Let the poor say, "I am rich"
Luke 2:1-7
Dawn and I went to Pennsbury Manor recently. This is the home of William Penn. Oddly enough, the place is almost completely a recreation. Nothing about the grounds or buildings is original. The house is not the house he and his family lived in. It is a reconstruction. Nobody even knows what his original house looked like.
There is one original piece at Pennsbury Manor. It is a pewter serving tray. The tray was a gift from the Penns to a hired worker at his wedding. Since it belonged to someone else it has a strange history. It turns out that a family went outside one winter to find the children sledding down the hill. They didn’t own a sled. When they saw the silver tray they were using for a sled, they took it away and asked where they got it. "It was in the attic," the kid said.
This family had an artifact connected to one of our nation’s premiere families sitting in their attic and they didn’t even know it. It was so little valued that the kids felt free to use it as a sled.
How many people have you known who had something in their attic that had potential value. A friend of ours in a nursing home needed help clearing out her attic and we found hundreds of dollars in cash and change, stashed in old letters and magazines.
The fact is that some people are sitting in homes with treasures in their attics and they don’t know it. Probably some of them could really use the money that would be generated if they just knew the value of what they actually have. Though they are poor, with a little perspective they could see that they are rich. Take Mary and Joseph:
1In 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.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.
4So 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. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:1-7 NIV)
In those days
This is a census. We take one every ten years, when a government temp comes to your house and asks nosey questions. But at the time, Rome took them less regularly. Eventually the settled, for some reason, on once every 14 years. But at this time, they took a census whenever a political need for an expression of allegiance or taxes were needed. If the king was feeling light on his throne, there might be a need for a census, to make sure that everyone was doing what they should. The tax might be for a public works project in Rome, but it probably did nothing for the roads between Galilee and Bethlehem.
There is no clear record of this tax, but Quirinius was involved in a very famous tax in 6 AD, that seems to be why Luke clarifies that this is the "first" registration he had a part in. The best scholarship I have seen places this tax sometime around 2 BC, but no earlier than 4 BC. It is a fact that our calendar is wrong in many ways, but there is almost no probability that Jesus was born in 1 AD. That’s what you get when you leave governments in charge of something.
They were poor
The Bible makes it clear that Joseph was of Royal descent. David, of course, was raised in Bethlehem. This means that Joseph’s ancestral home was there. Some have claimed that since taxes were based upon land ownership, that Joseph must have owned land in Bethlehem. That doesn’t seem to be the case, since he had to seek lodging. If he owned property, why would he not simply go there? Perhaps he was born there, but there is no way of knowing for sure. What is certain is that he was from the line of Judah and Bethlehem is in Judah’s tribal territory. Galilee is not. According to the Hebrew Scriptures, any family connection Joseph had to land ownership would have been in the south. Either way, being from the line of David, he probably at least had distant family living there.
Make no mistake though, the fact that he was from the royal line did not mean he was rich. There had not been a king from David’s line for more centuries than America has been in existence. In fact, Herod, the local king was not even Jewish. If anything, he would have looked at people from David’s line with suspicion. Joseph was not welcome among the official aristocracy.
He and Mary were poor, there is no doubt about that. We know that because when they went to the Temple to take a sacrifice for Mary’s purification, they took a poor person’s offering. If they were rich they would have taken a bull. If they were middle class, they would have taken a sheep or a goat. If they were absolutely destitute, they would have taken some flour. But they took two pigeons, so they come in somewhere between destitute and middle class ... in other words, poor.
• They live in occupied land
• They are displaced from their family territory
• They are being taxed
• They bring a poor person’s offering
Their travels were not easy
Beyond this, they were suffering a certain level of hardship. Mary was in advanced stages of pregnancy. If you watched the Nativity story, you saw the Christmas donkey that Mary is shown riding to Bethlehem. This is a tradition from way back, but the Bible says nothing about a donkey. Maybe they had one, maybe they didn’t.
Either way, they had a long way to travel. If they had been able to go as the crow flies, they would have gone about 70 miles. But people did not travel through Samaria, as Dan reminded me last week. They crossed the Jordan and went south toward the Dead Sea before they crossed back toward Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Going this route, they traveled at least 100 miles.
I can remember a couple of times when my mother was pregnant and needed to travel. After a certain time, the doctor did not recommend that she ride in a car for a long period, but suggested that she fly. Some people I know would not have thought of that as an improvement.
Mary did not fly.
The rigors of travel, whether on foot, on a donkey or even on a cart, makes very little difference when you are going over 100 miles in late pregnancy. I am of the opinion that they did not travel alone. This was a tax ordered by Rome and both of them were from the line of David, living in Nazareth. They probably had other family that had to go, and it was normal for large groups that needed to travel to form caravans and draw safety from their numbers. But it was still a long way.
It is no surprise that she gave birth shortly after they arrived. It is probably part of the miracle of Jesus’ birth that she did not deliver him along the way somewhere.
They found lodging in a stable
This probably has very little to do with their financial status, and more to do with the crowd that was traveling. What this stable was is hard to pin down. It was possibly the first floor of an enclosed inn where the guests slept upstairs over the animals and some would have camped in an open courtyard. It might have been a cave, but that would not have been in town. The angel seems to be telling the shepherds to go into town. The word "Inn" is sometimes translated "guest room," so the stable might have been a lean-to on the side of a home where the family kept animals. This has some appeal since it is very likely that Joseph would have tried to stay with family.
• Taxes
• Being poor
• The expense of travel
• The hardship of late pregnancy
• The lack of a clean place to get out of the elements
That night, Joseph and Mary must have felt like the poorest people in the world. They were displaced in every way possible. They must have felt like they would give anything for a couple of basic needs, let alone a luxury.
And then Mary gave birth
This must have felt like the ultimate Murphy’s Law. Some of you can identify with the trends in our lives that seem to bring trouble in waves. Edgar Allen Poe described the Raven’s tone as a person’s whom:
Unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster.
Some of you are experiencing that even as we speak. It seems like Trouble has camped out in front of your door, and will not let you escape.
The gold tones in most of the nativity scenes I have ever seen suggest that the evening was comfortably warm. Who knows. Maybe it was. Or maybe it was "a cold winter’s night" as the First Noel says. We can’t even pin down the year of His birth with certainty, let alone the month.
One thing it would not have been is comfortable by any standards that we would recognize. I have no doubt that a poorer person living in those days would have found it more comfortable than even the poorest among us. I don’t think there is a single person in our sanctuary who will sleep in anything but a heated room with a soft bed and blankets tonight with music available with the touch of a finger. By Joseph and Mary’s standards we are all well off. The fact that the angel told the shepherds that finding the baby in a manger was a "sign" that they had found the Messiah, tells us that even among the poor, their situation was not normal:
• Sleeping in a stable that is at best drafty and at worse is partially exposed to the elements
• Giving birth in a very uncontrolled environment, without even the psychological comfort of being at home
Joseph and Mary were indeed experiencing what it was like to be the poorest of the poor, even if their circumstances were strictly temporary.
Today we would see people in their situation as
• homeless
• refugees
• down on their luck
• overwhelmed by circumstances
• people in desperate need of help
And yet they were rich
They had a wealth that no other person in the entire history of the world had ever been able to claim. No person in the world would ever experience it again.
Prophecies were fulfilled
In this passage we see the prophecies that He would be born in Bethlehem and that He would be of the house of David fulfilled. All through the Christmas Epic we see many other prophecies fulfilled too. The level of supernatural involvement in this single birth is too great to be ignored. This was an encounter with God on the first magnitude.
A supernatural silver lined their cloud
We like to think of Mary and Joseph having it all together and being perfectly serene this night. I’m just being logical, and don’t actually know, but it may have been difficult for them to see the supernatural involvement that night. Mary and Joseph must have felt some anxiety. They were certainly in the middle of a crisis. Regardless of all the Biblical truth we can see:
• sitting in a well lighted room
• that is also well heated
• with our own printed copy of the Bible in our hand
• that we can easily read in our own language
• and years of education behind us
we can see the supernatural in their situation.
• They would not have owned their own copy of the Bible
• The Bibles that Joseph could read (but Mary probably could not) were in Hebrew while Joseph probably spoke Aramaic and, maybe, Greek
• Beyond that, they were hand written copies, well copied, but not clear, Times, moveable typeface
• And their surroundings were not comfortable
• And it was night
• And they were tired
• And they were displaced
• And Mary was giving birth
No doubt they had the assurances of Gabriel himself, and knew many of the prophecies that we know about. But we must admit, it is difficult to keep the entire Bible in your mind while you are in the middle of a crisis. I’m sure they knew ... but they could not have been having a good time that night. They might have been somewhat distracted, but their wealth was immeasurable.
And what would we not give for a wealth such as an encounter with God on that level?
• How many prayers have we prayed
• How many problems have we encountered
• How many roadblocks have we run against
• How many bad people have had an impact on us
And we have cried out to God and asked for a clear indication of His hand and His direction only to get up from our knees still struggling to know what was going on and what we should do?
Because just as it may have been for Mary and Joseph, it is difficult for us to see God’s hand when we are embroiled in crisis.
• In their poverty it may have been hard to find God’s riches
• In our need it may be hard for us to find His plenty
We can demonstrate this to ourselves when we notice how others should be thankful.
• She is so beautiful
• He is so strong
• They are so well off
• They seem to have the perfect family
• She is married
• She is single
• He is so educated
• They have no school debt
• They have jobs
• They are retired
• They have been given so much help
• God has kept him from completely crashing
• She hasn’t faced the consequences of her actions
God blesses people all the time, and we can see it clearly from a distance. Our view may not provide the same perspective as the person who we are evaluating at the time.
As a pastor I have been warned that I should not envy Rick Warren, the pastor of the very large Saddleback Church and Purpose Driven ministries, the author of many books and subject of much discussion about church success.
The fact is, the man has serious physical disabilities that put him on his back for two or three days every week following his Sunday burst of activity. He has pain that keeps him from being able to function. It may be easy for us to see how blessed he is, but on Monday morning, it may be harder for him to notice.
• Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, has suffered through the death of a child and a broken marriage
• Buzz Aldrin, the man who walked with him was largely ignored for decades and lived through an emotional collapse after coming back
• Thomas Jefferson died in debt
• The televisions would not allow us to ignore the eating disorders and relational struggles of Diana, Princess of Wales before she died in a car crash
• President Reagan was not exempt from the ravages of Alzheimers
• Any person of average intelligence who follows the lives of Hollywood stars can tell that fame does not bring peace or happiness
The most powerful, wealthy, famous people in the world, that we would think all have good reason to be thankful have troubles that may cloud their perception of the blessings that we see. In fact, the very things in their lives that we see as blessings, may be counted by them as a curse.
Remember this, the average observer on the evening of the first Christmas, might not have seen Mary and Joseph as particularly blessed. There may have been moments that they doubted it themselves.
God was born into their home that night.
And yet, look at the incredible blessing of being able to look God physically in the eye and tell Him how much you love Him and mean it without reservation and without guilt as a mother tells her son that she loves him and does not doubt at all. The way a mother knows that her love goes beyond the mistakes she makes or the expertise she may feel at mothering. She may be inadequate in many ways, but she does not believe for a moment that her inadequacy is created by a lack of love for her child. Imagine being able to express that love to God ... physically, in person, without fear of contradiction or judgement.
Imagine feeling the love of God the way a mother senses the unrestrained trust of her baby as she feeds her or plays with her and watches the animation of her face.
Can there be any bigger blessing? Truly, Mary must have forgotten at times who it was she was tickling and, Joseph must have forgotten at times who it was he was holding while Mary slept. They may not have been constantly aware of what they were doing, but the blessing was not diminished by their lack of awareness.
In their poverty, they were rich.
And in your need
• for money
• for family
• for peace
• for health
• for safety
• for happiness
You are rich. On a frightening day in her middle teen years, Mary had to make a choice to allow God to come into her life in a personal and immediate way. That choice did not change her circumstances, but it certainly changed her life.
We too are given the opportunity to invite Christ into our lives in a personal and immediate way.
• We will live in the same home
• We will eat with the same family
• We will wait every month for the same wages
Our surroundings will not change, but if we make the choice that Mary made
• to become the servant of God
• to allow Christ to enter into our lives
• to engage in a spiritual journey that will lead to death and life
Our circumstances will not change, but our life certainly can.
You too are rich. The same God that Mary held and fed and changed and smiled at, is the God who came, not just for the benefit of a poor couple 20 centuries ago, but came for you.
When God was coming to live with them in person, their problems were not all immediately solved. In the same way, we must not expect our lives in the presence of God will create a problem free world for us. It will not. But we have the assurance that just as God in the person of Jesus was with Joseph and Mary that night
He is with you in the nights of your life
• In your need
• In your desire
• In your helplessness
• In your desperation
You are rich
Remember ... and give Him praise!
