The Birth of JesusSample

The Census

At the beginning of Luke 2, we read that there was a census taken throughout the Roman world. In the ancient world, a census was an important part of political life and required each male citizen to return to the town of his ancestors to register. In a census, families and lineages were recorded by name for hundreds of thousands of people. This is why Matthew and Luke are able to record Jesus’ genealogy back to David, Abraham, and even back to Adam.

Luke 2:4 tells us that Joseph was a descendant of David, who was from the town of Bethlehem. So Joseph had to set out for the four-day trip to Bethlehem with Mary, who was pregnant. Had this census not required Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem, Mary probably would have given birth in Nazareth. But this change of location, through a seemingly unrelated census, fulfilled another prophecy about the birth of Jesus.

The prophet Micah, much like the prophet Isaiah we learned about yesterday, includes a messianic prophecy in the middle of a declaration of redemption from political oppression. Micah’s prophecy is not about the virgin birth of Jesus, but about its location: Bethlehem in Judea. This is the very location Joseph and Mary traveled to hundreds of years later to take part in a Roman census. How amazing it is that each prophecy about the Messiah’s birth is fulfilled in one person: Jesus Christ!

The Birth of Jesus

While Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem, they could not find a suitable place to stay. There were likely people from all over Israel coming to the town of David, Bethlehem, to register for the census. There was no room in the inn or kind townspeople willing to take in a pregnant woman. And so Mary and Joseph ended up in the stable where Mary gave birth, the least likely place for a king to be born.

But God sent Jesus to be a shepherd of his people, and so his first resting place was in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. Unlike the birth of other kings, Jesus was born without fanfare and without even the dignity of being born in His own home. But this, in a way, was the beginning of Jesus’ ministry on earth: He came to save the lost and the lowly, not the righteous. There is no more fitting birthplace for this King than in the town of his ancestors and in the humility of a stable.

Reflection

What do you imagine giving birth to Jesus in an unfamiliar town’s stable must have been like for Mary? What do you think Joseph thought about all this?