Advent 24
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
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. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 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.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
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.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
—LUKE 2:1-14, 15-20 (NIV)
This birth (any birth for that matter) is a miracle. But this one especially. A teenage mother, belly stretched far beyond capacity or comfort, searches for a place to not only rest, but to give birth. A baby is born amid hay and feed. Their first visitors were shepherds, often viewed by some as the outcasts of society. This is the way God chose to meet us, not with power and opulence, but with tenderness and fragility on full display.
Something that took place over 2000 years ago still resounds through us today. Christ is born tonight. “A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,” the Advent hymn invites us to sing along. Christ’s birth is realized hope. One of truth, compassion, restoration, and justice. But it’s not a hope just available for those at the tippy top. It’s hope for the rest of us. For the anxious. For the afraid. For the vulnerable. For the not-feeling-so-joyful. For the overwhelmed and at-the-end-of-their-rope. For the least of these. For the left-out and the lonely. For the weary.
For each of us and the whole world alongside us. We rejoice together for Christ has been born, the Emmanuel, God with us. Thanks be to God.