“I Bring You Good News of Great Joy”

Christmas C
Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem

Luke 2:1-20

(2:1) Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. (2:2) This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. (2:3) And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. (2:4) Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, (2:5) in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. (2:6) While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. (2:7) And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

(2:8) In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. (2:9) And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. (2:10) But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; (2:11) for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (2:12) “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (2:13) And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, (2:14) “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

(2:15) When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” (2:16) So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. (2:17) When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. (2:18) And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. (2:19) But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. (2:20) The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

Luke 2:1-5

A decree went out from Caesar Augustus

All things happen in God’s perfect timing – even when they don’t seem that way!

That is the first significant lesson of Luke’s birth account of Jesus. Repeatedly, in this opening story of Jesus’ earthly life, we see hardships thrust upon the holy family that seem not only unfair, but seemingly as if God had completely abandoned them (that is, if we examined the scene from a purely human perspective). But let us look at another perspective, a perspective that is set by a loving God who is turning the sin of humanity into the promise of peace. That is the viewpoint which pervades this entire recounting of the miraculous Christmas.

Seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, Micah prophesies that the Messiah will come from Bethlehem.

Micah 5:2

(5:2) “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.”

This is the village where David was born and scripture prophesied that the Messiah would also come from the House of David [1 Sam 16, 17:12, 20:6].

Did Joseph and Mary have these scriptures in mind as they were forced to journey the 70 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem? We don’t know for we are not privy to their conversations as they made the trek. Most likely they felt the same way that many of the other Palestinians at the time, oppressed and harassed by their Roman occupiers and the distant decrees of Caesar Augustus.

Emperor Augustus was actually an exceptional ruler who ended Rome’s years of civil war and ruled wisely from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14. He brought peace and prosperity to the empire and was fastidious about finances (which is why he called a census across the whole of the empire). The uprooting march of Mary and Joseph was also occurring across most of the known world at that time – not just for the holy family. Still, this would be of little comfort to Joseph, with his wife in her third trimester, as they ventured across dangerous roads far from the safety of their relatives.

However, even as we say this, we must realize that Mary did not have to make this trip (women were not counted in the census). In fact, it is quite unusual that Mary made this trek. Joseph could have made the trip to Bethlehem and back, registering for the census and returning in about ten days to two weeks. Bringing Mary with him on this trip would have greatly slowed Joseph down. It both increased the risk of robbery and endangered the baby in Mary’s womb. For some reason unknown to us, Joseph must have thought that it was less dangerous for Mary to be with him than to stay with her family in Nazareth. From whom did Mary flee?

Obviously Mary didn’t flee from the Romans; she was fleeing from her own people. The concern would have been that the religious of her town would have made an example out of her and killed her – and the baby – as an abomination because she was pregnant out of wedlock.

Joseph had to go to his family’s birthplace because of Rome’s occupation. Mary must have gone because of the judgmental, religious people in her own community. Would Mary and Joseph have recognized God’s hand in all of this?

Would I?

Therein is the first important lesson of the Christmas miracle. Do I recognize the presence of God in what may seem inconvenience, harassment, or unfairness around me?

The truth is that my faith is not that strong yet. How about yours? I know that I need to plead with God to remind me through this Christmas story that his ways, the world’s ways, and my ways don’t often corroborate with each other. I will not be able to ever understand God’s ways through the eyes of this world. But with the eyes of faith, I might be able to say with Paul; “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose [Rom 8:28].”

Luke 2:6-7

(2:6) While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. (2:7) And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Because there was no room for them in the inn

We have before us Luke’s translation of this story, but I wonder how it might have sounded when told directly to the Gospel writer by Mary. Were it not for Luke, we would not have had any of the women’s views in the Gospels. Only this Greek Physician was unstilted by the Jewish/Middle Eastern chauvinism that still exists in many cultures, geographic areas, and religions.

Think not only of how much we would have missed without Luke, but also how much we still miss because of prejudice or chauvinism.

Luke, in his writings, gives us little more information about this event than “there was no room at the inn.”
Yet within that sentence so much of the world’s unfairness is laid bare. I know that this Christmas there will be certain people in my own hometown for which there is “no room.” However it will not because there isn’t any space available. Rather it will be because the space that is available is too expensive or exclusive. It is not a shortage of rooms that locks people out of housing in my town; it is a shortage of will power and compassion. This shortage cuts to the heart of God’s call to those who profess to follow him:

Exodus 23:9

(23:9) “You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

Bethlehem would have been packed, but there would always have been enough room – if someone just moved over. Rosa Parks was not asked to stand on the bus because it was 110 percent full. She was told to stand and move to the back because a white person did not want her in the front of the bus.

There are two excuses why there is “no room at our inns.” The first is the easiest answer to identify, a lack of resources, including money or transportation. However the greatest poverty will always be a lack of healthy relationships, the lack of connections or advocates when you are seeking a job or need a reference.

In working with the incarcerated, I see daily how the lack of healthy relationships is the principal source of crime in our nation. This is not just looking at the issue from a prevention or restoration standpoint. Many people in our juvenile facilities and correctional centers simply would not be there if they had decent representation. If someone has a court-appointed attorney I can pretty much guarantee they will plead guilty and be incarcerated regardless of their culpability. If someone can afford a good – read expensive – attorney, they walk.

Yet healthy relationships can do so much more than advocate within the legal system. For over a decade we have used relationships in our mentoring outreaches to teach values to young people. At the heart of our work is the belief that “we learn what we value by who values us.” And the ultimate indication of being valued is when a person gives us their most valued commodity: Time.

There may have been no room at the inn for Mary and Joseph on that day two millenniums ago, there may be no room in our towns and cities today. But there will always be room at the table if we have a relationship with them. It is our prejudice that closes the door to the stranger and churches often reinforce prejudice rather than tear it down. To follow Christ means that we must do more than just “accept” those who make it past the hurdles and into our congregations. It means we must seek out the “Josephs and Mary’s” of our world and invite them into the warmth of our hearth. We do not reprimand them about “thinking ahead next time you travel to Bethlehem.” Neither do we covertly seek to convert them through our “kindness.” Our role is simply to warm them and offer friendship.
Scripture defines evil, and even “stupid,” as the rejection of the stranger, widowed, and orphaned.

Psalm 94:6-8

6 They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the orphans. 7 They have said, “The LORD does not see, Nor does the God of Jacob pay heed.”

8 Pay heed, you senseless among the people; and when will you understand, stupid ones?

All of this became part of the framework that molded the social consciousness of our Lord, Jesus. No doubt that is why the poor were central to his mission [Luke 4:18-19] and the standard by which he judged those who claimed to follow him [Matthew 25:31-46].

Is this the standard by which we set the direction of our day, week, life? Are we seeking to welcome the holy family in their true form this Christmas? Do we look for more than just a manger scene awash with soft lighting and plastic livestock? Instead do we seek the Christ family in our town who – bereft of relationships – find little room in our hearts or homes? Will we discover the miracle of this Christmas by extending the warmth of Christ to the stranger, the indigent, or the forgotten?

Luke 2:8-12

“I bring you good news of great joy”

What could be more confusing and yet more resplendent for these shepherds than this announcement by heavenly messengers? Why confusing? Well, aside from the fact that these shepherds were seeing and hearing angelic beings croon, it was also their own status as sheepherders among the religious of their time. Like migrant workers today (all over the world) these shepherds were often viewed as a lower class. Their labor was essential to the economy – especially these particular shepherds outside of Bethlehem – for their sheep were raised to be the sacrifices in the holy temple itself. However because the shepherds were often in the field and rarely able to attend to religious minutiae, the very people they worked for despised them.

How ironic that those least likely to be welcomed in worship would be the first to hear the great news from God’s own heralds.

Just as confusing to these laborers would have been the place where the shepherds were sent to pay homage to the Expected One’s arrival – to an infant in one of Bethlehem’s many livestock caves!

Why would this be such a shock to them? Three reasons:

An infant?

Who expected the Messiah would have to “grow up?” Who expected him to be defenseless and vulnerable? Why didn’t God just send him as a conquering king and the angels as his ravaging army? Certainly that is what mankind deserved. Yet to understand Jesus, we must understand that the traits of defenselessness and vulnerability were critical to Christ’s character AND we must also learn to adopt them and live them out – just as he did.

In Bethlehem?

Yes, the prophets had foretold that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, but even the greatest religious minds of Jerusalem didn’t figure that out until after the magi had arrived from the east.

We don’t expect “big things” to come by unassuming means and from humble circumstances; yet that is another antecedent to understanding the Messiah’s intrinsic character.

In a manger?

Defenseless and vulnerable, unassuming and humble, do we see why we often miss the “Real Jesus” not just at Christmas but throughout our entire lives? To this list of puzzling traits in a consumer culture, we must also add persecuted and impoverished without political or financial means.

All of these traits would be part of the “formation” of Jesus. These qualities were the roots from which the seed of Jesse would spring.

This was probably not what the shepherds were expecting to find, but it is what we should expect to find as we seek to follow Christ’s path of humility, gratitude, simplicity and service. Are we increasingly aligning ourselves with the unassuming nature of Bethlehem’s most famous infant? Or -- this Christmas -- will we prefer a porcelain Messiah from a manufactured manger scene?

To hear the angel’s message we must place ourselves in the shepherd’s situation. Will we be close enough, humble enough, and attuned enough to hear the infant cry of Jesus in the alleys of our town this Christmas? Where would be the “most unpretentious place” for the real Jesus to enter my city?

Luke 2:13-14

(2:13) And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, (2:14) “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

“On earth peace among men with whom He is pleased”

Living in a consumer culture, I have to admit that it is very hard to grasp this offer of peace and this expression of God’s pleasure to all humanity. When I think of peace it is difficult for me to realize that my understanding of this term is fundamentally at odds with God’s meaning. Even my understanding of with who God is “pleased” carries a deep cultural bias.

First let’s examine this term for peace translated from Luke’s writings. Our cultural understanding of peace generally implies the absence of chaos. Yet Jesus had deep, abiding peace and his life was anything but lacking in chaos. Rather than the absence of trials, this term for peace [GSN1515 eirene] is akin to the word serenity and is rooted in the word [eiro] which means “to join.” Indeed, a peacemaker [GSN1518] was one who could bring together communities or families who were broken. In the Beatitudes, these peacemakers are called the “children of God (Matt 5:9).”

Here is the Great News of Christmas. In this birth account of Christ, the Messengers of God declared that through the birth of Christ, God and humanity would be united again. The other facet of this announcement is whom it was intended to reach. The angels declared; “Peace among men with whom He is pleased.” The term pleased [GSN2107, eudokia] means “in whom God takes delight.”

Traditional Jews (and many Christians) would take that to mean that God is only offering his peace to those who delight him. However that is not the case. Given God’s unconditional love (John 3:16) it would be much more accurate to interpret this message of great news as being offered to all people and that the responsibility of imparting the joy of this message moved from his “angelic messengers” to his “evangelical messengers” (the term literally translates into “angels of the street”).

We are now the ones sent to tell the world the good news:

Matthew 22:9-10

(22:9) “Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.” (22:10) Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.

Are we asked to make our invitations exclusive? By no means! This is a feast to which all are invited to "join in peace [eirene]" with the Heavenly King. If God was not exclusive, by what rationale might we have to judge another?

So what is the Christmas message?

“Invite as many as you can to the wedding feast. The King has given us this great invitation in order to restore peace with all his people.”

Where in my community are people who have not experienced that open invitation? That’s where the true Christmas spirit must lead me.

Luke 2:15-18

When they had seen this, they made known the statement...

There it is, the angels turn their commission over to “mere shepherds.” These are the first evangelicals of the Good News. These shepherds – with no religious training – innately take the intentional action that many of us “in the religious trade” neglect (or prefer to forget).

First they were invited to observe an amazing event and they “made haste” [GSN spuedõ] to witness it.

This term “to make haste” doesn’t just mean to hurry, it also means “to desire earnestly.” Can I say that I am making haste and desiring earnestly to hear the original message of the humbly-born Messiah? Or have I become more cynical and dulled with the message of Christmas as the years have waned?

Then, when they saw the child, they “made known the statement,” [GSN diorgnõrizõ] which is to say they “published it broadly,” or “made it known thoroughly.”

There was no theology attached to their message (they had none). No exegesis of supportive scripture (their testimony was first-hand). There was no power point presentation or Hollywood praise band (the angels had already left the building). No, these shepherds personally saw the miraculous Christmas and “made it known thoroughly” to every ear that would listen.

Finally, (jumping ahead a few verses to 20), the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.

This event changed the lives of these shepherds completely and eternally. The result of this event didn’t change their careers, but it changed the way they viewed life forever. Who knows how they approached each day prior to the arrival of Jesus Christ into the community, but from that moment forward they lived life glorifying and praising God.

That’s the kind of Christmas to desire. Let’s seek a life-altering Christmas! This is not a present that someone gives to us; it is a presence that we give to others. To whom will I give the presence of Christ this Christmas?

How close is my “evangelization” to this simple, unadulterated sharing of the raw and original gospel? Even more, how miraculous are my Christmas’? Will I be “out there” where the poor and the vulnerable gather to experience the inclusive Christmas message of God’s “peace to all people” in all of its untainted simplicity?

All who heard it wondered…

What was the people’s response to such an unadorned message? “All who heard it wondered.” The word for “wondered” does not mean they questioned the shepherd’s sanity. The word means they were stunned and amazed [GSN2296 thumazõ], they were filled with awe.

This is how the gospel is received in its raw telling. You can argue points-of-view and perspectives, but you can’t argue personal experience – especially from multiple witnesses. Here were multiple witnesses, not steeped in scripture or trained in preaching, and they could hardly be considered as “religious.” Yet their story was personal and their enthusiasm was boundless; “On this day, we saw a miracle.”

We too can have a personal encounter with the God who longs to join in peace with all people on this miraculous day. God, in fact, longs for it. However most of God’s miracles take place in the context of communal salvation and communal restoration. Christmas is ultimately not about what I received on that day, it is about how I -- within my sphere of influence -- united people in justice and compassion.

These shepherds didn’t run out and tell others that they were saved because God spoke to them. They went out of their way to everyone about the “good news of great joy for all people.”

Will my Christmas message be focused on me? What I found under the tree, or I ate for Christmas dinner? Or will my message be about the peace that God allowed me to share with the most common people in the most forgotten places?

Will there be anyone among the homeless or forgotten in my town that will say they experienced the wonder of this Christmas because I visited them?

Luke 2:19-20

(2:19) But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. (2:20) The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

Mary treasured all these things…

Think of all the “things” that Mary had to treasure and ponder in the single year since the Angel of God announced her special appointment.

The visit by the angel Gabriel;
Gabriel’s announcement of Mary’s pregnancy;
The risk she faced when she revealed her pregnancy, out of wedlock, to her parents and Joseph’s family;
The visit to Elizabeth and how John leapt in Elizabeth’s womb;
The hurried trip to Bethlehem in her last trimester; and finally
The arrival of the shepherds with their great and amazing news.

These were only the beginning of the memories that would eventually fill the treasure chest of Mary’s heart. Still to come would be the Magi, the fleeing from Bethlehem to Egypt, the desperate search for Jesus on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. All of these things about the child Jesus were yet to occur.

All these things were treasured by Mary, or, as the Greek translates, kept hidden [GSN4933 suntêrõ] in her heart and that is where they would have remained had not Luke been compelled by the Holy Spirit to move beyond the boundaries of the local culture’s disdain for women. It took a Greek to give us these stories that Mary had locked in her heart.

It makes me wonder how many stories go untold in our communities because of cultural bias or our disregard for others. We are indebted to Luke for asking Mary to reveal her the treasures of her heart. Think how close we were to never hearing this story because of the chauvinism of that culture!

Christmas is an ideal time to learn about the stories of people from other traditions and cultures. It would behoove us to go where we are not comfortable and seek the “treasures of the heart” in those places. We might find ourselves in a rest home, a homeless shelter, a jail, or a juvenile center. We might even find ourselves on the streets of a foreign city.

Wherever we spend Christmas, let’s push ourselves beyond our comfort zones and beyond our “own stories” to hear the miraculous announcement that the shepherds found when they hastened to hear God’s call.

“I bring you good news of great joy.”

Copyright Notice

Copyright © 2006 Jerry Goebel. All Rights Reserved.
The New Testament Greek Lexicon based on Thayer’s and Smith’s Bible Dictionary plus others; this is keyed to the large Kittel and the “Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.” These files are public domain.
The Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon is Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Lexicon; this is keyed to the “Theological Word Book of the Old Testament.” These files are considered public domain.
NAS Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries. Copyright © 1981, 1998 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. http://www.lockman.org/.

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