Few chapters in the Bible come with more baggage than Luke 2. Because of this, it is simply too easy to miss the consistent message of Luke regarding what matters most. The birth of Jesus was divine, as amply testified by the facts and events surrounding it. It fulfilled a divine purpose. The life of the boy after that divine birth was unusual, not by reason of His divinity, but by the operation and power of the Holy Spirit. His divinity removed the normal human impediments of walking in the Spirit, but did not otherwise characterize how He lived, until His death.
We come immediately to a historical note which has been the subject of much debate: The dates of Quirinius as governor of Syria don't match the details, which details otherwise place the birth of Jesus between 8 and 4 BC. While there is plenty of material answering it, I refer readers who need a detailed discussion to The Christian Think Tank. The salient point is Quirinius served in that area for quite some time, and any of those positions could satisfy the Greek term translated "governing" to describe the service of this most notable of Roman officials who might be familiar to Theophilus. To imagine Luke might get mixed up on the details can only come from ignorance and unbelief.
Thus, Luke describes a census, which may not require paying a tax, but does require, in the case of Jews, returning to one's clan city. For Joseph, that would be Bethlehem, the home of David, since he was of royal lineage. Luke establishes the basic fact Jesus was a direct descendant of King David. The legalities required Joseph bring Mary, who was not so far from delivering their first child. The hassle involved in being in Bethlehem during this bureaucratic imposition meant staying long enough for Mary to give birth.
The birth itself was pretty ordinary, although they were still in temporary quarters. In this case, the local rooming house was full, so they were sleeping in a stable. While Greek and Roman families typically left their infants naked much of the time, Near Eastern people tended to bundle their newborns in decorative wraps. Mary put Jesus in a feed trough.
Luke makes much of the incident involving shepherds. While many nations had a low estimate of this profession, it was widely noted the ancient King David was a shepherd before his coronation, and his Shepherd's Psalm was widely received as high literature. Thus, the symbolic importance of the shepherd figure would not be lost on Theophilus. God sent angels to notify those of David's trade to note the birth of David's Heir. While shepherds would keep this tale fresh for generations to come, most people would ignore it as legend. In a blaze of glory, the angels announced the Jewish Messiah was born in Bethlehem, King David's ancestral home.
With such an auspicious announcement, they could not resist running cross-country to find this child, checking all the animal stalls in the town. Eventually they found the one newborn lying in a feeding trough and told of the unspeakably glorious announcement they had received. Then they made a racket all over town that night, and wherever they went the next few weeks, telling everyone angels had announced the Messiah to them. With this, Luke points out how God frequently turns things upside down compared to human estimations. Instead of royal heralds in fine clothing, we have smelly shepherds announcing the birth of the Messiah.
If the shepherds were likely to remember such a thing for long, even more so the mother of the boy in question. She already had been told by Gabriel and her aunt Elizabeth her son was the Messiah. Such insignificant and mundane trappings surrounded the whole thing. Circumstances put the Messiah's birth in an animal stall, and heralded by shepherds, of all things. And as with every Jewish boy, He received the same ritual eighth-day circumcision and naming, as Jesus.
When a few other rituals were completed, they closed that chapter by taking the boy to Jerusalem. There, in the Temple, they presented the minimum acceptable offering for first-born sons. While there, two more events marked this as a significant birth. First, the aged witness, Simeon. He had from God a promise he would see the Messiah born. The Holy Spirit led him to the Temple that day, pointing him to this very poor couple presenting their first-born son. His poetic recognition of the boy as the fulfillment of God's promise to bring His revelation to the whole world must have struck his parents as yet one more puzzle.
To top it off, Simeon warned Mary prophetically Jesus was not what everyone thought the Messiah would be. He would turn things upside down, as God often did when He acted directly in the world. More, Mary would experience tremendous sorrow, as the Messiah would be rejected, yet it would serve to expose the spiritual realities hidden in the hearts of countless people.
This was followed up by meeting an ancient woman, a Temple volunteer and prophetess. Anna had spent most of her life serving in the Temple, since becoming a widow at a young age. While the couple were still mulling over Simeon's words, Anna began making a scene. She began celebrating in front of everyone this infant's destiny as Redeemer. She excitedly told everyone she knew she had seen the Messiah.
Who can say how all this affected His parents? Aside from these strange heralds, all pretty much nobodies among men, yet clearly a consistent witness of visions and miracles, things were fairly typical. That is, Joseph and Mary eventually headed back to Nazareth, and the boy grew up like any other. The exception was a unique level of maturity which could only be explained by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The boy was altogether spiritually-minded. During an annual festival visit to Jerusalem, He stayed behind in the Temple. This would be the year of His bar-Mitzvah, when Jewish boys were declared "Son of the Law." So seriously did Jesus take the responsibilities implied by this rite of passage, He engaged the ranking rabbis in Jerusalem in deep discussions. After three days and traipsing back to the City, Joseph and Mary finally found Him.
They rebuked Him for causing them grief, but it's obvious their rebuke would be blunted by a sense of pride. It's hard to imagine the rabbis would not have congratulated His parents for raising such a spiritually mature young man. Though He did go home and not cause them any further trouble, they were still puzzled by His attitude that they should have expected to find Him attending to "my Father's business" -- pointedly not the sort of thing Joseph did. In a quick summary, Luke allows us to imagine for ourselves how Jesus became quite popular.
Given the detailed nature of Luke's account of miracles connected to Jesus' birth, we can justly say further miracles are conspicuous by their absence. Jesus understood His Father's purpose from the start, because He operated under full spiritual enlightenment. At all points, His claims can be questioned by human doubters. No one is backed into a corner, forced to believe. All the supporting facts are easily dismissed by any skeptic. But those who view these things by the same Spirit Who empowered the events would see clearly the mark of God's ways.
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By Ed Hurst
14 June 2008
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