The Lowly Birth of the Savior-King
Notes
Transcript
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
After a journey of at least a few days, Joseph and Mary finally arrived in Bethlehem. And what did they find? After all these years, it was still a small town, just like the prophet Micah said — little among the thousands of Judah (Micah 5:2). There was probably only one inn there, since our text says that there was no room for them in the inn (τῷ καταλύματι). The town was also full of non-residents. Thus, the virgin Mary ended up giving birth in the stables.
This is the kind of story people like — a poor, disadvantaged family making do with what they have and discovering that what they have ends up being more than enough. A lot of so-called Christmas movies follow a similar storyline. In one (A Christmas Wish) a woman, who had been abandoned by her husband, takes her kids and what little money she has, and tries to make a new life for herself, only to have her car break down in a dreary, little town. Yet, she ends up having a really nice Christmas that turns her whole life around. In another (A Season for Miracles) a down-on-her-luck aunt flees with her addict sister’s children to protect them from social services. She found her way into a small town where she was mistaken for someone else, and everything worked out well for her, too.
Movies like this are popular because they tug at our heart strings. They make us feel like there’s good in the world, that people really care. Maybe they remind us of folks who, at one time or another, showed compassion to us.
But let me assure you that this isn’t the purpose of today’s text. Luke didn’t give us an account of Jesus’ birth for its sentimental value. Christmas is much more wonderful and glorious than that! It’s the fulfillment of God’s promise to save sinners. It’s the coming of the second person of the Trinity in the flesh to secure our redemption.
So, let’s see how Luke unfolds this for us.
The Days were Accomplished
The Days were Accomplished
The first verse that we’re considering today is a transition. Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem in verse 4. Mary gave birth to Jesus in verse 7. Verse 6 connects these two things:
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
Now, this short verse doesn’t answer every question that might cross our minds, like how long Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem before Mary gave birth. In fact, it answers very few questions. But it does tell us one thing that’s very important. It says that Mary’s pregnancy followed the usual pattern: the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. Jesus’ development in Mary’s womb was not unusual. He wasn’t fast-tracked, so that he was born just a few days or hours after he was conceived. Nor did Mary have, as some of the early Fathers and most Roman Catholics claim, a childbirth without labor and pain. No, she had all the usual challenges and discomforts of a typical nine-month pregnancy. The only difference was the conception itself. The Holy Spirit had come upon her and overshadowed her in such a way that her child was himself the Son of God (Luke 1:35).
So, the fact that Mary’s days were accomplished simply tells us that her pregnancy had run its course. Yet, these words also have to be understood as part of a bigger narrative. Not only had her pregnancy run its course, so also had God’s plan of salvation. The apostle Paul put it like this in the fourth chapter of Galatians:
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
The fulness of the time. What does that mean? What preparations had God made for his Son’s arrival?
Let’s first look at what God did among the Gentiles:
He allowed for a thorough breakdown of society. By the first century, violence and obscenity were rampant. Slavery was not only common, but extremely cruel. There was so little respect for marriage that Augustus had to enact laws against adultery. People wanted a better life.
There was also an even more fundamental religious breakdown. People were no longer satisfied with their old gods, whom they believed had nothing to offer. This created a hunger for something meaningful, something to believe in.
But not all of God’s preparation in the Gentile world were negative. On the positive side of the ledger were things like Roman roads (making travel quick), military patrols and checkpoints on the highways (making travel safe), a common language (Koine Greek), common laws, and so forth. All of these things contributed to the rapid dissemination of the gospel in the first century.
But God’s preparations among his own people were even more obvious and more direct:
He revealed his covenant to them, teaching them — sometimes in very painful lessons — not to trust themselves, but to look to the coming Savior for life and salvation.
To keep his people focused on the Messiah, he also gave them his laws, so that they could recognize Jesus when he came by his perfect obedience. He instituted an elaborate system of sacrifices and ceremonies to foreshadow Jesus’ death on the cross as the punishment for our sins. In short, he gave them his written Word, which no other nation or people had.
Because the Lord loved his people, he also disciplined them. A good example of this is the Babylonian Dispersion. Are you aware of all the good that came out of this. Not only did it put an end to some of the worst forms of idolatry among the Jews, but as they settled in Asia Minor, Europe, northern Africa, and other places, they built synagogues. When Paul and the other apostles went different places preaching the gospel, they had places to go and audiences ready to hear. The dispersed Jews also translated the Old Testament scriptures into the language of the day, making the Word of God accessible to everyone.
And by the time Jesus was born there was also a huge emphasis among the dispersed Jews on evangelism and outreach. So, when Jesus told his disciples to preach everywhere — from Jerusalem and Judea, to Samaria and the uttermost ends of the earth — the notion of worldwide evangelism wasn’t new to them. The pattern was already in place.
All of this shows how thoroughly comprehensive God’s plan was. Even the tiniest details were all mapped out and in place. Why was God so particular? Well, Paul explained it in the third chapter of Ephesians. He wrote,
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
The Lord did it all to build the church of Jesus Christ, so that his glory and grace might be evident throughout the whole world. To this end, the days were accomplished that [Mary] should be delivered.
The Messiah Arrived
The Messiah Arrived
Verse 7 goes on to record Jesus’ birth:
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
Every part of this verse is important.
For example, Luke called Jesus Mary’s firstborn son. He didn’t say that he was her only Son. We know from other passages of Scripture that she had several other children — both sons and daughters — after Jesus was born. In fact, this was common knowledge. Matthew 13:55–56 tells us what the people said about Jesus’ family:
Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?
However, there are some who refused to accept this because they want to guard the notion that Mary remained a virgin even after Jesus’ birth. They say that the words used here could also be translated ‘cousins.’ But why? There’s no reason why Mary would have remained a virgin, and the idea that Jesus’ brothers and sisters were his cousins has no basis. One of the best Greek lexicons gives only two definitions of the word brother (ἀδελφός). One is “a male from the same womb.” The other is a figurative extension of the first, viz., “fellow member, member, associate.” Members of the same club often call each other ‘brother.’
But more importantly, the word firstborn doesn’t look forward so much as it looks backward. It emphasizes that no other child had been born to Mary before Jesus. He was the first. According to the law, the firstborn belonged to the Lord. Exodus 13:2 says,
Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.
(cf. Num. 3:13; 8:17; 18:15). Luke specifically applied this to Jesus in verse 23:
(As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)
Because the firstborn belonged to the Lord, he was given greater responsibilities and privileges. The firstborn was considered ‘the heir’ and as such had the duty to maintain his father’s name over his property. That’s why he was given a double portion (Deut. 21:15–17). And what did Jesus inherit? David’s kingdom. The angel said to Mary, And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David (Luke 1:32).
Next, our text says that Mary wrapped the baby Jesus in swaddling clothes. It was customary to do this after cutting the umbilical cord and rubbing the newborn with salt and oil. The swaddling itself is described in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia as follows:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia SWADDLE; SWADDLING-BAND
The oriental swaddling-clothes consist of a square of cloth and two or more bandages. The child is laid on the cloth diagonally and the corners are folded over the feet and body and under the head, the bandages then being tied so as to hold the cloth in position. This device forms the clothing of the child until it is about a year old, and its omission (Ezek 16:4) would be a token that the child had been abandoned
The fact that Mary wrapped the baby Jesus in swaddling clothes demonstrated her motherly affection. But it was also a sign for the shepherds, something by which they could authenticated the angel’s message and identify the newborn King. Verse 12 says,
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And finally, our text adds that Mary laid [Jesus] in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. So, where was Jesus actually born? Where was the manger?
Some people think that the manger was in a cave, probably one associated with the inn where traveling shepherds would have kept their sheep at night. The manger then was probably a ledge cut out of the rock. This is possible. The second-century apologist Justin Martyr wrote,
But when the Child was born in Bethlehem, since Joseph could not find a lodging in that village, he took up his quarters in a certain cave near the village; and while they were there Mary brought forth the Christ and placed Him in a manger
However, it doesn’t seem that Justin’s information is completely trustworthy, since he went on to say that the Magi from Arabia found Jesus still in the manger. Matthew 2:11 says that they found him in a house, not a cave. And further, the wise men didn’t come from Arabia; they came from the east.
It’s more likely that the manger was actually part of the inn. A typical inn of that day was a two-story structure, where the guests slept either upstairs (or on the roof, if the weather allowed), while the bottom floor was where servants and pack animals stayed.
Either way, Luke described a lowly birth.
The lowliness of Jesus’ birth is emphasized particularly by the fact that there was no room for Jesus or his family in the inn. We naturally assume that this was because David’s descendants had all flocked to Bethlehem for the census. We further assume that David’s descendants were mean-spirited to the point of not giving up their rooms for a pregnant woman. But there’s another possibility. David’s descendants weren’t the only travelers in Bethlehem. The census takers would also have been there, along with the Roman soldiers who accompanied them. It’s more likely that they filled the inn and refused to show kindness to a pregnant Jew.
In any case, the lowliness of Jesus’ birth contrasts sharply with what the angel told Mary. The angel said,
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
Can there be any doubt that Mary’s Son was the King, even the King of kings, and deserved a royal welcome with all the glory and splendor appropriate for one of such great worth? Yet, she delivered him in a stable and placed him in a manger, as if he were the poorest and least deserving of men. Why is there such a sharp contrast here? Is it not because our King humbled himself as the lowest of men to lift us up to the glory that belongs to him alone? And was not his lowly birth just the beginning of a life of suffering that led him directly to the cross, where he died that we might live? The apostle Paul affirmed the purpose of this contrast in 2 Corinthians 8:9, where he wrote,
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
Stories of people who are down and out make good movies. But only the gospel of Jesus Christ gives salvation. It alone tells how the King — the Son of David — humbled himself to satisfy God’s perfect justice in behalf of sinful men. This is the gospel that God commands all men everywhere to believe. Jesus said,
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Christmas is, therefore, a summons for all of us to come to Jesus, who alone can supply all our needs and lead us to heavenly joy and glory. Amen.