his
first resting place.
In simple, unadorned prose, we are told that Jesus is born,
wrapped in bands of cloth, and laid in a feedbox “because there was no place
for them in the inn (2:7).” The kataluma, the hostel-like shelter or room set
aside for travelers adjoining a house is full. None move aside so that the very
pregnant and eventually laboring Mary can give birth in the security of even
these very sparse quarters. So the young couple nestles in among the livestock,
delivers their child, and employs a manger for a crib.
It may sound romantically rustic to us, but Luke’s readers are
confronted with an image of Israel’s messiah that could not be more incongruous
with the pomp and might of Emperor Augustus on his throne, commanding the world
at will. The repeated references to the bands of cloth and manger as the “sign”
which identifies Jesus (2:12, 16-17) keep these lowly elements in view even as
he is exalted by the heavenly host and found by the shepherds.
As the scene shifts from stable to darkened field, we once again
encounter a setting far removed from Caesar’s seat in Rome: shepherds tending
their flocks by night. This is another element of the story that modern readers
have long romanticized. But the lowliness of the shepherds and the locale of
their labor would have held social and political overtones for Luke’s readers.
Shepherds, as well as all agricultural workers, were among the large peasant
class whose economic servitude fueled the economy of empire and hegemony of
Roman rule.
To claim that the birth of this peasant child poses any sort of
meaningful challenge to Caesar would by nearly all sane accounts of the time be
simply laughable. Yet this is just the announcement that explodes into the
night as the angelic host proclaims Jesus as “Savior, Messiah Lord,” whose
birth is good news for all of humanity (2:11). That Luke intended his readers
to hear the angelic announcement as an implied, but quite apparent, repudiation
of Caesar’s reign is indicated by the fact that many of the very same things
the Roman elite celebrated about Caesar and his birth are now attributed to
this infant lying in a feedbox. In their decision to honor Augustus by
beginning the new year on his birthday, the Roman provincial assembly
announced,
Whereas the providence which divinely ordered our lives created
with zeal and munificence the most perfect good for our lives by producing
Augustus . . . for the benefaction of mankind, sending us a savior who put an
end to war . . . and whereas the birthday of the god marked for the world the
beginning of good tidings through his coming.2
In not so subtle contrast to the prevailing Roman propaganda of
the day, Luke makes the bold counter-claim that Jesus, not Caesar, is Lord and
Savior of all. In short, Luke’s challenge dramatically relayed is this: the
Israelite infant lying in a feed box among sheep, goats, cattle and fowl,
drastically marginalizes the significance of Caesar and Rome itself, as he
manifests the presence and power of God.
For his birth day, not Caesar’s, is truly good news for all of
humankind. His reign, not Caesar’s will lead the heavens to erupt in praise of
God (not the gods) and the celebration of enduring peace (verses 13-14). Thus,
already near the start of his narrative, Luke puts Theophilus and the rest of
his audience on notice that what God does in Jesus significantly undermines all
other claims to mastery over humankind. This, Luke shows, is how God’s
extraordinary plan for the redemption of Israel, and even all of humanity,
unfolds. In this peasant infant, God’s presence and power come into the world
and turn it upside down.
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1 Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (NICNT; Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1997) 122. See also Horsely, The Liberation of Christmas: The Infancy
Narrative in Social Context (New York: Crossraod, 1999) 33-38.
2 Translation from S. R. F. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman
Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984) 54.
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John Wesley’s Notes and Commentary for:
Luke 2:1-20
Verse 1. That all the world should be enrolled - That all the
inhabitants, male and female, of every town in the Roman empire, with their
families and estates, should be registered.
Verse 2. When Cyrenius was governor of Syria - When Publius
Sulpicius Quirinus governed the province of Syria, in which Judea was then
included.
Verse 6. And while they were there, the days were fulfilled that
she should be delivered - Mary seems not to have known that the child must have
been born in Bethlehem, agreeably to the prophecy. But the providence of God
took care for it.
Verse 7. She laid him in the manger - Perhaps it might rather be
translated in the stall. They were lodged in the ox stall, fitted up on
occasion of the great concourse, for poor guests. There was no room for them in
the inn - Now also, there is seldom room for Christ in an inn. Matt. i, 25
Verse 11. To you - Shepherds; Israel; mankind.
Verse 14. Glory be to God in the highest; on earth peace; good
will toward men - The shouts of the multitude are generally broken into short
sentences. This rejoicing acclamation strongly represents the piety and
benevolence of these heavenly spirits: as if they had said, Glory be to God in
the highest heavens: let all the angelic legions resound his praises. For with
the Redeemer's birth, peace, and all kind of happiness, come down to dwell on
earth: yea, the overflowings of Divine good will and favour are now exercised
toward men.
Verse 20. For all the things that they had heard - From Mary; as
it was told them - By the angels.
Psalm 96:7-10
Verse 9. Beauty - Cloathed with all the gifts and graces, which
are necessary in God's worship.
Verse 10. Reigneth - God hath now set up his kingdom in the
world. Established - The nations of the world shall by the means of it enjoy an
established and lasting peace.
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