The Journey, Nazareth to Bethlehem

Luke 2:1-7

December 20, 2015

Mark S. Bollwinkel

The gospel writer of Luke dates the events of his writing by naming the powerful and famous people in charge.  Many other writers of the time did the same thing.  In Luke chapter 3, when Jesus’ cousin John son of Zechariah comes out of the desert to proclaim the coming of the messianic age, Luke writes:

It was the fifteenth year of the rule of Emperor Tiberius; Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip was ruler of the territory of Iturea and Trachonitis; Lysanias was ruler of Abilene, and Annas and Caiaphas were high priests.  At that time the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert…(Luke 3:1-2)

What a way to start a story!  Who cares about these guys?  Where the heck is Iturea and Abilene?  Why bother with such detail?  For the gospel writer Luke, God was in the details.

Caesar Tiberius would die quite insane, isolated and alone on the island of Capri in the year 37CE.  The news of his death would be a great relief to the people of the Roman Empire.  Herod and Philip were sons of Herod the Great, the corrupt and immoral tyrant, friend of Mark Anthony and conqueror of Palestine.  Herod Antipas would be banished to France in the year 39 by his half-brother Agrippa for incompetence.  Philip would marry Salome, daughter of Herodious, who danced for Herod and received John the Baptist’s head on a platter at her mother’s request.  Annas and Caiaphas would be the Jewish leaders overseeing the plot to kill Jesus (John 16).   Pontius Pilate…well we know what he would do.

The gospel writer of Luke wants us to know that in the years when murderers and tyrants reigned, when immorality and corruption were accepted as “business as usual”, that when the holy and pious men who would put the son of God to death were in charge…it was in that year…that God’s word through John the Baptist came about the salvation of all people.

The writer does the same thing with the birth of Jesus in our text for this morning:

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.  This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria…

The Son of God wasn’t born just anytime; he was born at the time of Caesar Augustus.  The word to announce the coming of the Messiah wasn’t given at just anytime; it was given in the time of Quirinius governor of Syria.

These people had names.  They had history.  Some were ruthless and corrupt.  Some were heroes.  Some would see their world turned upside down by the birth of that tiny baby in a stable.  Some would fight his message of love with their last breath.

Let’s not forget the name of David, the great and glorious King who one thousand years before Jesus united the twelve tribes of Israel into a nation, settled Jerusalem as its capital and contracted for the construction of the Temple of Jerusalem, Mt. Zion the dwelling place of God on earth.  King David, the “Messiah” of Israel’s glory days would become the model for Israel’s hope of redemption.  During their centuries of failure, war, captivity and exile the people of Israel dreamed of and prayed for the return of a Messiah like David to restore Israel’s righteous and secure its future.

When Luke describes the time of Jesus’ birth the writer wants us to know that the Savior is born in the family of David and in the town of David’s heritage.   Luke wants us to know that Joseph and Mary aren’t anything like the people of power and wealth of their day.  In fact, unlike the named heads of governments and armies, the holy family’s credentials for being actors in God’s redemption of history is their faithfulness and courage.

Just consider their journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem to give birth to Jesus.  No scripture mentions that Joseph had Mary on a donkey for the journey although it’s inconceivable to suggest that a young woman in the ninth month of her pregnancy would walk the whole way. 

The 90 mile route that Joseph and Mary took from Nazareth to Bethlehem was probably along the Jordan River Valley, through the territory of Samaria.  It was the same route taken by Abraham and Sarah when they came from Haran in the North to settle in the land of Canaan as promised by God 1,600 years before (Genesis 12:1-f).  It was the same area where Jacob fathered twelve sons who would become the twelve tribes of Israel.  Jacob’s well is there, where Jesus will offer “living water” to a Samaritan woman (John 4).  It was the same route taken by the armies of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar when he destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BCE and scattered the Hebrew nation into exile.   They would have passed through the Jezreel Valley where so many wars in Israel’s history had taken place that the writer of Revelation envisions the apocalyptic battle between good and evil at the ‘end of time’ taking place at “the hill of Megiddo”, one of the principal cities of the valley.  It is translated from the original language as “Armageddon” (Rev. 16:16, 19:11-16). Adam Hamilton in his book The Journey (Abingdon, 2011. 89-91) suggests that this route was not taken by accident but was part of the fulfillment of God’s 1,600 year promise of salvation in the birth of the new Messiah, Jesus, in Bethlehem.

This new Messiah born in the lineage of David will not bring an army to vanquish the Roman occupation armies.  The new king of Israel will be born in a barn to unwed parents about to become undocumented refugees.  He will learn a trade and make his living as a carpenter.  He will be tortured and nailed to a cross.  His power will be in unconditional love.

At his birth Joseph named the baby “Jesus”.  In spite of fear and doubts Joseph went ahead with the angel’s instruction, stayed with the unmarried and pregnant Mary, and named the baby “Yeshua”, which in the original language means “Yahweh delivers, saves or rescues” (Matthew 1:21, 25).  

More than the four weeks of Christmas celebrations, during Advent we prepare ourselves for the coming of the Christ.  We open our hearts and minds to dreams for the future and God’s dreams for our world.  All we need to do that is to commit ourselves to the journey.

During worship these weeks we’ve been concentrating on the journey to Bethlehem by the characters of the New Testament nativity story.  Whether we understand the drama of Jesus’ birth as history or poetry, it’s an opportunity for each of us to evaluate where we are in the journey of life, the faith that we bring and our dedication to the things most important in life along the way.

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet asks, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, II, ii, 1-2)

Our names can often define our journeys in life.  Of former heavyweight boxing champion George Forman’s ten children, five of his sons are named “George”, one daughter named “Freda George” and another named “Georgette”.    I hope Mr. Forman’s children are doing well in their journeys in life!  

I am the only male in my mother’s side of the family who has children.  It was important to Bonnie and me to name our first son Daniel Stewart Bollwinkel so to keep the family name Stewart alive for another generation. 

Today those with African, Hispanic or Asian surnames are often assumed to be immigrants by the dominant culture, when 150 years ago those with German, Irish or Italian surnames were considered newcomers to the USA in a land where the English, French and Spanish had been pushing out the indigenous for years.

What’s in a name can be a powerful thing.

The gospel writer Luke wants us to know the names of those in the journey to Bethlehem as a way to set the date and as a way to set the context of that journey.   Emmanuel was born to him, in his time and place; just as Jesus can be born to us now, in our time and place, not just any time.

Therein lay our hope and the reason for this season’s celebration in the first place.  The names along the journey of Christmas describe a divinity born to us even when there is no room in the inn, when everything isn’t neat and tidy, in fact born to us in the midst of brokenness and pain.

God does not enter history keeping a safe distance or remaining contained in our academic debate.  The word of God announcing the coming of Jesus doesn’t appear in a Hallmark card with Perry Como singing in the background.  Jesus is born in a world of violence, injustice and betrayal…just like ours.  Jesus is born in a world of pregnant hope, just like ours as well.

The prophet Zechariah foresees the messianic age as a time when the “hopes and fears of all the years” will be met; when the fortunes of the masses will be reversed and everyone will have enough.   He writes; “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore you double.” (Zech 9:12)  

“O prisoners of hope”!

Nelson Mandel was a "prisoner of hope" spending 27 years in a South African jail to lead his nation to democracy as its first indigenous President without a word of vengeance or retribution.  Bishop Leontine Kelly was a "prisoner of hope", a divorced young mother, going on to earn her theological degrees, ordination as a United Methodist pastor and then elected the first African American women bishop in our denomination's history.   My friend Art Kess in Reno, Nevada was a "prisoner of hope" continuing to live with cancer four years after the doctors gave him nine months to live.

Would that each of our names would include the title, "prisoner of hope". 

Few of us have enjoyed a trouble-free life journey.  Many of us know all-too-well the struggle to keep faith and hope alive in the face of health, financial and relationship challenges.  Maybe you are in such a time right now. Advent and Christmas isn’t just about the memories of holidays and loved ones in the past.  It is about embracing the God with us…Emmanuel.  Pastor Hamilton writes:

“We are all called to be prisoners of hope, captured by hope, bound by it, unable to let go of it.  Hope is a decision we make, a choice to believe that God can take the adversity, the disappointment the heartache and the pain of our journeys and use them to accomplish his purposes.” (Hamilton, p. 102)

For Luke the birth of our Lord is not a sentimental story of the past but the specific and real intrusion of God into our midst, our world, our time.   Jesus can be born to us as Savior and as Lord in the year when Jerry Brown is governor, when Syria fights for its future and freedom, when the San Francisco Giants are planning to win their fourth World Series in seven years.   Jesus can be born to us in our midst, our world and in our time.

How many of us remember the names of Caesar Augustus or Quirinius governor of Syria?   And who will ever forget the names of Mary, Joseph and Jesus?  Two thousand years later we are still talking and singing and thinking about the lives of these peasants from Galilee who left history forever changed.  Not by military might or physical wealth but by the power of God's unconditional love.

Amen.