Luke 2:1-20 Commentary

The Birth of Jesus
1 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.

The Shepherds and the Angels
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 of great joy that will be 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.



Dig Deeper
History tells us that long there was a very special child that was born about 2,000 years ago. The Father of this child was known to some as the potential savior of the world who would bring peace to all mankind. He was god and so his son would be known as the son of god. This son was the Lord and master of all and was the one who would carry out the saving activity of the Father and truly bring the peace that his Father desired for the world. Some were skeptical that the son was divine but as he grew older and more powerful, more and more people came to worship him as the savior of the world. An ancient writing that hailed the good news or the gospel of this savior on the occasion of his birthday, read: “The providence which has ordered the whole of our life, showing concern and zeal, has ordained the most perfect consummation for human life by giving to it [our savior], by filling him with virtue for doing the work of a benefactor among men, and by sending in him, as it were, a deliverer for us and those who come after us, to make war to cease, to create order everywhere. . . . ; the birthday of the god was the beginning for the world of the gospel that has come to men through him.” This was, in other words, no ordinary human but the son of god that should be hailed, celebrated, and worshipped.

But here is the catch. You might have thought that I was describing the birth of Jesus, which would make sense seeing as how we are reading an account of the birth of Jesus. Yet if you really did think that the above paragraph was written about Jesus in the first century you would be wrong. It was describing someone from the first century alright but not Jesus, and the father mentioned was not the Creator of the universe. In fact I was writing about Caesar Augustus and his adoptive father, Julius Caesar. In fact, as we read this account of Jesus’ birth it can be striking how similar it sounds to the things written about Caesar Augustus and that is exactly the point. Luke is announcing the birth of the new and rightful king of the entire world and to do so, he will use the language and descriptive terms of the most powerful pretender to the throne. The very announcement of Jesus as the Messiah and the true King necessitates the idea that not only is he King but that all others are not. So Luke has quite intentionally and provocatively taken Caesar’s words and titles from the pretender and given them to the one that he believes really is the Savior of the world.

From the opening verse of this chapter Luke has set up a tale of two kings. But the tales could not hardly be any more divergent than these two. Everything about Caesar Augustus was impressive from a worldly point of view. He was the emperor of the mighty Roman Empire, the adopted son of Julius Caesar. He was feared wherever he went and worshiped as a god by more people every day. He had all of the might and power of Rome behind him. So much so that Augustus flicked his finger and could send people half a world away on a trip to register for the census to pay taxes that would further support his lifestyle. One could see why announcements about his birthday or great victories were given by messengers who went around the kingdom and declared the good news, or the gospel

On the other hand, we have the king that Luke wishes to present to the world. There is nothing attractive or impressive about his king. His king was born to a lowly and unimportant couple that was at the mercy of the might Caesar. This is not the kind of story you would make up if you were trying to show people that this king is more powerful and worthy to be followed than the might Augustus. There was no pomp, no circumstance, and certainly no wealth or worldly power. There was just nothing impressive at all about this small, helpless baby lying in an animal’s feeding trough.

His parents were under the power of Augustus like everyone else and when he declared a census, Joseph went. It is likely that the Jewish people registered for their taxes for their census in their hometown as a part of a Roman attempt to be sensitive to Jewish customs and the importance they placed on inheritance land. Only Joseph would have had to go, but for reasons unknown to us, his young betrothed wife-to-be accompanied him (we can speculate that being pregnant and unmarried, she may have felt unsafe without Joseph nearby to protect her from those who might be very upset by her situation).

There is much that has grown up about the night of this young king’s birth that has more to do with legend than reality and we should take it seriously to get rid of the myths. The nativity scenes that we see so often today have more to do with tradition than reality. Luke makes no mention of any magi as they likely didn’t arrive (as told by Matthew) until Jesus was close to two years old. We also are never told that there were any animals that were actually present although they might have been. They did put Jesus in a feeding trough which has probably led to the presumption that there were animals around but the text doesn’t tell us one way or another. The language used in verse 7 has several possibilities about where Mary actually had her baby but putting together the possible meanings of the word “katalyma” (often translated “Inn”) and what we know of the history of the area at the time of Jesus’ birth, means that the most plausible option, in my opinion, is that they had traveled to the ancestral family home of Joseph and found that there was no room for them in the normal family lodging quarters (another possible translation for “katalyma”) which would have been on the second floor. So they were sent to the first floor where supplies could be kept and where animals could be brought in if the weather were particularly cold (which it would not have been at this time of year). This would have given them ample shelter and privacy and it was likely a place like this that this young king was born. Whatever the exact situation was, it is clear that it was not at all impressive when set in contrast with the mighty Augustus.

Yes, there was no comparison from a worldly perspective between these two kings. There was no servants to be ordered to go around the kingdom and tell all of the important people that a new king had come. But there was a gospel announcement for Luke’s king and it was given by messengers that even Augustus could not muster up. Augustus’ father was the mighty Julius Caesar, whom he claimed to be divine and whom many people worshiped, but the father of Luke’s king was none other than Yahweh, the almighty God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The fact that a host of the Lord’s own messengers burst forth to declare the gospel of of the birth of the Savior might have been a hint of his true greatness and identity. He was the real Savior. He was the long-promised Messiah. And he was the true Lord of the world. He didn’t come in impressive worldly power but he was the real deal of which Augustus, Luke wants us to see, was only the pale worldly shadow.

And yet, just as we begin to catch a glimpse of greatness, Luke brings us right back to the humility of the moment surrounding the birth of Jesus. His gospel messengers didn’t go to the powerful, the mighty, or the influential. They went to a bunch of shepherds. Perhaps it was because shepherds were among the lowest rungs of the social order by the time of Jesus and this moment was all about humility and lowliness. Perhaps is was because this was the promised heir of David, who was himself just a shepherd boy before becoming the mighty king of Israel. Perhaps it was because God had often been described in the Old Testament as being like a shepherd (Ps. 23; 28:9: 100:3) and had promised through the prophet Ezekiel that he would return one day and would be a shepherd to his people, searching for them, rescuing them, binding up the injured, tending to them, and shepherding his flock with justice (Ezek. 34:11-15). Perhaps it was for all of those reasons that God chose to send his messengers to the shepherds who were out spending the night with their sheep in the field.

The shepherds are given a sign that will demonstrate to them that they have found the right child, the true Messiah. He will be wrapped in cloth and laying in that manger. He will not be wrapped in king’s clothes and set in the finest crib, just simple cloths. When they see a baby wrapped in cloth in that unimpressive manger they will know that he is the king that God had promised. The next time we see him wrapped in cloth, it will be our sign to know that he really is the king that has fulfilled all that God said he would accomplish one day, so keep your eyes open for that.

Luke has laid out a stark contrast. The birth of this insignificant little baby, in an insignificant backwater part of the world, to insignificant parents is the opening shot in a confrontation between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the world. The kingdom of God has come, says Luke, in seeming weakness, frailty, and vulnerability, not much more significant than a tiny mustard seed. One day, though, and in a way that will seem just as weak, frail, and vulnerable the kingdom of God would flourish like the biggest of all trees and completely overshadow all of the kingdoms and all of the kings that the world could offer.


Devotional Thought
Luke has given us the picture of God working through small, insignificant, and humble means. God always works that. Are you willing to realize that God wants to use you in mighty ways even though you might not be impressive from the world’s point of view? Are you willing to truly step back and unleash the kingdom of God in your life and in the lives of those around you?