An Unexpected ChristmasSample

Day 4: The Census

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. (Luke 2:1–3)

Nothing seems less Christmas-y than a census. 

But there it is—right in the middle of the Christmas story—a government-issued decree that a head count should be taken of the entire Roman world. And, unfortunately for Mary and Joseph, the Roman Empire didn’t make exceptions for pregnant-and-ready-to-give-birth-at-any-moment young women. 

If I had to guess, Mary was deep in the nesting phase of her pregnancy. She probably had Jesus’s room or at least his crib ready. She probably had made clothing, organized the baby supplies, and imagined her first child in their humble home. It’s even possible she had chosen the group of people who would be with her while she was giving birth, including a midwife to help her through labor. 

And then, the census happened. 

All of Mary’s plans went out the window. It seemed so unexpected, so out of the blue. Why did Caesar Augustus need to know the number of people in his kingdom right now? Why did they have to travel to Bethlehem right now? It surely seemed that the Roman government was working against God’s plan for them. But little did they know that this was exactly what God planned centuries before. We find one of the prophecies about Jesus’s birth in Micah 5.

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times… He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be our peace.”

Mary and Joseph couldn’t see like we can how God was working to fulfill his promise to the world, how he used an emperor and a census to put Jesus in Bethlehem. The trip to Bethlehem was no babymoon for Mary and Joseph. But it proved to be one of the countless ways God would show the world that this baby, the one taken to another city because of a census, was the Savior of the World. 

So, when there’s a snag in your plans this Christmas season and what might feel like the thousandth snag this year, take a moment and remember that sometimes the Lord works outside of our plans to fulfill his own. Remember Caesar Augustus and all the government employees God chose to use in his plans to assure us of his sovereignty. Rest in the fact that he uses all things together for good, even when it doesn’t make sense to us.

After all, this is not what Mary and Joseph would have chosen for the birth of their first child. But the census was divine.

And that is most certainly Christmas-y.