✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
The Word of the Lord Endures Forever
Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum
Luke 2,1-20 0512
Christvesper 05
Adam and Eve
25. Dezember 2014
1. O Well-beloved Emmanuel, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Highest, and Son of the Virgin, we give thanks unto You that, You have come to us from the Father’s throne into this misery below, taking upon Yourself our flesh and blood, so that we might be made partakers of Your own Divine nature. Now, indeed, has the Heavenly Father shared His loving heart with us; and in You is His wrath appeased. By Your holy birth, we are born again unto heaven, and You have become the veritable gateway of heaven for us; and by You we have access unto the Father, and abundant entrance into Your reign. O then help, Dear Lord, Gracious Emmanuel, so that we may rightly realize the mystery of Your revelation in our flesh (Löhe 448-50). Amen.
2. And the angels said to the shepherds: „Fear not, for behold, I bring you the gospel of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be sign for you: you will find a Baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.“ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: „Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!“
3. It was standard administrative procedure for the Roman Empire on a regular basis to call for a registration in all their provinces in the form of a census. The reason for this was quite simple: the emperor wanted to know how many citizens and subjects lived in his provinces so that they could all be taxed. The latest historical research indicates that the census referred to in Luke 2 was authorized in the spring or summer of 3 B.C. (Steinmann 241-42).
4. „The census is more important that it might appear. Luke … includes information about the census to give historical reasons for Joseph going from Galilee to Bethlehem. By describing this movement, … Luke shows both that Old Testament prophecy is fulfilled and that it is the Davidic lineage of Joseph that is the reason for the trip“ (Just 106). Luke furthermore indicates that the Holy Family has been in Bethlehem for some time. It would be far easier to make the 90-mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem while Mary was in the early months of her pregnancy. Mary arrived in the region of Bethlehem shortly after she miraculously conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Luke, you remember, tells us that when Mary heard from the Archangel Gabriel that her older cousin, Elizabeth, was also expecting her first child, that Mary straightaway went to visit Elizabeth, who lived near Bethlehem in one of the many small villages dotting the Judean hillside, and in fact remained with her for three months, at which time Elizabeth gave birth to John sometime in June, who would be known as „the Baptizer“. When John was born, Mary would be about three months pregnant, and it would be reasonable for her to just remain near Bethlehem until her own son was born. (Luke 1,56 says Mary returned not to Nazareth, but to „her home“.) It is also probable that Mary, along with other relatives, would have served as midwives and wet-nurses for Elizabeth, who in turn would do the same for Mary when her time arrived to give birth. Joseph may have joined Mary at a later date in Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus, or it is very plausible that Joseph and Mary travelled together, with Joseph securing lodging at the home of one of his relatives in Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary might have stayed with Zechariah and Elizabeth, since they were relatives. Joseph could have offered his carpentry services to local merchants in the region of Bethlehem while Mary helped Elizabeth for three months. Or perhaps when Mary was ready to return to Nazareth the Imperial decree for the census was issued and she remained in Bethlehem with relatives while Joseph made the trip south to be with her. Either way, the romanticized version of Mary and Joseph making a last minute dash down to Bethlehem while she is nine months pregnant and the frantic search for a place to stay is certainly not the way events unfolded in the Bible.
5. Gone, too, must be the image of a miserly, Scrooge-like innkeeper, turning away the family because he has no vacancy, because the common English translation of the text with „inn“ is a bad translation, for it was not an inn but in reality an upper room in a simple, peasant Bethlehem home. The manger was not located in a separate barn or stable. In the average Palestinian village, the house was, and still is, a two-room structure. One room was exclusively for guests and was an additional room built onto the main room or it could be situated on the flat roof of the home; this guest room was often called the upper room. The main room was the family room which served as kitchen, dining room, living room and bedroom. The front part of this main room, the area nearest the front door, was designated what we would consider a stall. At night, the animals were brought into this portion of the main room to stay warm and also secured them from thieves. At dawn, the animals were taken out to the yard and the stall area swept and cleaned. This stall area was blocked off with heavy timbers and the demarcation line from where the animals stayed and the family stayed were one or more mangers, either moveable wooden crib-like structures or stone troughs carved directly out of the stone floor. These mangers served as feeding troughs with hay or grass and they were also used as cribs for any infants in the household. The added benefit of having the animals in this stall area was that they kept the room much warmer, which was ideal for infants and young children. It was not uncommon to find the children snuggled next to one of the family’s goats, lambs, or donkeys at night.
6. Luke’s description, then, of Jesus’ accommodations reveals that Joseph would have secured room and board for his family well in advance of their arrival to Bethlehem for the census. Since he had relatives in the city, Joseph and Mary would stay at one of their houses in the upper guest room. This is the very room that could not accommodate Mary and Joseph because other relatives were already staying in the guest room. So when Mary gave birth, they proceeded to the stall area where the women would act as midwives. Jesus would be placed in one of the available mangers with fresh hay for a mattress, wrapped in swaddling clothes as was common among peasants in the villages and the animals would be led to lay around the manger to give the infant Jesus additional warmth and comfort. All in all, warm hospitality extended and received in love.
7. All this, however, is merely the setting for the great and wonderful event of Jesus’ birth. Such Palestinian familial hospitality is how Yahweh intended to dwell with us. Yahweh has an immanent and incarnational relationship with mankind. He is never far away, and He often makes His presence known. God’s incarnate Son had been promised to men and women since Adam and Eve fell into sin, were subsequently expelled from Yahweh’s presence and denied access to the tree of life. Mankind’s history since the Fall has been a history of depravity, plague and warfare. Man’s inhumanity to man is well-documented both in the pages of Holy Scripture and the annals of historians. We only need to reminisce the past one hundred years to realize mankind has not created a utopia, but has continued building a hellish, rebellious regime in direct challenge to God’s rule and reign. We are all sinners whose sinfulness blights God’s wonderful creation with the rotting stench of our sins.
8. Into this war-torn hellhole of human existence, God the Father fittingly sends His majestic angelic choir to a group of shepherds. These men and boys were not well-educated or wealthy, but they were hard-working, blue-collar folk who tirelessly took care of sheep, goats or cattle. They had an earthy smell and dirt under their fingernails. In Jesus’ day, shepherds were despised by the wealthy and educated in Jerusalem as simple peasants whose vocation was not very respected. To people such as these, our Heavenly Father sent forth the first jubilant announcement that the Christ had been born. How fitting that God sends Bethlehem shepherds to see the Son of God who is King David’s heir, David who had spent his youth shepherding his father’s animals.
9. Into our war-mongoring, God-denying world the promised Christ Child is born. He is the single light of hope and salvation in the midst of a dark, storm-tossed world. That single light of Christ, however, is so penetrating and piercing, that the very heavens erupt in joy as the spiritual veil is torn asunder and the heavenly choir of angels announce in wondrous song the birth of the Savior, who is Christ the Lord. The Prophet Micah described Jesus this way: »You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you will come forth for Me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. And He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the Name of the Yahweh His God. And they will dwell secure, for now He will be great to the ends of the earth. And He will be their peace« (5,2.4-5).
10. Luke simply records the fulfillment of the Prophet Micah with these words: »And while Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped Jesus in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the upper room.« This single event changed the course of human history. Luke tells us how Jesus’ birth not only effected the destinies of simple peasants, like the shepherds, but also reverberated all the way back to Rome and made powerful rulers tremble in either fear or worship. Yes, this Child would grow into manhood and He would tear down the very strongholds of hell, route the devil, and undo death itself. Truly the angelic choir’s song has reverberated through the annals of history: »Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth and goodwill toward people!«
11. This glory of God is the little Lord Jesus who was born in Bethlehem. He is both the very Son of God and the Son of Man. Jesus is the Lamb of God, who is surrounded by lambs and shepherds, who arrived in the world in the manger at Bethlehem, who later exchanged the wood of His manger for the wood of the cross where at Calvary laid down His life for your sins and sinfulness. He has risen, He lives, and is returning again on the last day, appearing to open for us the pearly gates of heaven. „Jesus alone is the Savior and no one else, He calls you and me to Him. Blessed is everyone, who hears His Name and along with the shepherds adore Him all their life“ (Wenz 3).
12. A venerable 17th century Gerhardt hymn describes this holy day this way:
O Jesu Christ,
dein Krippe ist
Mein Paradies, da meine Seele weidet.
Hier ist der Ort,
hier liegt das Wort
mit unserm Fleisch persönlich angekleidet.
Du höchstes Gut
hebst Fleisch und Blut
zu deinem Thron hoch über alle Höhen.
Du ewge Kraft
machst Brüderschaft
mit uns, die wie ein Dampf und Rauch vergehen (ELKG 412 §1,3).
O Jesus Christ,
Your manger is
My paradise, where my soul feeds upon.
the place is there,
the Word is here
with our flesh personally put on.
O Jesus Christ,
Your manger is
My paradise at which my soul reclines.
For there, O Lord,
Does lie the Word
Made flesh for us; herein Your grace forth shines (LSB 372 §1).
You are the greatest good
lift Your flesh and blood
to Your throne high above all the heights.
Your eternal might
does us fraternity brotherhood
with us, which vanishes like steam and smoke.
13. The very Son of God was incarnate in the virgin Mary, taken into His Godhood human flesh and was born in the city of David. Christ birth brings peace from God to you for He is born to be your Redeemer from sin and the devil. In Christ, you have peace, joyous peace. Rejoice and be merry, for unto you this day we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
14. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, Born this day our Savior, on this day appears to us which God has sanctified. Help us to see this glorious gospel in Word and Carol which proclaims that today the Great Light descends upon the earth, so that we can rejoice in all things and give thanks to You who is the greatest gift given to us by our Heavenly Father. Amen.
To God alone be the Glory
Soli Deo Gloria
✠
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
Bailey, Kenneth. Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes. IVP Academic © 2008.
Gerhardt, Paul. „O Jesu Christ, Dein Krippe ist“ (O Jesus Christ, Your Manger Is). Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2005 Lutherischen Buchhandlung. Translation © 2009 The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind.
Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.
Steinmann, Andrew E. From Abraham to Paul: A Biblical Chronology. Copyright © 2011 Andrew E. Steinmann.
Wenz, Armin. A sermon preached on 24. December 2008 (Christmas Eve Night) in Oberursel, Germany on Luke 2,1-14. Copyright © 2008 The Rev. Dr. Armin Wenz. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2009.
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