In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone went to this own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. (Luke 2:1-5)
This passage is so familiar that it is easy to pass right over it. I tried to read a little slower this morning and think about what was going on. Several thoughts hit me from these verses:
1. Luke is a man of detail. He is the only gospel writer to give so much historical detail regarding the time of Jesus’ birth. Augustus ruled from 31BC-AD 14 and Quirinius was governor of Syria from 6 BC-AD 9, possibly in two separate terms. Luke wanted to make sure that we knew that this is not just some “nice story.” It is historical fact.
2. Joseph and Mary must have been frustrated with such a decree coming near the time of Mary’s expected delivery. Imagine being told by the government that you need to travel back to your hometown and register by such and such a date for a census in order that the government might determine your taxes. Mary was also required to go even though she was 8-9 months pregnant. There was no system of appeal or postponement. Rome spoke, you obeyed (especially if you were a non-Roman citizen). I wonder if Joseph and Mary questioned God at this time. “Why, Lord? Why now?” I wonder if they got agitated and angry at the Roman government for their insensitive, often oppressive, rule. I wonder if they realized that even this Roman decree of taxation was part of God’s master plan.
3. Of all things, God used a decree for taxation by the most powerful man in the world to accomplish His purpose that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Caesar woke up one morning and decided to declare an empire-wide census, probably reflecting on how powerful he was to give a decree that must be obeyed by everyone. He never realized that this thought was planted in his head by the sovereign God who rules over all men. The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases (Proverbs 21:1).
4. Why did God choose Joseph and Mary, residents of Nazareth, to give birth to His Son in Bethlehem? Couldn’t He have chosen a couple in the Bethlehem area? It certainly would have been easier for all parties involved. And why did He send them to Bethlehem at the most inopportune time when Mary was ready to give birth and because of the crowds of people there was absolutely no place for them to stay? Short answer…”I do not know.” But I do wonder if one reason is that Joseph and Mary’s experience of coming to their real hometown and not being welcome is a reflection of Jesus’ experience of coming into His own world and also not being welcome. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him (John 1:11).
Who were the only ones who received Him at the time of His birth? A bunch of lowly, stinky shepherds who traveled from a nearby hillside. In a real sense, the only ones who receive Him today are those who humble themselves, recognize their spiritual “stink,” and come to adore Him as Savior and Lord.
Lord, thank You for sending Your Son! May the story never become so familiar that it loses its wonder in my heart.
Today begins our reading of the gospel of Luke. Luke was a later follower of Jesus Christ and a ministry companion to the apostle Paul. He was a physician by trade, a well-educated man, and probably a Gentile. He wrote his gospel specifically to Theophilus (a Gentile government official and a recent convert) to show the validity and historical accuracy of the Christian faith. His gospel emphasizes the humanity of Jesus and provides the most detail of Jesus’ birth.
Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous–to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1:16-17)
There is a ton to consider in Luke 1 but for some reason these verses really stood out to me this morning. They are the angel’s words to Zechariah regarding his soon-to-be-born son, John the Baptist. John the Baptist would be filled with the Spirt of God from birth and would be a prophet of the Lord, coming in the spirit of Elijah. His purpose was to bring the people of Israel back to the Lord and prepare them for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus.
What struck me was that turning people back to the Lord involved turning the hearts of the fathers to their children. As a father, this particularly caught my attention. It is a quote from the prophet Malachi who prophesied that Elijah would come before the Messiah. And Elijah will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse (Malachi 4:6). These are the final words of the Old Testament.
John the Baptist’s role was to prepare the way of the Lord and in some way to reconcile fathers to their children and vice versa. (I take the second part of Luke’s phrasing, [turn] the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to be parallel to Malachi’s turning the hearts of the children to their fathers.)
Thus it seems that the ultimate display of repentance in the hearts of people and the ultimate display of God’s power in reconciliation is first seen in the family. Family is “where the rubber meets the road” so to speak.
How do you know God is working in the heart of a man? When his heart is turned toward his children and he seeks to love them unconditionally and to consistently lead them in the way of the Lord. How do you know God is working in the heart of a child? When he/she desires to follow the wisdom of his/her parents because they are following the Lord.
I think the same thing can be said about a marriage relationship though God specifically chooses to focus on the parent-child relationship. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it is the fact that the “generation gap” so often makes this relationship especially difficult. Whatever the case, it is obvious that God takes the family seriously and desires His grace, love and righteousness to be manifested in these relationships first and foremost.
What do you do when one side of the relational equation does not want to reconcile or cooperate? You do your part. You pray that God changes the heart of the other person, something you cannot do. And you remember Romans 12:18–Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Lord, keep my heart from turning away from my wife and children. May I see them as my priority here on earth and may I not let the busyness of life or the temptations and distractions of this world pull me away from them.
Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. Let them praise His name with dancing and make music to Him with tambourine and harp. For the LORD takes delight in His people; He crowns the humble with salvation. Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds. (149:3-5)
Why should we rejoice? Why should we be glad? What should we dance? Why should we make joyful music to the LORD? Why should we sing for joy when we wake up and when we go to sleep? For the LORD takes delight in His people and crowns the humble with salvation.
God delights in us. He enjoys us. He desires us. He loves us unconditionally.
We have a hard time simply being loved. Somehow we feel like love must be earned. “God can’t love me for who I am. I must work for it.” Grace really is a hard thing to believe. I like how Michael Card (a Christian songwriter) once put it: “God cannot love us more and will not love us less.”
Who does God delight in? Not the hard-working. Not the great. Not the effective. Not the creative. Not the successful. Not the nice. He delights in the humble–the one who recognizes his weakness, his inadequacy, his dependency, and simply rests in the greatness and mercy of God. This is the heart of a child that Jesus commended. This is the pathway to true joy.
“I can sing because I am loved by the Almighty God. He delights in me and invites me to enjoy His grace and mercy forever.”
Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds, kings of the earth and all people, rulers and judges of the earth, young men and young women, old men and children. (148:7-12)
It is not hard to discern the theme of Psalm 148–”Praise the LORD!” In fact, I count ten times that the command is repeated in the fourteen verses of this psalm. In Hebrew, the command is “hallelujah.”
All of creation is praising the LORD. Everything is made by Him and reflects His glory and His character in some way. Psalm 148 invites us to join this chorus of praise. However, as humans created with free will, we are the one creatures on earth who can choose to ignore and disobey this command.
Scripture makes it clear that we were created to praise God, to worship Him, and if we choose not to worship God, we will inevitably worship something else. We are all worshippers. The perennial question is, “What are we worshipping?” What commands our attention, our energies, our focus, our time, our joy, our love? What is the things that you absolutely want or absolutely cannot live without? These are the things competing for your worship.
As I contemplated this fact this morning, I was struck by how fickle I am, how easily distracted, how easily sidetracked. I dart from one thing to another looking for joy and satisfaction. I know I am called to praise God. I know that praising Him is the place of my ultimate satisfaction. But sometimes I simply do not want to praise Him. I would rather pursue something else for awhile. I am reminded of the words of Paul in the midst of his own spiritual struggle…What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24) We are all in the midst of this struggle and we must choose daily, moment by moment, to praise the Lord.
So what does it mean to praise God? I like acronymns so I challenged myself to think through what it means to praise God using the letters of PRAISE. Here is what I came up with:
To Pray to Him. To pray without ceasing constantly communing with Him in our heart and acknowledging our dependence on Him.
To Reverence Him. To fear Him, to respect Him, to recognize His holiness, His power and His sovereignty.
To Acknowledge Him. To thank Him for His daily gifts of grace.
To Imitate Him. To seek to model His holiness, His love, and His mercy in our daily lives. Since His mercies are new every morning, our mercies should be new every morning, extending grace and forgiveness to those around us.
To Sing to Him. To find good songs of praise and sing them to Him.
To Enjoy Him. To simply rest in His arms and allow ourselves to be loved by Him, to find pleasure in serving Him, following Him, and knowing Him.
When we pray, reverence, acknowledge, imitate, sing, and enjoy Him, we are lifting up His praise with the rest of creation.
Lord, tune my heart to join this chorus of praise today!