The Nativity Story
Luke 2:1-21
Advent Series 4
Pastor Brian
Fort Bend Community Church
2023.12.24
Pastor Brian
Fort Bend Community Church
2023.12.24
Christmas Sunday Joint Service
Introduction
Good morning. Today is Christmas Sunday and also Christmas Eve. We celebrate the birth of our Savior. On this day, the church, for 2,000 years, reads the nativity story from Luke 2:1-21, which Minister Renshi has read verses 1-7 in Chinese for us.
We all know the story very well. We hear it so many times. However, I invite you to hear the story again today from Luke’s perspective. Let us pay attention to the story’s details, not just the actions or the end. Listen to what Luke says, how Luke tells the story, and what he wants us to do.
First, Luke uses a literary device called step parallelism to present the infancy narrative. Take turns between John the Baptist’s birth and Jesus’s birth in parallel: John, Jesus, then goes back to John, and then Jesus again. He wants to contrast the two and show that Jesus is a step higher. He will be great, and He is the Son of the Most High (1:32). He comes to fulfill God’s promise of a Savior, the Messiah. The anticipation of Jesus’s birth as the Savior has reached fruition with the birth of the forerunner, John the Baptist, at the end of Luke chapter 1 (57-80).
In chapter 2, Luke uses twenty-one verses to tell the story of the birth of Christ. He uses the same step-parallelism to contrast the humble birth and the extraordinary Christ. He is a step higher. I want to share two points with you.
1. The humble birth, 2:1-7. The birth is so ordinary and humble. It is hardly recognizable. Nothing is special. Nothing really there to tell.
2. The extraordinary Christ. 2:8-21. Heaven sent Jesus to earth. The mood changed. The humble birth is the good news of mega joy for all people. The extraordinary Christ is to be told to the world. This is what Luke wants us to do.
The Lukan birth story is presented in nine scenes. It is like watching a movie. It has nine scenes. Children, if you have a drawing template, please draw a picture for each of the nine scenes in the boxes. Return it to us next Sunday, and you will get ten Bible bucks.
Part 1: The Humble Birth has three scenes.
1. Setting, 1-3
2. Journey to Bethlehem, 4-5
3. Humble birth, 6-7
Part 2: The Extraordinary Christ has six scenes, stepping up in contrast to Part 1.
4. Lowly shepherds, 8
5. Angelic announcement, 9-12
6. Heavenly Praise, 13-14
7. Shepherds’ response, 15-17
8. Astonishment, remembrance, and praise, 18-20
9. Naming of Jesus at circumcision, 21
Now, let us listen to the nativity story according to Luke.
Part 1: The Humble Birth, 1-7
Scene 1: Setting, 1-3
2:1 In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree to register the whole world for taxes.
Luke places Jesus in the perspective of world history. Children, you can draw a picture of the world. The whole world（天下）refers to the Roman Empire. Caesar Augustus ruled over the world. Luke portrays Augustus as the unknowing agent of God, whose decree leads to the fulfillment of the promised ruler from Bethlehem (Micah 5:1-2).
2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all would register themselves, each to their cities.
Luke tells us the time frame in verse 2. The time was around 6 to 4 B.C., during the first of the two recorded registrations when Quirinius was governor of Syria. The census was for tax purposes by headcount. If tax is $10 per person, a family of three must pay $30 in taxes. Therefore, all must register. All needed to pay taxes. No exception. Each goes back to his town to be counted.
Scene 2: Journey to Bethlehem, 4-5
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
Children, you can draw a picture of Joseph and Mary on their journey to Bethlehem.
Luke introduces the story’s characters (人物）: Joseph and Mary are all little people. They never said a word in Luke’s birth narrative.
First, Joseph:
Luke did not say much about him. The only description was that he was the descendant of David, of the house and lineage of David. Bethlehem is David’s hometown. Luke repeated twice that Bethlehem is the City of David (4, 11).
Luke said he went UP from Galilee to Judea and Nazareth to Bethlehem. The journey is an upclimb from the flat land of Galilee to the Judean mountains. Joseph was with Mary, his betrothed engaged, but not married wife.
The second character is Mary.
The description is even shorter. Mary was with a child. Luke described Mary as very pregnant. The journey to Bethlehem was not an easy one up the hill. Mary was heavily pregnant. The 90-100-mile journey took at least a few days.
In Luke’s account, Joseph and Mary were ordinary people. Little people. There was nothing special about them. You will not recognize them even when you see them.
Bethlehem, the city they must go to, was a little town six miles south of Jerusalem in Judea. 300 to 1,000 people at most. Much smaller than one subdivision in Missouri City. The subdivision I live in has 800 homes. Bethlehem was just 10-30% of the size of my subdivision—a tiny town. Theologian Carson thinks it did not even have a motel for visitors because it was so small.
1. Little people
2. Little town
Scene 3 is the Humble Birth, 6-7.
6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
Children draw a picture of the baby Jesus.
The baby came at an inopportune time. Joseph and Mary were on the road. Like today, the mother must give birth on the ride to the hospital because the baby is coming out. You can not stop him. We all know that babies come in their own time. If he wants to come out, it does not matter where you are.
7 And she gave birth to her firstborn Son, wrapped him up, and laid him in a feed trough because there was no place for them in the guest room.
The birth was described in amazing, simple terms. There was no place for them in the guest room. There was no hotel, no Airbnb. There is not even a guest room in any house. They ended up staying in a shared room with the animals. Most likely, it was in a Jewish house.
Here is a first-century Jewish house. Typically, the bottom floor was a place for the most valuable animals to be housed. In the first century, people lived with their animals. The top floor was the primary residence for the family and always included an “upper room” that would serve as a guest room for visitors. There was no place for them in the guest room because of the census, and the town was so small. So, they stayed in a shared room with the animals on the lower level.
Now imagine with me. The room was crowded with animals. Cows, sheep, donkeys, and maybe even chickens. It was a dirt floor, not a concrete floor. No sanitation. No utility. No air-conditioning. It was dirty and cold.
Mary gave birth to her firstborn Son. “It is a boy!” “It is a boy!” The Savior of the world, the chosen One, Christ the Messiah, and our Lord, was born in a shared room with the animals.
He was wrapped up in cloths. Why do people wrap up a newborn baby? Today, we do the same. It is because we need to protect the baby’s limbs. Any wrong move will break his tiny limbs. The newborn baby Jesus was so human. The human baby is so fragile, unable to do anything.
He was laid in a feeding trough.
According to Luke, the birth of the Savior was ordinary and humble. There was no fanfare. No firecrackers. Nothing special. It happened in a tiny town with little people sharing a dirty room with the animals. He was wrapped up and laid in a feeding trough. The birth was humble, yet the baby was extraordinary. This is how Luke set up his narrative in contrast.
Part two of the story was a major step up. The humble birth steps up to the extraordinary Christ.
Part 2. THE EXTRAORDINARY CHRIST 8-21
The scene shifted to the shepherds outdoors at night, about two miles away in the Judea wilderness.
8 And there were shepherds in that region who lived outdoors and kept guard over their flocks by night.
Children, you can draw a picture of the shepherds tending to their sheep at night.
The shepherds are characterized as lowly and ordinary commoners. They were not despised people, as many commentators claimed. Shepherds in the Bible are primarily positive, even describing church leaders in the New Testament as shepherds. Abraham, Moses, and David were all shepherds in the Old Testament. They picture the lowly and humble who respond to the extraordinary Christ.
The shepherds were the first responders in the birth narrative. Remember what the angel said? “Today, for you, a Savior is born.” (11). The shepherds went out hurriedly and found Jesus. Maybe on the same night or the next day. They were the first group of people to respond to the extraordinary Christ. These shepherds were amazing.
Scene 5: Angelic Announcement, 9-12
9 And an angel of the Lord stood near them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were afraid.
First, there was one angel: the angel of the Lord. Children, you can draw an angel of the Lord standing near the shepherds.
Of all the pictures I found on the internet, this one is a lot closer to the description of Luke. The angel of the Lord, one angel, stood NEAR the shepherds, making the announcement.
The angelic announcement is a type-scene （典型場景）. It is the third such announcement scene in Luke. (to Zechariah, 1:5-25; to Mary 1:26-38; and to the shepherds, 2:10-12). The type-scene has five parts.
1. The appearance of the angel of the Lord, 9a
2. The shepherds were afraid, 9b. Who will not?
3. The message, 10-11
4. The shepherds were the only group in the three birth announcements who did not object to or question the announcement.
5. A sign is given 12
The message: 10-11
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not fear, for behold, I proclaim good news to you of great joy, which is for all the people.
The announcement contains three descriptions. I proclaim good news to you of great joy, which is for all the people.
1. The announcement is good news, not bad news. Another translation of the word good news is Gospel 福音. Our Gospel is the good news. When we share the Gospel, we are sharing the good news. The verb form of the Gospel is to evangelize, Lukan’s favorite word. Today, we share the good news. We evangelize. We are to proclaim good news. Luke and Acts are written to evangelize the world with the good news of Jesus Christ. He was born, died on the cross, and was raised on the third day. He sent his followers to evangelize the world, tell the whole world, in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the world (Acts 1:8). Those who respond to the good news are those of His good pleasure.
2. Great joy means mega joy. The response to this news will be a great joy.
3. Finally, the good news is for you and all the people. The joy is for all the people and is also for the shepherds.
The announcement is also for all of you today, even though it is not directly from the angel. It came to us through the shepherds. They became the angels announcing the good news to the world, including us today.
Verse 11 gives the reason why the news causes mega joy. “For (reason) a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord, was born for you today in the City of David.” The messianic Savior is born. It was no longer a distant reality. It came now.
The description of Jesus contains three key Christological terms: Savior, Christ, and Lord. All three titles appear frequently in the O.T. However, the fact that all three of them come together is unique in the announcement. Savior, Christ, and Lord do not appear together in any other N.T. text.
The extraordinary Christ is the Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke emphasizes the first one: a Savior, born to you and all the people, who is Christ the Lord.
1. Savior σωτήρ, a deliverer. Jesus was born to deliver his people from sin. It talks about the child’s mission.
2. Christ χριστός, the anointed one. Messiah in Hebrew. A technical term for the Davidic Anointed One. It talks about the child’s identity. He is Christ, the Messiah.
3. The Lord κύριος. Luke has yet to tell us what it means that Jesus is the Lord. The theme of the rest of the Luke-Acts will be that Jesus is the Lord with power and sovereignty. He is not one of the many gods. He is the Lord.
Who is this baby to you? We heard the Christmas story so many times. It takes the edge away from us. Nonetheless, the good news for all the people is that a savior, who is Christ the Lord, is born to you and for all the people. What an extraordinary baby!
(Pause)
Luke now presents a sign of the birth.
12 And this shall be the sign for you, you shall see a baby wrapped up and lying in a feed trough.
It is an unusual sign because of its ordinary nature. The sign is so special because it is so ordinary. The extraordinary Christ will be:
1. Wrapped up in cloths and
2. laid in a feeding trough.
So ordinary.
What is amazing is not that the child is wrapped up, but who and where he is. One hardly expects to find Messiah in an animal room. One would expect a palace. However, the Messiah’s humble and common origins fit nicely with the task he shall bear for all his people, especially the humble, hungry, and poor (1:50–53). The Savior’s life will contain an unusual bookend for a king since he was born in an animal room and will die with robbers at the beginning and end of Luke’s Gospel.
I wonder how the shepherds knew that the baby was the one. Go to Southwest Memorial Hospital, second floor, and find baby number 12 wrapped in cloths. When you find the baby, how do you know that he is the one that the angel said is the Savior, the Christ, and the Lord? Luke did not tell us how. He told us the extraordinary who he is and how we should respond to him.
Scene 6: Heavenly Praise, 13-14
13And suddenly there appeared together with the angel a multitude from the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the heavenly places, and on earth peace among men of his good pleasure.”
Children, you can draw many angels in box 6.
Then suddenly, a multitude from the heavenly host appeared. The word “suddenly” is used in the N.T. exclusively for the supernatural world. It does not mean the speed or how quickly it occurs. The emphasis is on the unusualness or the other-worldly. It was the supernatural appearance of the heavenly beings. The word host means ranks, like in the military. The Chinese Bible translates it as the heavenly army （天兵）. They were numerous, a multitude of them. The heavenly host came out in force, praising God. Just think of it. It will give you goosebumps. The extraordinary response from heaven contrasts with the humble birth on earth.
Scene 7: Shepherds’ response, 15
15 And it came to pass, when the angels departed from them to heaven, the shepherds were saying, “Let us go indeed to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”
The word “indeed” δή adds a note of emphasis: “Indeed or surely, let us go.” Their simple desire to see this good news that God has made known. Their instant response in faith and testimony was the key to the Lukan birth narrative. The shepherds reflect a vibrant faith that we all need to follow.
16 They hurriedly found Mary, Joseph, and the baby lying in the feed trough. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
They find the child in the feeding trough, just as the angel has said. God is shown to keep His word. The shepherds’ testimony follows. They testified immediately. They waited no time. They shared their story with those present: Mary, Joseph, people in the house, and others. Many commentators call them “the first evangelists,” not without reason. They became the angels to tell the world the good news of great joy that the Savior was born.
Today, people respond to him differently. The variety of reactions to Jesus’s birth should not surprise us. Some are amazed but do not engage him to any more profound level. Others offer praise, while others ponder what Jesus means. There is no doubt that in this passage, the shepherds are the central exemplary characters, reflecting the testimony and obedience that should characterize saints. Luke wants his readers to identify with their response to God and to be His witnesses.
The King, the Son of David, the Lord, the Messiah, the Savior, was sent from heaven to earth to identify with us, walk with us, die for us, be raised for us, and relate to us—that is the story of the birth of Jesus, a story worthy of praise and worthy to be told.
This was precisely what the shepherds did. The response of the shepherds involves both praise and obedience.
Scene 8: Remembrance and Praise, 20
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Children, you can draw a picture of shepherds jumping up and down, praising God.
The shepherds returned home, and they did two things.
1. Glorifying and praising God.
2. For all they had heard and seen, as had been told them. They shared their experience: what they had heard and seen.
The shepherds’ response paralleled but also a step up from the angels’ response.
The angels praised God in verse 14.
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
The angels sang glory in heaven to God. The shepherds were glorifying and praising God, who is in heaven.
The angels sang peace on earth to men of his good pleasure. The shepherds witnessed on earth to men who might have peace.
Heaven offers praise. The praise is offered in heaven (the highest). The shepherds glorify God. They, too, praised God.
The angels said the earth is to have peace, the harmonious relationship between God and humans, the biblical Shalom of the O.T. The peace that God provides in Jesus is a crucial concept for Luke. Those he is pleased with refer to those who have responded to him. They will have peace. The shepherds shared with those who wanted to hear by faith for all they had heard and seen.
Luke’s nativity story wants the readers to respond in faith and obedience. To go and tell. It is our story as well. Will you do that?
God could have done it differently. In today’s culture, we would do it differently. Market the Gospel with braggadocio and self-promoting public relations. We must have a niche, something that says we are unique. We must demonstrate why people would want to follow us. We will campaign and sell ourselves to our potential constituency to fight off competition. God could have done it this way. He could have sent thousands of angels to be His super agents, like the Avengers. He could have lit up every Facebook page or sent a promotional video titled The Greatest Story Ever Told through social media and received millions of likes.
But God did not do that. He chooses you to be the messenger. God is counting on the people to respond in faith like the shepherds to tell the story of Christmas to the world.
Will you go and tell?
Scene 9: Naming of Jesus, 21
21 When the eight days were completed for him to be circumcised, they called his name JESUS, the name that was given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Children, you can draw a picture of the name Jesus.
His name is Jesus, which means Yahweh saves. God saves. “A Savior, who is Christ, the Lord, was born for you today in the city of David.” That is the message of Luke’s nativity story.
Pastoral advice for actions:
1. Ignore the obviosity of the nativity story. Perhaps after almost two thousand years of publicity about Jesus, the church takes the fantastic involvement of God with us for granted. The world rarely takes the time to look and see what Jesus is all about. Listen to the story and respond all over again. Take a moment to receive the good news by faith again.
2. Tell someone about the humble birth and the extraordinary Christ. Name someone who has never heard.
Conclusion
The story of Jesus’ birth does not end with him wrapped in swaddling clothes. Often, the beauty of the Christmas story gets treated as if it were the whole story about Jesus—God showing himself in the birth of a special child. However, this story is only the beginning of God’s new work. That labor has continued century after century in fresh generations of believers who have shared the blessing of the relationship he provides. As believers, we belong to a great train of witnesses spanning the ages who have lifted their voices and offered their souls in gratitude for what this birth meant.
One day in heaven, face to face with men and women of every generation and nation, we will offer praise before Him, the Savior, the Christ, and the Lord.
References
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