Births in unusual places are not new. We’ve heard of births in the shower or in the bathroom, or births in the taxi, where the taxi driver is perhaps asked to do more than simply drive fast. There have been recent births on the median strip or in an airport. Sometimes the mum doesn’t even get to the airport, and the baby is born in the plane. There are births on the train, or on train platforms. I even read about a mum giving birth in a tree. She was up there for four days because of floods in Mozambique. The medic who was winched down to pick up mother and baby got to cut the cord. You can read these sort of stories on the internet. And you can understand how they happen in our world
But sometimes we might shake our heads. What were the parents thinking? But what about the ones born in an airplane. It wasn’t exactly the right time to take a flight, now was it? And we can understand it if the people are poor. The poor lady up a tree couldn’t do anything.
But surely if someone important was born, someone special, the son of a king or president or a rich man, there would be no such problems. Surely a rich and powerful person would have all the doctors, the midwives, the nurses, the medical experts, all on hand. They wouldn’t need to go to hospital. Hospital would come to them. No need for travel. The best of their medical expenses
And yet, when we come to the long awaited Messiah, the one called the Son of God, the One born who made and who sustains the world, we find the sort of apparent incompetence that we read in the internet stories. No carefully managed pregnancy and birth, but a long hard journey where the woman finds no birthing unit or no medical expert, and has to make do in the situation in which she finds herself.
But we would be wrong if we thought there was no hand guiding this birth. For while the story is one of a poor young mum unable to find appropriate accommodation to give birth to her baby, God is in complete control. Every step of her birth journey was planned and calculated in minute detail, and not one of those details will fail. And we know that though it is an unusual birth story, the end result will be, ‘Mother and baby are both doing well!’
Caesar Augustus, emperor of the Roman empire, declares a Census. This was most likely for tax purposes. And so Joseph, being from the family of King David, returned to his home town. Obeying the government, Joseph returned to his ancestral property. And this involved a long trip for he and his wife, from Nazareth in Galilee, to Bethlehem in the mountains of Judah. An interstate journey before cut price airfares. The bible doesn’t say anything about donkeys, so it is possible that Mary had some pretty tough hill climbs to get to Bethlehem.
And when she gets to Bethlehem, she finds that the guest room is taken. It is probable that the ‘inn’ actually was the upstairs guest room of a family member’s house. And lots of people had arrived before. First come first served. No special privileges, even if you are pregnant. Even if you are about to give birth to the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer of the world. And so Mary and Joseph have to make do.
We actually don’t know what sort of building Mary gave birth in. It might have been a cave. So the church of the Nativity in Jerusalem is located on the site of a former cave. Or it might have been on the ground floor of a two storey house. The upper floor was for sleeping, but the ground floor might well have been for the animals to come in at night.
Nevertheless, this is the picture that we are given. The one of whom the angel Gabriel said:
He will be great and will be called ‘Son of the Most High’, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and his Kingdom will never end.
This one can’t even find enough space to be born in a guest room in his ancestral town. He might be promised the throne of his Father David. But he hasn’t been promised a crib. And so his young mother Mary wraps him up in cloths. We might call them strips of rags. And lays him down in a farm animals feeding trough.
This tells us something about the King of the Universe, doesn’t it? He is humble. He might be King David’s Heir, the Son of God himself, who will rule over an eternal Kingdom. But this doesn’t mean he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. For this King was born to be the Suffering Servant. The way to the throne of his Father David is through suffering. The way to the crown is through the Cross. And while he is Christ the Lord from birth, he will be declared the Son of God with power through his resurrection from the dead. (Romans 1:4) He will pass through many troubled waters, before he takes his seat on the throne of his birthright.
Now, who would we expect as the first visitors? Who are the first ones to pay their respects? Royalty? Political leaders – Presidents and Prime Ministers. Religious leaders? Celebrities and the famous and the rich?
What about sheep herders? Of no fixed address. Uneducated, unkempt, unshaven, unwashed. More like Stryder out of Lord of the Rings than little Bow Peep Who Lost her Sheep and Doesn’t know where to find them. More like the Drover, Hugh Jackman, or Wolverine. Tough, hardened, Poor, Probably Armed. Used to fighting either robbers or wild animals. They were the equivalent of Armaguard officers or Nightclub bouncers in our modern city culture.
To them, an Angel announces the birth. And at the sight of one Angel, these burly bouncers were terrified. Just shows how scary angels really are. Sometimes we think, ‘If I saw an angel, then I’d know it was all real’. But remember, most of the time someone sees an angel, they are terrified. It is a kindness to us that God speaks to us through one of us.
And the message of the angels to the shepherds is this? Page 12, 3rd paragraph, half way through.
Do not be afraid. Listen, I am here to bring you news of great joy, which is for all the people, which is for all the people. Today, a Saviour has been born to you in the city of David. He is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign for you – you will find a child wrapped up in strips of cloth and lying in a food trough.
The angel, the announcer, came to announce the news. The angel came to evangelise the shepherds. There is good news of great joy. A long awaited Son has been born. He is the long promised Son of David, the King of Israel who was to come. That is why he was born in Bethlehem, the city in which David was born. Because even though this birth has all the appearance of lack of organization and incompetent management, God himself has been orchestrating events to the last footstep, planning this birth to the last detail.
This child is called three things.
First, he is called a Saviour. He is a rescuer. He came to save people who need rescuing. That is you and me. And the question is, ‘From what do we need rescuing?’ A soldier or the SAS rescues from the enemy or the terrorist. A fireman rescues from fires or car accidents. A surf life saver rescues from the waves, or sharks. An environmental warrior rescues from harpooning, or climate change, or deforestation, or something like that. A knight rescues from brigands, vagabonds, bandits and dragons.
But from what does Jesus rescue from. What does Jesus the Saviour save from. And the answer is simple. Our sins. As Matthew 1:21 tells us, ‘You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins’. Our sins is what we need to be saved from. Because our sins have made God angry. God is angry with us because he hates the sinful things we think and say and do. We deserve to be sent to Hell for the things we think and say and do. And you think, ‘Hey, that’s a bit harsh. Surely that’s not true. Typical Christian overstatement once again. We make normal human mistakes, stupid things that everybody says and does at some point, thinks something that everyone somewhere has thought. And Christians go on a downer, hell fire and brimstone to scare the gullible into their church.'
But why else did Jesus have to die? If there was another way for us to be rescued from sin and death and hell, do you think God would have sent Jesus to die? If we could get to heaven by being good, by trying a bit harder, do you think God would have sacrificed his only Son? If there was another way for us to be given eternal life, don’t you think God the Father would have listened to Jesus his only Son’s tear stained pleas as he faced the cross, ‘Father, if it is possible, take this cup from me.’
Jesus came to do something that we couldn’t do, and endure hell instead of us, so that we don’t have to, if we give him our allegiance. And Jesus’ whole life will be about just what his name means. His name means ‘Yahweh saves’. And his name will be Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.
The second title is ‘Christ’. This is not Jesus’ surname, as if Mr and Mrs Christ have now had a son, Jesus Christ. It is a title, like President Obama, Prime Minister Rudd, Queen Elizabeth, Master Yoda. It comes from the word ‘Annoint’. It means ‘Annointed One’. A synonym is Messiah. And it was used of Israel’s Kings, whose coronation involved being anointed with oil. And about the time of Jesus’ birth, because there was no King of Israel, but foreigners ruled over them, it came to be used for the King God promised who will restore the Dynasty of David and Return the Kingdom to Israel. And that is who Jesus is, ‘the Christ’.
And the third title is Lord. This means Master or Boss. This word was actually used for God, as the ultimate Master or Lord, who controls all things by his powerful word, and who has the right to tell us what to do, to command our obedience. We owe him our allegiance, trust and obedience. We must submit to him, do homage to him, and do everything he commands with the utmost punctiliousness and attentiveness. To give him the fear that is due to him as the one who can shatter superpowers like old pottery. And that is what it means for Jesus to be Lord.
Is he these three things for you? Saviour, Messiah, Lord. He cannot be one without the other. He must be all three. You cannot claim him as Saviour without submitting to him as Lord. You cannot assert that he is the Lord you serve without allowing him to serve you as your Saviour. Jesus Christ is both Saviour and Lord.
And what is the proper response to the Saviour, Messiah and Lord? It is to do what these shepherds do. For what do these security guards, these round the clock on call property protectors do at the news? They abandon their posts. They leave their flocks and herds, potentially incurring the anger of their masters and being liable for any losses suffered. They drop everything, because something more important than sheep and property has happened. And they go quickly. They hurry off a couple of miles into the town.
They hunt out this new child. They know what to look for. An unusual unexpected sight. A baby laying in a farm animals feeding trough. What do you expect, I guess. He was born into an animals food trough. He died on a Roman cross outside the city. The words ‘humble’ or ‘meek’ doesn’t quite capture either his entry into life nor his death, from our modern perspective. It actually seems be heading towards words like ‘disrespectful’, or ‘careless’ or even ‘negligent’, by our modern concern about hygiene and cleanliness and protecting baby from nasty germs.
Where’s the baby? 'Oh, he’s just here with me. I’ve laid him down on the bottom of the budgies cadge. I found this old disused fish tank, so I’ve used that. Because we didn’t have much you see. Joe and I walked all the way from Newcastle yesterday. But you can’t get a bed for love nor money at the moment. But don’t worry, it’s OK, I’ve wrapped him up in some ripped up old sheets that I’ve found.' And your visitors say, ‘How nice. Ahh… you just sit there while I go outside and ring DOCS.’
But these big burly blokes, at the bottom of Bethlehem’s society, who sleep under the stars and fight lions and bears and livestock rustlers for a living, crowd around, and tell Mary and Joseph about the gospel that they heard. Jesus is Saviour, Messiah and Lord. And they have dropped everything to be a part of the story.
Have you done what the shepherds have done? Have you dropped everything, and left your own pursuits and cares and concerns to find out about Jesus, the Saviour, Messiah and Lord. Have you abandoned your life and your lifestyle to come to Jesus to be your Saviour and to submit to him as your Master? People all through this little book, The Essential Jesus, which is Luke’s Gospel, are doing that very thing. In chapter 5, professional fishermen leave their boats and nets to follow him (p20). A tax collector leaves the money he is counting, and follows him (p21). In chapter 9, Jesus says it’s more important to follow him then bury your Father. Or that it’s more important to follow him than say goodbye to your family (p35). Or like the sister Mary, it is more important to sit and listen to Jesus, than like Martha, and be busy and stressed about all the preparations that need to be made when all these people come over.
Is not today a good day to be like the Shepherds, to drop everything so that we can treat Jesus properly as Saviour, Messiah and Lord, to drop everything else that gets in the ways so that we can accept him for who he is as Saviour and Lord? May today be the good day to do this?