A Baby Changes Everything
Luke 2:1-20
2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
I was excited about having a child in my marriage, and a baby, under any circumstances, is a miracle.
But first-time parents know that a new baby brings changes. Parents worldwide nod their heads in comprehension when they hear this statement: “A baby changes everything.”
Suddenly, you can’t just get up and go. You must consider the baby’s needs. It becomes harder to go out with your single friends, and you gravitate toward the ones who also have children.
If you do get up and go, taking the baby with you, you’ve got to cart around all that baby gear: diaper bag, stroller, car seat, portable playpen, and all the rest. And let’s not even talk about the lack of sleep! Even if you do not have children of your own, watching someone else’s children or being friends or relatives to parents changes the dynamics of the relationship. Even being around children that you have no relation to changes things.
As any psychotherapist will tell you, many people spend years sorting out mistakes their parents made as they learned their new job and finding ways to forgive them — even as they are having children of their own and making a different set of mistakes. The cycle continues, generation after generation. It’s the most important job in the world, and no one is adequately trained ahead of time. All we can do is make the best of the situation with what we have, which is exactly what Mary and Joseph do, make the best of the situation.
The text says that Mary and Joseph are traveling to Bethlehem for a census. There are problems with the date in Luke; it is difficult to construct an accurate date for Jesus’ birth based on inconsistencies in the chronology suggested between Luke and Matthew. Augustus was emperor from 27 B.C. until A.D. 14, so Augustus’s reign did not present a problem. The problem arises in aligning the reigns of Herod the Great, who died in 4 B.C. (as described in Matthew 2:19), and the reign of Quirinius, who came to power in 6 or 7 B.C., and who Luke claims was the governor of Syria at the time.
Joseph didn’t need to go to Bethlehem he also didn’t need to take Mary with him if he went.
Shepherds are not a reputable occupation at the time. These are model outsiders! How many churches would turn this pair away if they came knocking at our church doors today?
Even if things did not go as planned, new life breaks forth. Jesus, God’s work, arrived during political events and had no vacancies. The essential message of Christmas is that even when things do not go as planned, God arrives. We forget the scary nature of the first Christmas—that it was all about unexpected things in places unsought. Christ arrived in a manger in a cattle stall. If the Son of God can arrive in such circumstances, so can truth. So can joy.
For weeks television advertisements have told us how we should feel this day. We ought to feel warm and loving, especially if we have spent a small fortune on gifts for our family and friends. We hope that most in our congregations do feel great peace and joy this day, but let us take care not to presume. Some may come to church this night dealing with the death of a loved one, worrying about mounting financial debts, or struggling with tensions in their relationships. The good news from the Scriptures this night is more powerful than the pain that some may bring.
Christ is born for you!
Mary recounts the mighty deeds of the Lord, who has just intervened in her life. God has “brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly … has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:46-55). It may seem like these things have little to do with the plight of a young, unwed mother in Galilee, but clearly, Mary sees her experience in the context of a much grander plan.
Who are the powerful cast down from their thrones? Nothing like that has ever happened in Mary’s experience. The Roman emperors have reigned for generations, and the throne’s present occupant gives no sign of resigning. When has Mary ever seen, in her short life, all the hungry people of the earth invited to a great banquet and the arrogant rich sent off to try their hand at begging? These promises, compelling to one such as her, have yet to be realized.
This baby changes everything, not only for his parents but for the whole human race. The birth of Jesus changes the religion game entirely because upon hearing this lovely story, we rediscover — or maybe understand for the first time — that God’s deepest desire for us is that we enter the place of holiness not through a portal of fear, but through a portal of love.
That same Jesus is calling us on Christmas Day, as he has a habit of doing, calling us to himself and into a deeper relationship with him. Everything about the life we’ve been living that’s bitter, ugly, broken, or shameful, we can lay on the straw beside the manger. We need no longer carry such burdens; the grown-up Jesus will bear them for us. There is no anger, no judgment before his manger-bed, and there is only grace, acceptance, and love.
The timeless invitation comes to us this Christmas, as it has in so many Christmases past. Come, draw near to Jesus Christ, whose coming into our world changes everything!
Spread the good news.
He was placed in a manger on some wood.
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