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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; His kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”
Then the angel left her.
Luke 1:26-38
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 their 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.
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Luke 2:1-7
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Royal births are a very big deal and throughout history have drawn great fanfare and attention, mostly because they establish continuity in royal succession. And while there was a place of power for women as queens, the prize gender was male, so much so that there was incredible pressure at the time of birth for a boy to be born so to establish an heir to the throne.
Further, these births in days past were actually public events as mothers would deliver their children before crowds of people. While this would seem crazy in our modern times, there were always concerns in the past that perhaps a baby might be swapped out at birth, creating a situation where an illegitimate successor might grow up and into great power.
We should also know that there were dedicated gynecologists in the service of the royals. They could afford the best in care for the expecting mother as she moved toward and through delivery.
Finally, the baby born into royalty would only have the finest of everything. The finest clothes, food, and crib to sleep in would be provided.
With all this in mind, we move to the reason for this special day called Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Jesus. As we see in the verses from the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, His lineage and future were foretold before He was even conceived by the Holy Spirit within a young virgin woman named Mary. Here’s what the angel Gabriel said about the long predicted Messiah:
- He will be great and be called Son of the Most High, the Son of God.
- He would be given the throne of David, the very former king of Israel of which both she and Joseph were in the line of.
- He would reign over Jacob’s descendants (all who descended from the twelve tribes of Israel).
- His kingdom would never end.
We can sum all this up with this truth:
This baby would carry a level of royalty that had never been seen before Him and would never be seen afterwards for all eternity. This is how special and imperial Jesus was and will be forever.
So given all this, Mary would only have the best as she prepared to give birth and her baby Jesus would be born in the most exceptional of accommodations, right?
Not exactly.
For what we know in the scriptures, the pregnancy didn’t hold significance for anyone with the exception of the couple who would parent Him. In fact, no other authorities were aware of His pending birth.
Not the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus who “issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world”.
Not the Roman governor Quirinius who had been placed in power over Syria.
Not King Herod who the Romans had placed in authority over the holy city of Jerusalem.
No, there was no fanfare or excited anticipation of Jesus’ coming. Rather, it was mostly business as usual across Galilee and Judea as Joseph and Mary set out for Bethlehem to Nazareth to register as Caesar Augustus had ordered. It definitely wasn’t something a woman at the end of her pregnancy term should have been doing as the journey was harrowing. It was a trip on foot for seventy to ninety miles, depending on the route taken and this would last anywhere from four to seven days. Perhaps Mary getting all the way to Bethlehem without problems is a miracle in and of itself within this story.
We should note that no one was standing by and ready for Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem. No room had been set aside for the mother who would deliver the very Son of the Most High into the world. In fact, the couple could only find a stable to shelter from the night chill and it was there that “she gave birth to her firstborn, a son”. There was no medical assistance here and we can only assume that Joseph served as her attendant because none of the animals in the stable would have been of any help outside of witnessing the coming of the King of all kings and Lord of all lords.
The scriptures tell us that Mary took the baby King Jesus and “wrapped Him in cloths” before putting Him “in a manger”, what would have been a stone feeding trough for the animals that was probably lined with hay so to provide a cushion for the newborn baby.
And that was that.
God’s one and only Son born in the lowest, humblest circumstances and only a cadre of common shepherds tending their flocks outside the city would receive the news (Luke 2:8-20). Indeed, this King had come for everyone, the poor and the rich and everyone in between. Through Him, God gave His created people the best gift ever, the gift of salvation from the sins that had everyone destined for eternal damnation and torment in Hell.
Today, the Savior of the world is born, the One who rules and reigns in all authority over everything in Heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). Make room in your heart for Him, rejoice in Him with abundant gladness, and celebrate the promise of Heaven found in believing in Him.
Merry CHRISTmas everyone.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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