A Necessary Inconvenience

Luke 2:1–7 (NIV)

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

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. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 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.

Introduction

I don’t like to be inconvenienced, do you?

I did’t think so.

So how could an inconvenience be a necessary inconvenience?

And Pastor Josh, what does being inconvenienced, necessary or not, have to do with Christmas and the birth of Jesus?

Transition

Well I am glad you asked. Because contrary to every nativity scene, there was nothing convenient about the birth of Jesus.

And before you leave today, I am going disrupt everything you know about the birth of Christ and tell you about how it really went.

And the words that I would use to describe that whole situation is, a necessary inconvenience.

Text

So let’s dive into the story and see what the scriptures reveal about the birth of Jesus.

The first thing that we read is that when Mary was very pregnant, Caesar Augustus decided that he wanted to take a census of all the areas that were under Roman occupation. That included Israel.

That doesn’t seem like too big of a deal, until we get to the next detail in our story.

Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth of Galilee. And the way the census worked back then was you had to go back home to your town of origin in order to be counted. There was no 23 and Me, there was no Ancestry.com, none of that existed. The official way for you to be counted was to go back to where you came from.

So Joseph and Mary need to go back to where Joseph came from. Where is Joseph from?

He’s from Bethlehem.

And where is that in relation to Nazareth?

It’s 90 miles away.

90 MILES AWAY…

So Joseph and Mary walk over to the nearest train station, right? Nope

So Jospeh and Mary hop into their car and drive to Bethlehem, right? Nope

So Joseph and Mary call an Uber, right? Nope

Joseph and Mary start walking towards Bethlehem.

I’m sorry Pastor Josh, did you say that they walked the 90 miles? Yes. That’s exactly what they did.

Mary probably rode a donkey. And Joseph, he walked it.

Can you just imagine the level of discomfort the two of them must have felt making that 90 mile journey to Bethlehem?

Now remember, Mary is 9 months pregnant, and she is taking a 90 mile journey because the Emperor wants to count his subjects.

None of this is convenient.

But if they don’t go, they are subject to punishment from Rome so off they go.

Now this kind of journey taken by foot is estimated to have taken them 7 days.

Could you imagine how the very pregnant Mary must have felt when they arrived? I can only imagine how she was feeling, but at least, when they get there she can lay down in the Inn that Joseph was going to rent for them for their stay.

It’s a good thing that Joseph made reservations for them, right? Nope

He didn’t make reservations. You see there’s no internet to see how many stars this Inn had, or what the Yelp reviews were for this Inn. That’s convenient, but nothing is convenient about this trip…

So Joseph goes to the first Inn, and it’s full.

Then he goes to the next Inn, and it’s full.

He goes to a third Inn, and that’s full.

Of course it’s full, there’s a census! Lots of people who don’t live in the area have descended into the city for the census. The Bethlehem Bureau of Tourism wasn’t ready for the amount of people who would be coming back to Bethlehem at this time of year.

And right around this time I can only imagine how things are starting to feel between Mary and Joseph. My guess is you can cut the tension with a knife.

Mary is giving Joseph that eye.

Come on ladies, you know that eye. It’s the “Step up and be a man” eye that we occasionally get when things are completely out of our control, and yet we need to somehow figure it out.

We know that eye, right guys?

There’s going to be healing today, I feel it…

So Jospeh has to just figure things out.

And the only thing that was available for them was a manger. A manger.

The place where people would typically lodge their animals for the evening so that they would be protected from wild animals at night.

The manger is the only place that is available, and it is not convenient.

But at least Mary can now get some rest…

Until her water breaks.

Uh-oh. Jesus is early.

They weren’t planning on Jesus being born here in Bethlehem. This was NOT part of the plans!!!

Ladies, can you imagine for one second, just take one second and let’s imagine that your husband talks you into going to watch a Charger game. And that is a very hard thing to do because why in the world would anyone want to watch the Chargers play?!?! I mean, at this point I’d rather watch paint dry than watch the Chargers play. They are awful.

But I degress…

Imagine that you are sitting in SoFi Stadium, and you go into labor.

That’s not good… you are not near your hospital. Your doctor is not going to be there. You don’t have your overnight bag. You don’t have your child’s go home outfit.

None of this is convenient!

But this is the real story of Jesus’ birth. Nothing was going to plan. This was not convenient.

Transition to Application

But what if I told you that everything that I just described had to happen so that the world would know that Jesus was the Messiah, and the Savior of the World.

Time and Place

Let’s unpack the first detail together. Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

It was inconvenient because of the time.It was the wrong time to make a trip to Bethlehem.

But it was necessary because the Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem.

Micah 5:2 (NIV)

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

though you are small among the clans of Judah,

out of you will come for me

one who will be ruler over Israel,

whose origins are from of old,

from ancient times.”

You see even though the time was not ideal, God’s purpose was greater. God was sending his son Jesus into the world, whose birth we are now celebrating, but in order for Jesus to fulfill the word of God, he had to come through Bethlehem, even though the timing was inconvenient.

This is my supposition that I want to insert into the text, but who do you think put it in the heart of Caesar Augustus to take a census?

I bet you that when Joseph told Mary they had to leave she tried to talk him out of it. She told him it was the wrong time… but she also knew, that if they didn’t comply, they would be criminals.

You see God is orchestrating everything.

Mary felt like it was the wrong time, but she is running out of time and this baby is coming. So Jesus has to move them from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It’s inconvenient, but it’s necessary.

The King’s City

Let me take this one layer deeper…

Bethlehem is the City where King David resided. King David is regarded as the greatest King in Israel’s history, and he was from Bethlehem. Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, is a descendant of David. This is exactly why they traveled back to Bethlehem for the census.

But here’s the point of that all… not only did the Messiah need to be born in Bethlehem, but the Messiah needed to be born of David’s seed.

2 Samuel 7:12–13 (NIV)

When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

The word forever is the indicator that the King that the Lord was talking about was not a person. People don’t live forever. But who does live forever? Jesus, the Messiah, whose origins are from old, and yet he steps into time to establish the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth, and he is now seated at the right hand of the father.

It wasn’t convenient to get to Bethlehem, but it was necessary to fulfill the word of God, and to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to this earth.

So the time was inconvenient, and the place was inconvenient, but all of it was necessary.

The Inn’s are Full

The last detail that I want to pull on is the Inn’s that were full.

When Joseph arrives there is no place for Mary to rest, and for Mary to eventually give birth to Jesus. So they would have to settle for a manger. This was an inconvenient place for Mary.

But this was the necessary place because the Messiah would be the Lamb of God.

I need to walk this out for you…

In the time of Jesus spotless lambs were bred in order to be used in the sacrifices in the temple. Spotless lambs were used as sacrifices to take away the sins of people. They could not use a lamb with spots. The lamb had to be without any blemish.

Bethlehem was the sole location in all of Israel were spotless lambs were bred for the temple sacrifices. They didn’t come from any other part of Israel, only in Bethlehem were spotless lambs bred.

What the shepherds would do was when a spotless lamb was born, they would wrap the lamb in swaddling cloths in order to keep the lamb clean and separate from spotted lambs. It was the indicator that it was a spotless lamb and would one day be used as a sacrifice to remove the sins for a person.

Some of you are already making the connection and I haven’t even started preaching this yet…

The Bible says that when Jesus was born, he was born in a manger in Bethlehem… just like every other spotless lamb. And what happens when the shepherds out in the fields are told that the Messiah is born?

Luke 2:8–12 (NIV)

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

The cloths that the angel was talking about was the swaddling cloths that Mary used to wrap Baby Jesus, because like every other spotless lamb that was born in a manger, Jesus too had to be wrapped in swaddling cloths.

But here is the good news for us today.

When Jesus was wrapped in the swaddling cloths, he wasn’t going to be taken to a temple to die for the sins of a family. No, his purpose was much greater than that.

John 1:29 (NIV)

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Jesus, the Lamb of God, wasn’t born just to take away the sins of a family who had the means to purchase a spotless lamb. No, Jesus was born to take away the sins of the world.

That means my sins are forgiven.

That means your sins are forgiven.

We are all together recipients of the Lamb of God who born in a manger to take away the sins of the world.

Conclusion

Joseph and Mary had to overcome so many inconveniences in order to bring Jesus, the Messiah, into the world. But everything was necessary to show the world that this was not an ordinary baby. No, Jesus, is the Savior of this World.

But today, I want to know is Jesus your Savior?

Have you made a decision to make Jesus your personal Savior and to follow him?

You see the same three things that were inconvenient to Joseph and Mary are often the things that we find inconvenient for us.

The first inconvenience was time. Maybe you think that it’s not the right time for you to accept Jesus as your Savior. You’ve got plans for your life and those plans do not include letting Jesus enter into your heart. Maybe you are thinking later in life, when I’ve “live a little” and am ready to make a commitment.

Friend, there is no time like the present. You may think it’s the wrong time, but it’s always the right time to make Jesus your Savior.

The second inconvenience was the distance. Some of you are sitting here and thinking to yourself that you are too far from Jesus. You’ve done too much now. You’re here because this is the thing to do around this time of year, but there’s no way that Jesus could ever love someone as far as you.

I know this about Jesus… there is no distance too great for him. His love is higher than the highest mountain, it can go lower than the lowest valley, and it’s wider than East is from the West. Friend, you are not too far from God.

The third inconvenience, and this is perhaps what impacts the most amount of people, is that just as the Inn’s were too full for Jesus, your life has become too full for Jesus. You would like to make Jesus your Savior, but life is just too full. There’s too much going on. There’s no room in our hearts for Jesus.

If you would make him your Savior today, he is going to begin to reorder your life. He is going to reorder your priorities. He is going to reset the imbalance in your life, and I promise you, you will one day look back at this day and say that making room in your heart for Jesus was the best decision that you ever made.

Call

So today, I would like to lead you in a prayer to make Jesus your Lord and Savior, and receive Him as God’s greatest gift to you this Holiday season.

Let us pray.