Nobody really likes for the government to give deadlines and force people to conform. Not now and not in the Roman Empire of old. The story found in Luke 2.1-20 starts with the oppressive Romans forcing their will once again on their provinces. It began with a royal decree and with two people in a difficult situation that no one in the world had ever really heard of. Mary and Joseph were married, yes, but they shared no intimacy until the child was born that Mary was pregnant with. She was about to deliver that child, so the decree to register at a designated census center was awful timing. It meant traveling about 3 days on foot, disastrous for a woman ready to deliver a child. And for what? Just to register for a census? The world power Romans were demanding a count of people in its provinces. Ridiculous! But the two obeyed the decree.
Joseph and Mary both knew the child would be special. They had had visitations and dreams that God himself was coming to be with his people through their child. So far, Joseph and Mary and Mary's cousin Elizabeth had shared this secret. But, the circle was about to widen. It would start with this census although Mary and Joseph didn't know that. Once in Bethlehem, Joseph tried to stay at the local inn, but it had no vacancy. The innkeeper offered them the stables where the donkeys, sheep, and goats were being kept for his tenants. Since they didn't have a choice, they took the stable.
It doesn't take much imagination to know what a long journey can do to hasten a pregnant woman's delivery. Joseph set up an area in the stable for sleeping. But as he was about to settle in, he heard Mary's cry.
"What is it?" he said, turning to look at Mary as she cried in pain.
"He's coming. I'm having the baby!" She could barely draw breath to talk because of the contraction seizing her.
He swung into action. He ran to get a large bowl of water and a number of cloths for both baby and Mary. Then he delivered Jesus, their baby boy. After several trips for water, Joseph had both wife and baby washed and clean. He wrapped the little baby in a cloth. Mary and he took turns holding their newborn, gazing lovingly into his face. After a long while, they all needed rest, so they laid him in the trough filled with hay where usually the animals ate. He settled down next to Mary to admire the new life that had just come to them and to wonder what might lie in store. It crossed his mind how much less than ordinary this birth was. This special child was born away from its home, so no relatives were there celebrating his birth. He lay in a feed trough in a town not his own where nobody knew of his coming into the world. After all the messages from God to prepare him and Mary for this birth, surely God from his highest place in the heavens hadn't let this birth slip his notice.
In front of the inn, a group of men were running to its entrance demanding to know if a child had been born to anyone that night. The innkeeper didn't know, so he said, "No! Everyone with a room was sleeping."
But, the men were insistent. "No?" they shouted questioningly. "The answer cannot be no. We have just experienced something extraordinary. There has to be a child here. The rest of the town is silent. There would be families together in the houses if one of the women of the town had had a baby. Someone must be here who has had a baby."
Joseph heard the rising tone of voices in front of the inn. He roused himself from his and Mary's make-shift bed to see if the excitement was a danger to them. As he rounded the corner, one of the men ran over to him, "Do you know of anyone who has had a baby tonight?"
"Why? Who are you?" Joseph asked.
"We are local shepherds. We were watching a flock just on the other side of this hill." The man's voice betrayed his uncontained excitement.
"Tell me what you experienced that was so extraordinary?" Joseph asked.
Then Joseph heard the astounding sequence of events that had just occurred outside of town.
Verse 9
καὶ ἄγγελος κυρίου ἐπέστη αὐτοῖς καὶ δόξα κυρίου περιέλαμψεν αὐτούς, καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν φόβον μέγαν
(An angel from the Lord stood beside them and the brilliance of the Lord lit up the countryside around them. They were seized with terror.)
Verse 10
καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ ἄγγελος· μὴ φοβεῖσθε, ἰδοὺ γὰρ εὐαγγελίζομαι ὑμῖν χαρὰν μεγάλην ἥτις ἔσται παντὶ τῷ λαῷ
(And the angel said to them. "Don't be afraid! I am here to deliver news to you that will bring tremendous happiness to everyone.")
Joseph recognized immediately that God was now starting to announce the special nature of this child to a broader circle. Mary lay completely exhausted in the stable trying to sleep, but Joseph knew she would want to hear this story, so he brought the shepherds to her for her to hear. The shepherds repeated their experience to Mary, then continued telling why the angel said they had appeared to them.
Verse 11
ὅτι ἐτέχθη ὑμῖν σήμερον σωτὴρ ὅς ἐστιν χριστὸς κύριος ἐν πόλει Δαυίδ
(because on this day a savior has been born, who is messiah, Lord, in the city of David )
Verse 12
καὶ τοῦτο ὑμῖν τὸ σημεῖον, εὑρήσετε βρέφος ἐσπαργανωμένον καὶ κείμενον ἐν φάτνῃ
(And here's a sign for you - you will find a baby just born, wrapped and lying in his baby bed)
I would imagine Joseph and Mary were brought to tears recognizing the magnitude of what had happened. God was starting to make others aware of his plan to be among them in this child. They had to have been ecstatic. But, the shepherds were not finished. "That's not all," they spoke with heightened speech. "Right after the angel told us about a savior being born..."
Verse 13
καὶ ἐξαίφνης ἐγένετο σὺν τῷ ἀγγέλῳ πλῆθος στρατιᾶς οὐρανίου αἰνούντων τὸν θεὸν καὶ λεγόντων
(Suddenly, with the angel, a crowd of many more angels appeared from the sky with these words: )
Verse 14
δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις θεῷ
καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη
ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας
(Great honor to God in the highest heavens!
And on Earth, peace.
From its inhabitants, their highest praise!)
"That's why we're here. We had to come see the new baby boy who deserves our highest praise!"
And people everywhere through all generations since that time continue to come see. That's because we, as did the shepherds, feel the awe and splendor of someone in the highest heavens announcing to us on Earth - peace. I, for one, am here with my highest praise to tell the story's beginning again... again... again... again...
[Introductory photo of reflection by David Kingham retrieved from https://www.borrowlenses.com/blog/best-seasons-and-locations-for-night-sky-photography/]
[The first song is Oh, Holy Night by Josh Groban. The middle song is Let the Heavens Open by Kari Jobe. The last song is I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day by Casting Crowns]
[The Greek text used is the Nestle Aland 28th edition]
[Translations from Greek are my own.]
