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Touched by Grace: Barn Floors and Feed Troughs, Luke 2:2-7

Barn Floors and Feed Troughs

Luke 2:1-7

 

When the rich and famous give birth, their hospital stay can easily be compared to a pampering spa getaway. But celebrities and royals aren’t the only ones seeking deluxe accommodation and medical services. Anyone with the right amount of cash can choose a posh place to deliver their baby in style in A-list maternity suites.

 

Jay Z and Beyoncé chose Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan for the birth of Blue Ivy, their little bundle of joy. At $2,500 a day Lenox Hill Hospital offers luxurious suites with mahogany walls, hardwood floors, luxurious linens, its own kitchenette, and even a concierge that can arrange anything from a stylish hairdo to manicure, pedicure, and massage. You do want to look your best when delivering your precious little baby, right?

 

The luxury suites of Mount Sinai Hospital go for $4,000 a day and offer a stunning view of Central Park and Manhattan. But, that’s not the only reason Gwyneth Paltrow and P. Diddy chose Mount Sinai for the birth of their children. Think blankets made from Muslin cotton and massage therapy to relieve the pain and stress. Add bathrooms with Italian glass tiles and tea and cookies served in the afternoons.

 

At the top of the hospital birthing experience list is the Matilda Hospital in Hong Kong. This is the ultimate in pampering. It offers rooms with balconies overlooking the ocean, refrigerators filled with juices and bottled water, cable TV, and WiFi. The doctor in charge of the delivery is also your personal gynecologist/obstetrician, and will be the one booking your stay and making all the necessary arrangements. It is advisable to ask your doctor to make reservations as early as possible, as most rooms are fully booked 7 months in advance. At the Matilda Hospital you need to deposit $20,000 in down payment just to book a room.[i] Talk about being born into the lap of luxury. I just hope baby doesn’t come late!

 

Of course, the baby doesn’t really know all this is happening. It’s pretty much the same experience for the little bundle of joy whether they’re born in Hong Kong’s Matilda Hospital luxurious birthing suites or a back alley in a city slum, or in a barn meant for horses and cattle. Of course, the baby needs rich parents to get the luxury suite.

 

We know the story of Jesus’ birth so well that we look right past the ridiculous spectacle of the son of God himself – creator of heaven and earth and cosmos, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, the mighty God to whom all things belong – being born in a space set aside for housing animals. Poor conditions even by poverty’s standards.

 

His birth rightly announced by the angels of the armies of heaven, but this majestic announcement was given not to kings and rulers and potentates. It was given only to some poor, uncouth shepherds out in the wilderness who smelled of sheep and sweat and manure.

 

His first visitors weren’t Israel’s priests and religious leaders – the scribes and the pharisees. Nor were they Israel’s puppet king, Herod, who had been appointed by Rome to oversee Israel and Syria. They were the aforementioned shepherds, and some astrologers and magicians from a land almost 1,000 miles to the east, the land Rome called Babylonia. We know it today as Iraq.

 

We know the story so well that we look right past the absurdity of it all. The way in which just the birth of Jesus foreshadows his entire life on this earth – the way in which everything about him stands our world and everything we think is important on its head. His birth is living testimony to the truth of Psalm 138:6, Old Testament words not once but twice quoted in the New Testament, once by James and once by Peter, that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” And the words the babe in the manger would speak as an adult, “So the last will be first, and the first last … But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:16, 26-28). Let’s turn now to the all-to-familiar words of Luke 2:1-7, and see with new eyes, hear with new ears, and listen with an open heart.

 

When the President of the United States travels by car, the Presidential motorcade is both the safest and the riskiest convoy on the planet. This globe-trotting fleet of vehicles is basically a rolling, armored White House, complete with its own response force, communications office, press corps and medical facilities. All these vehicles are moved via USAF heavy-transports, such as C-17s, and those flights come at a steep cost.

 

The Presidential Motorcade consists of a wide variety of vehicles. Generally, the Presidential Motorcade is made up of the following components:

 

Route Car & Pilot Car – Which travel ahead of the motorcade checking the route and providing guidance.

 

Sweepers – Consisting of motorcycles and patrol cars clearing the way.

 

Presidential Limousine – This very heavy Cadillac is really an extremely survivable armored car. “The Beast” is outfitted with top-level ballistic armoring, night vision/infrared driving systems, a sealed cabin with an independent air supply capable of enduring a nuclear-biological-chemical attack, and even a supply of the President’s blood type. All of this is in addition to a state-of-the-art communications system.

 

Identical Limousine – At least one identical car always accompanies it, and sometimes many more. These cars are used as a backup as well a serving as decoys.

 

Additional Vehicles – Following the motorcade is the security detail SUV filled with heavily armed agents. There is an Electronic Countermeasures Vehicle so that if a threat is detected, smoke, chaff, and targeted jamming could disrupt an attack. Then there is the Press van, an ambulance in case there is an accident or attack and helicopters overhead to provide over-watch.

 

All the technology that goes into protecting the President is amazing and so is the price tag. It is estimated that the White House spends $350 million a year on the President’s transport. Just one trip costs $2,614 each and every minute to transport the leader of the free world.[ii]

 

Jesus, on the other hand, came as a vulnerable infant to a peasant girl and her soon to be husband, a young couple from the poor, remote village of Nazareth, in livestock housing in Bethlehem.

 

Luke begins by drawing our attention to Caesar, the ruler of the most advanced and powerful empire the world had known to that point. Luke calls him Caesar Augustus, emphasizing his supreme power and authority, because his birth name was Gaius Octavian, and he was the grand nephew and adopted son of the mighty Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar, immortalized in the great Shakespearean play by the same name, led the Roman armies to victory in the Gallic Wars, during which he bridged the river Rhine and led his army into northern and western Europe and invaded Britain. And then he defeated his Roman political rival Pompey in a civil war that led to him having power that was virtually unchallenged, and led to the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman empire, under the rule of a single dictator – who would be known as Caesar.

 

He was soon assassinated, however, and his 19 year old heir, Gaius Octavian, used the resulting chaos to his advantage to maneuver the empire under his sole control, extending the legacy of his adoptive father. Octavian was a shrewd and savvy ruler able to manipulate political alliances to his advantage. When he observed Halley’s comet in the night sky, he used it to his advantage, declaring to the superstitious Romans that it was Julius Caesar entering heaven as a god, which of course made him the son of a god.

 

He then began to take on other titles, including the title “Augustus,” which means “supreme ruler.” One inscription from that time reads “Divine Augustus Caesar, son of a god, imperator of land and sea, the benefactor and savior of the whole world. And when Luke says, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered,” he doesn’t use the name Caesar Octavian, by which he is also known. No, he uses the name Caesar Augustus, the supreme ruler of the world. By nothing more than the word of his mouth Caesar initiates the movement of the whole world – from Luke’s perspective, the entire Roman empire – to engage in a census to pay to Rome the head tax, and in many of Rome’s lands, for the possibility of being conscripted into the Roman military service. Jews were, by arrangement with Rome, subject only to the head tax, not to military service. People were picking up and moving to be counted and to pay a head tax just because Caesar said so.

 

Against that backdrop the actual son of God, King of kings and Lord of lords, is born. Not in the palaces and mansions of Rome, but in a stable in Bethlehem. And not to the wealthy and connected and powerful families of the world, but to a painfully poor, peasant family from Nazareth, a town that no one wanted as their hometown. A town of which it was asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” It was a rhetorical question. The answer was “no.” There was no other answer.

 

Young Mary and her husband Joseph had traveled from their home in Nazareth to Bethlehem because Joseph was descended from Israel’s great king, David. That tiny village just south and west of Jerusalem was the town of his heritage. And so that was where, at the order of Caesar, they had to travel for the census.

 

Well, it appears on the surface that it was at the order of Caesar. You see, Jewish scholars knew that the Old Testament prophets spoke often of God’s messiah who would come to redeem God’s people. The prophet Micah in particular spoke of the birthplace of the messiah. “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2). The great and mighty Caesar Augustus was nothing more than a pawn in the hands of the Creator God of the universe, moving one carefully selected young couple from their home in Nazareth to Bethlehem in fulfillment of a prophecy given 500 years prior.

 

The babe whose birth story is being told in Luke is mentioned just once in this passage. Well, twice, if you count Luke’s mentioning that she was “with child.” In other words, pregnant. Caesar’s census and tax are mentioned four times in these seven short verses. It may appear that Caesar Augustus, the supreme ruler of the “whole world,” as Luke says, is moving people around and accomplishing his will, but it is God at work here, moving Mary and Joseph and thus Jesus to Bethlehem for the birth. Caesar appears to be in charge. God is the one who is really exerting power here. The mighty Caesar is just a tool in his hand.

 

Politics and finances and fame, and the powerful and influential and mighty who twist them for their purposes may seem to rule the day, but we can rest in the knowledge that God is in control, moving all of human history to his desired destination and for his express purpose.

 

Luke is doing something else here too. He is placing the birth of Jesus squarely in the middle not just of Jewish events, but in the middle of global history and events. The birth of Jesus is something that will impact all people, everywhere, in all places and in all times. It is global and eternal in its scope.

 

Here’s the thing. The birth and the work of Jesus may be universal and global and eternal in its scope, but he is immanently accessible to all who wish to draw near to him and follow him. Access to the mighty Caesar was highly limited. He was guarded 24/7 by the best soldiers and body guards they could find. If you tried to walk into the royal palace, you would be quickly and firmly turned aside.

 

The King who rules all kings and the Lord over all lords, Jesus, the Christ, the messiah, the eternal Son of God, was born in a stable. Shepherds could walk right in. And they were comfortable there. The poor and uncouth and lowly wouldn’t know how to act in the marble halls of Rome. But they knew how to act in a barn.

 

And he grew up on the streets of Nazareth. Actually it was probably more like one street. Not many people lived there. It was hard to get to Nazareth and there wasn’t much there. But there WAS a Roman garrison stationed there, so most Jews preferred to avoid the place. He didn’t come from the sacred streets of Jerusalem or the richly paved streets of power in Rome. He came from Nazareth. By all accounts an average Joe.

 

Not born into wealth and power, but into poverty and insignificance. Immanently approachable for all who wish to come to him. He is right here. Immanuel. God with us and God for us. No need to impress, or to be born into power and influence. Just to be yourself, to come as you are, knowing that the King of kings and Lord of lords is waiting for you, looking for you, offering you forgiveness and grace and mercy.

 

Now, look carefully at V. 7. This verse echoes another verse in Luke. This one found much later in the gospel. In Luke 23:52-53 we read “This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb …” Just as the babe was wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger, so he the man was wrapped in cloth and laid in a tomb. Luke is already foreshadowing the fullness of the ministry of Jesus. The one who was laid in a manger was nailed to a cross. Jesus’ life on this earth is bracketed by the two greatest miracles – the virgin’s womb and the empty tomb.

 

What are you doing with the gift God has given? Are you distracted by the trappings of power and wealth and success and significance, as are most? Or are you gazing in wonder at the wonder of wonders … the all-powerful creator God of the universe daring to become like us, in order to show us the depth of his love for us. A love that would take him from cradle to cross, paving the way for our sins to be forgiven. Let us pray.

[i] Octavia Drughi, “The 10 Most Expensive Hospitals to Give Birth,” TheRichest.Com (4-1-14)

[ii] Tyler Rogoway, “The Fascinating Anatomy of the Presidential Motorcade,” The Drive (7-2-22)