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Luke 2:1-7
1. Luke puts this into historical context. The events would place this somewhere around 6 – 4 BC. The Romans did a census every 14 years or so of all people 12 and over, mostly for purposes of taxes and military service (although Jewish men were exempt from serving in the military). The first such empire-wide census was in 60 BC and the last in 244 AD, the one Luke mentions was called in 6 BC (the next was in 6 AD) – but it would not necessarily be conducted right away – leaving us with a bit of an uncertainty as to the year. Luke also mentions that Augustus was Caesar (he ruled from 31 BC to 14 AD) and that Quirinius was governor of Syria (he ruled from 6-4 BC).
2. Luke does not tell us the exact date of our Lord’s birth (there are no dates anywhere in the New Testament – for anything). It would be moot from a Jewish perspective (since they didn’t celebrate birthdays at all) but the Romans made a HUGE deal of birthdays! Not primarily to celebrate a certain DATE (the actual DAY of the celebration mattered little to the Romans) but as a day to celebrate a person. One of the first questions a Roman convert would ask would be: “When is His birthday?” Scripture doesn’t say! Early Tradition doesn’t either! For about 300 years, there was no set date. Different areas celebrated it on different dates. But when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Empire wanted the issue settled. Bishop Liberius in 354 declared December 25th to be the date on which we’d celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord – and it just stuck. In 388, it was made official as a part of the Church Year. But why December 25TH? We don’t actually know – no record of the decision or reasoning behind it was kept. But the date is stunning! It was already a big time in the Roman Empire! This was generally the time of the year to celebrate the birth of the sun gods Mithra and Attis, and of course the Winter Solstice occurred close on December 21. The huge Festival of the Saturnalia” happened from December 14-24 (technically the festival of Saturn - the god of peace) ended at this time. It MAY be that the early bishops hoped to overwhelm all these pagan events with this new Christian one; if so, it didn’t work. To this day, Christmas is associated with peace and with winter.
3. Since Mary and Joseph were both from the “line of David,” they chose to register at their ancestral home of Bethlehem. Luke SEEMS to give the impression they had no choice but we know that they could have registered at Nazareth and actually, Joseph or Mary’s father could have registered for her. We also know they had months to fulfill this. So why both travel all the day to Bethlehem – especially when Mary is “due?” We can only speculate. Some see this as a rebellious act, there is a long tradition (recorded in the Old Testament) of the Jews resented census and government matters – they may have been saying “I’m JEWISH – not Roman!” Others think this was just an excuse – they knew the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem and so chose to go there, and also registered there. We simply don’t know WHY, but they did travel there. We all have the image of they arriving just as Mary is about to deliver, but the texts actually don’t indicate when they arrived, only that “WHILE they were there, the time came for her to deliver.”
4. Two thousand years of tradition has added to the Christmas story. The Bible does not say that Bethlehem was crowded, only that “there was no room in the inn” when Jesus was born. We assume Mary went into labor immediately upon their arrival, but such is nowhere stated (read Matthew 2:11). An “inn” was often nothing more than a guest room (or even just a roof top) of a home. Jesus surely was born where animals were kept, but often animals were kept either in the home (on the lower level – people typically slept on the roofs, or on the other side of the home), there were not “barns” as we think of them in ancient Israel. The ancient traditions all speak of a cave, and indeed the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is built over a CAVE – not barn or home. Caves were often used for animals, and occasionally for those who cared for them. Occasionally, they were even homes for the very poor – living with the animals.
5. Newborns were cleaned with water, rubbed with salt and olive oil, and then wrapped tightly in stripes of cloth like a mummy (believed necessary to keep their backs straight). This was all the task of the midwife. The fact that Mary did this herself indicates that there was no mid-wife or perhaps anyone in attendance. This is stunning! While Mary and Joseph may have had no relatives here (the usual source of midwives), and probably couldn’t afford to hire one – nonetheless, to permit a young mother to give birth unattended was a HUGE lack of hospitality and is MUCH more “telling” than the fact that they are doing all this is a cave with animals.
Luke 2:8-20
1. While the birth of Jesus went unnoticed (except by the holy family and some smelly animals), the Heavenly Hosts could not contain themselves! They make an announcement to some shepherds “out in the field keeping watch over the flocks by night.” By the way, this is the ONLY indication that Jesus was born at night – an ancient tradition. Why shepherds? The reason isn’t explained and it’s not easy to answer. In David’s time, shepherds were highly regarded (almost like cowboys in an earlier day among Americans) but by Jesus’ day, they were considered to be crude, ignorant, unsocial, smelly people often kept at bay. Is there some symbolism here? Could it be related to David being a shepherd? Or that Jesus is our Shepherd?
2. The sight of the angels terrifies the shepherds (it probably would us, too!). Seeing an angel was as rare then as now, and was then associated with death; they may well have thought they were dying! But one angel speaks for them (was it Gabriel?) and shares the Christmas Gospel – one of LIFE, not DEATH! This message is known as “The Gloria in Excelsis Deo” from the Latin for the first line. We, too, respond to the Christmas Gospel with praise!
3. But the angel did more than make the announcement and proclaim a good Christmas sermon! The angel encourages them to go and see for themselves! And they do just that! And then do for others what the angels did for them – tell the Good News! Mary, however, “treasures all these things in her heart.”
Thoughts?
Merry Christmas!
- Josiah
1. Luke puts this into historical context. The events would place this somewhere around 6 – 4 BC. The Romans did a census every 14 years or so of all people 12 and over, mostly for purposes of taxes and military service (although Jewish men were exempt from serving in the military). The first such empire-wide census was in 60 BC and the last in 244 AD, the one Luke mentions was called in 6 BC (the next was in 6 AD) – but it would not necessarily be conducted right away – leaving us with a bit of an uncertainty as to the year. Luke also mentions that Augustus was Caesar (he ruled from 31 BC to 14 AD) and that Quirinius was governor of Syria (he ruled from 6-4 BC).
2. Luke does not tell us the exact date of our Lord’s birth (there are no dates anywhere in the New Testament – for anything). It would be moot from a Jewish perspective (since they didn’t celebrate birthdays at all) but the Romans made a HUGE deal of birthdays! Not primarily to celebrate a certain DATE (the actual DAY of the celebration mattered little to the Romans) but as a day to celebrate a person. One of the first questions a Roman convert would ask would be: “When is His birthday?” Scripture doesn’t say! Early Tradition doesn’t either! For about 300 years, there was no set date. Different areas celebrated it on different dates. But when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Empire wanted the issue settled. Bishop Liberius in 354 declared December 25th to be the date on which we’d celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord – and it just stuck. In 388, it was made official as a part of the Church Year. But why December 25TH? We don’t actually know – no record of the decision or reasoning behind it was kept. But the date is stunning! It was already a big time in the Roman Empire! This was generally the time of the year to celebrate the birth of the sun gods Mithra and Attis, and of course the Winter Solstice occurred close on December 21. The huge Festival of the Saturnalia” happened from December 14-24 (technically the festival of Saturn - the god of peace) ended at this time. It MAY be that the early bishops hoped to overwhelm all these pagan events with this new Christian one; if so, it didn’t work. To this day, Christmas is associated with peace and with winter.
3. Since Mary and Joseph were both from the “line of David,” they chose to register at their ancestral home of Bethlehem. Luke SEEMS to give the impression they had no choice but we know that they could have registered at Nazareth and actually, Joseph or Mary’s father could have registered for her. We also know they had months to fulfill this. So why both travel all the day to Bethlehem – especially when Mary is “due?” We can only speculate. Some see this as a rebellious act, there is a long tradition (recorded in the Old Testament) of the Jews resented census and government matters – they may have been saying “I’m JEWISH – not Roman!” Others think this was just an excuse – they knew the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem and so chose to go there, and also registered there. We simply don’t know WHY, but they did travel there. We all have the image of they arriving just as Mary is about to deliver, but the texts actually don’t indicate when they arrived, only that “WHILE they were there, the time came for her to deliver.”
4. Two thousand years of tradition has added to the Christmas story. The Bible does not say that Bethlehem was crowded, only that “there was no room in the inn” when Jesus was born. We assume Mary went into labor immediately upon their arrival, but such is nowhere stated (read Matthew 2:11). An “inn” was often nothing more than a guest room (or even just a roof top) of a home. Jesus surely was born where animals were kept, but often animals were kept either in the home (on the lower level – people typically slept on the roofs, or on the other side of the home), there were not “barns” as we think of them in ancient Israel. The ancient traditions all speak of a cave, and indeed the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is built over a CAVE – not barn or home. Caves were often used for animals, and occasionally for those who cared for them. Occasionally, they were even homes for the very poor – living with the animals.
5. Newborns were cleaned with water, rubbed with salt and olive oil, and then wrapped tightly in stripes of cloth like a mummy (believed necessary to keep their backs straight). This was all the task of the midwife. The fact that Mary did this herself indicates that there was no mid-wife or perhaps anyone in attendance. This is stunning! While Mary and Joseph may have had no relatives here (the usual source of midwives), and probably couldn’t afford to hire one – nonetheless, to permit a young mother to give birth unattended was a HUGE lack of hospitality and is MUCH more “telling” than the fact that they are doing all this is a cave with animals.
Luke 2:8-20
1. While the birth of Jesus went unnoticed (except by the holy family and some smelly animals), the Heavenly Hosts could not contain themselves! They make an announcement to some shepherds “out in the field keeping watch over the flocks by night.” By the way, this is the ONLY indication that Jesus was born at night – an ancient tradition. Why shepherds? The reason isn’t explained and it’s not easy to answer. In David’s time, shepherds were highly regarded (almost like cowboys in an earlier day among Americans) but by Jesus’ day, they were considered to be crude, ignorant, unsocial, smelly people often kept at bay. Is there some symbolism here? Could it be related to David being a shepherd? Or that Jesus is our Shepherd?
2. The sight of the angels terrifies the shepherds (it probably would us, too!). Seeing an angel was as rare then as now, and was then associated with death; they may well have thought they were dying! But one angel speaks for them (was it Gabriel?) and shares the Christmas Gospel – one of LIFE, not DEATH! This message is known as “The Gloria in Excelsis Deo” from the Latin for the first line. We, too, respond to the Christmas Gospel with praise!
3. But the angel did more than make the announcement and proclaim a good Christmas sermon! The angel encourages them to go and see for themselves! And they do just that! And then do for others what the angels did for them – tell the Good News! Mary, however, “treasures all these things in her heart.”
Thoughts?
Merry Christmas!
- Josiah
