Good News: The Savior Is Born—Lectionary Reflection for Christmas A (Luke 2)

Luke 2:1-14 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

 

2 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ All went to their own towns to be registered. ⁴ Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. ⁵ He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.

⁸ Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹ to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,

    and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

************

                As I pondered writing this reflection, I realized that this Christmas Eve (2022) will be the first time in a quarter century that I won’t be preaching. I have a role in a Christmas Eve service, but I’ll not be sharing my usual message. Nevertheless, the good news will be shared. This night the Savior is born, just as Luke has been reminding us for nearly two millennia. When we think of Christmas, it is Luke’s version that speaks most clearly. Matthew also has an infancy narrative, but he focuses on different elements. Our creche scenes may merge the two, but they have different emphases. Even though Matthew is the appointed Gospel in Year A, it’s Luke that we turn to (on Christmas morning the prologue of John is the appointed Gospel). We will have to wait for later to hear from Matthew about the visit of the Magi and Herod’s terrorist attack on the little town of Bethlehem.

                Luke needs to get the Holy Family to Bethlehem so Jesus can be born in the city of David. According to Luke, Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary, are living in Nazareth in Galilee. So, Luke has the Holy Family travel to Joseph’s ancestral home of Bethlehem in Judea. This census has been ordered by Caesar Augustus, while Quirinius was governor in Syria. Historically, Quirinius was appointed governor in 6 CE and was given control of Judea after the banishment of Herod Archelaus in the same year. It was in that year that the governor did order a census, but it’s unlikely that this would have required that people travel to their ancestral homes. The dates are a bit off as well, especially if we consider Matthew’s references to Herod’s rule. Thus, the census is problematic. That is if we get stuck on the historical part of things. While Luke wants to root Jesus’ birth in history, we may have to set that aside if we’re going to hear a word for us today. It is also appropriate to remember that this census did cause political unrest. Ultimately, this is a reminder that Luke wants to contrast Jesus with Augustus, who claims to be the Lord and Savior of the World.

                The story, as told by Luke, begins with a census that leads the Holy Family from their home in Nazareth to the city of David, Bethlehem. He took Mary with him, though she was expecting a child, so he could register. Once there, Mary gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth and then laid him in a manger.  That is because there wasn’t any lodging available. The typical creche scene pictures the family staying out in the stable with the animals, though what Luke has in mind is rather unclear. We often hear about there not being room in the inn, but it’s unlikely Bethlehem had an inn. Thus, they might have sought shelter in a guest room in a private home. While the manger is mentioned no animals are mentioned, so we’re left wondering where they would have stayed.

                The next piece in the story takes us from the birth of the holy child in Bethlehem out into the fields nearby. There in the fields, shepherds were tending sheep in the night. While they were doing their work, an angel appeared. Not only that but the “glory of the Lord shone around them.” In other words, the sky opened up and their field was filled with the light that is God’s glory. Luke tells us they were terrified. It’s a natural response, and a common one in Scripture. Divine visitations don’t come every day so when they do come you likely won’t be prepared for it. With that, we hear one of the most common phrases in the Bible. The angel tells the shepherds: “Do not be afraid.” Here’s the reason—the angel has good news to share. Can you hear that sigh of relief on the part of the shepherds? All of this light and sound and such is a sign not of divine judgment but “good news of great joy.”

                The good news the angel brings the shepherds has to do with the birth of a child in the city of David. That child is the Savior, Messiah, and Lord. It’s not Caesar and it’s not a Zealot, it’s a newborn child. They’re told to go to Bethlehem where they’ll find this sign of God’s new work. There they’ll find the “child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

                As they were taking in this message, a “multitude of the heavenly host” joined the angel and together they began singing: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” That is the story of Christmas. A child was born in Bethlehem. Angels preach and sing about the birth of the Savior so that the word can begin spreading.

                Now, we might want to read beyond verse 14, which is where the shepherds travel to Bethlehem to pay their respects to the newborn child (Lk 2:15-20). Here is where we see a major difference between Luke and Matthew. In Matthew, the visitors to the place of the Savior’s birth are magi from the east (the three kings of musical fame). The magi bring expensive gifts to honor a king (Mt. 2:1-12). Shepherds couldn’t bring frankincense, gold, and myrrh. That was far beyond what they could afford, as they were likely living in poverty.  Nevertheless, in Luke’s telling, it was shepherds who attended to the child, offering their words of praise and encouragement to the Holy Family.  So, when Mary heard all the shepherds reported to her, Luke tells us that “she treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart (Lk 2:19). Even as the magi returned home after making their pilgrimage in Matthew, Luke’s shepherds returned to their fields. Having seen this child with their own eyes, they now glorified and gave praise to God.  

                Mary’s response to all of this is intriguing. Luke tells us that she treasured these things in her heart. That sentence has led some to believe that she shared this story with Luke. After all, who would Luke have learned this story from? Historical critical studies would suggest that Luke created the story, but for a moment we might suspend judgment and ponder what it might have been like to be Mary at that moment. The messages we hear in the first two chapters speak of the birth of a most unique child. According to what we learn in chapter 1 of the Gospel, an angel told Mary that she had found favor with God and would give birth to the Son of the Most High who would receive David’s throne and that he would reign over the house of Jacob forever (Lk 1:26-35). She had wondered how this might happen, and now it had come to pass (according to Luke’s telling). We can quibble about the details, but the story is meant to highlight the messiahship of Jesus. Mary has an important part to play in this story.

                So, here on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, we hear again the story of the first Christmas, when Christ the Lord was born in Bethlehem. So, we sing carols to celebrate the glory of that moment. Yes, “Angels, from the realms of glory, . . . you who sang creation’s story, now proclaim Messiah’s birth.” As for the “Shepherds, in the fields abiding, watching o’er your flocks by night, God with us is now residing, yonder shines the infant light: Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn King.”  (James Montgomery, 1816).

Image Attribution: Nativity with the Annunciation to the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Shepherds, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58369 [retrieved December 18, 2022]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:4_Jacopo_di_Cione_Polyptych_San_Pier_Maggiore,_detail._1370-71_London_NG.jpg.