Luke 2:1-2

Posted by DJL on Dec 17, 2012 in Advent Devotions | 1 comment

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

It’s sometimes easy for us to forget that the Evangelists – those Christians who wrote our four gospels – were artists. We get so caught up at times thinking of them as divine recorders, or agents of God’s will, or even holy dictation-takers, that we forget that they were first and foremost faithful artists. Writing – at least writing well – is an art. Words and imagination are the writer’s materials, and grammar, syntax, and style the tools. And the evangelists bent their skills toward the task of shaping and sharing the faith.

Luke was no exception; in fact, he was a master craftsman. Take this passage, for instance, a clear transition to a major part of his account. After setting the stage with stories of the conception and birth of John, and of Gabriel’s visit to Mary and Mary’s to Elizabeth, Luke now moves to another and critical stage of the drama, the birth of Jesus.

And so just as he rooted John’s conception and birth in the history of the region – “In the days of King Herod of Judea…” – so now he places with care the birth of Jesus among the events of the world powers – “In those days a decree when out from the Emperor….”

One could look at this reference, I suppose, as Luke’s attempt to give us clues about the date of Jesus’ birth, or as an effort to establish the historical validity of his account. But I actually think Luke was playing for bigger stakes. I think Luke intended through this careful and stylized introduction, itself written something like a royal decree, to make two confessions.

1) The events he is about to narrate have world significance. Although none of the powers that be will give them any attention, Mary and Joseph’s trek to Bethlehem and Jesus’ birth in a stable will forever change the world.

2) Why? Because God is getting involved once more and most intimately in history. Their history – Mary and Joseph’s, and Quirinius and Augustus’ history. And our history. God is coming in the person of Jesus, the helpless babe born in Bethlehem, to be joined to us – our ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies, hopes and fears — once and for all and forever.

And so Luke starts this most tender of scenes in the Bible with an artist’s rhetorical flair and a first-century historian’s pedagogical intent to make two confessions that might just as easily have been conveyed in three simple words: “Look out, World.”

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for the Evangelists, for their faith, their courage, and their art. As we read their stories kindle our faith and spur our hearts to share the good news of the birth of your Son. In Jesus’ name, Amen.