I know its early, and I know it is Christmas, so I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to say this, but I’m really sick of this story. \u00a0By my rough estimations I’ve read it about 500 times, and maybe 100 of those out-loud. \u00a0It isn’t really that good. \u00a0Frankly, of the whole story we’re given only 2 verses that really have anything to do with Jesus being born and they’re pretty anticlimactic. \u00a0 \u00a0 But, again, I know it is early and I know it is Christmas and none of you got out of bed this morning to hear me whine about the Lukan birth narrative. \u00a0I’m not sure any of you got out of bed to listen to me do exegesis either, but oh well \ud83d\ude09 \u00a0 \u00a0 As sick as I am of this story, these 14 verses still have surprises left in them. \u00a0This year it is the geography that jumped out at me. \u00a0It is only in the past few years that I’ve really understood Galilee and Judea. \u00a0To be direct about it, Judea, the Southern Kingdom, that came back from exile in 538 BCE was the land of the \u201cJews.\u201d \u00a0That is, the word Jew comes from Judah who was the primary ancestor of the Southern Kingdom. \u00a0 \u00a0 The Northern Kingdom \u2013 Israel – which went into exile first in 722 BCE, never returned. \u00a0The \u201c10 lost tribes\u201d did not regain their previous existence as a country. \u00a0This tends to become relevant when we’re talking about the Good Samaritan or the Samaritan Woman at the well, because the Samaritans were the hated Northern neighbors of Judea, the place where people who had once been followers of the same God had deviated and intermarried and not got it all WRONG. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The weird thing is that Galilee is NORTH of Samaria. \u00a0So all the things that we say about Samaria should be true of Galilee. \u00a0Galilee should be an area of outcasts who don’t follow God correctly, but it isn’t! \u00a0The difference was a policital one. \u00a0
\n Judean leaders decided to colonize Galilee as an outpost of Jewish thought and culture, and they had! \u00a0The Galilean backwater was an experiment in exporting the \u201ctrue faith\u201d of the Judeans up into the north. \u00a0The three areas were then very different. \u00a0Judea with Jerusalem \u2013 and Bethlehem \u2013 was the center of Jewish life. \u00a0Samaria, directly to the north, was distinct enemy territory (which is really dumb since the Empire was the real problem, but that’s how humans work, right?). \u00a0To the north of Samaria was Galilee, the backwater colony of Jewish thought and life, a place to go if your family couldn’t make it in Judea. \u00a0
\n Mary and Joseph were from Nazarath, a TINY town in Galilee. \u00a0Jesus was from Nazareth. \u00a0It is one of the few facts about Jesus that can be even a little bit historically validified. \u00a0Jesus, the Nazarean \u2013 that’s how he was KNOWN. \u00a0
\n And yet both Matthew and Luke go through great pains to explain how Jesus \u2013 known as a Nazarene – \u00a0was ACTUALLY born in Bethlehem. \u00a0They come up with two very different answers. \u00a0Matthew suggests that the family was originally from Bethlehem but after the Magi left, Joseph had a dream and they went off to Egypt to hide away for a few years and then when they moved back they moved to Nazareth. \u00a0Luke comes up with the census narrative, which is cute, but has no historical basis. \u00a0And even if there was a census, NO census makes you go to the land of your ancestors. \u00a0EVERY country wants you to register according to where you live (and pay taxes.) \u00a0
\n But David was born in Bethlehem, and David was the great king. \u00a0The awaited Messiah was supposed to be a New David. \u00a0And the Gospel writers wanted to make their points abundantly clear. \u00a0The new King was, also, like David, born in Bethlehem. \u00a0It is where Jacob’s wife Rachel died. \u00a0It is where Ruth the Moabite settled. \u00a0The great kingS were born there. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Bethlehem is a 100 mile walk from Nazareth, and that’s without the struggle of getting around Samaria. \u00a0Bethlehem is near enough to Jerusalem (about 17 miles). \u00a0Jesus, whose ministry centered around the Galilean backwater, is said to be born and die in the same places as King David. \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/p>\n
If the Gospel writers do so much creative work to connect Jesus to David, there must be theological significance for them in it. \u00a0Luke also does a lot of work to place Jesus in the political context of the day. \u00a0Throughout the first two chapters Luke reminds us again and again who the power players were in the Empire. \u00a0This poor boy was born into a world that already had rich, famous, and extraordinarily powerful men in it. \u00a0And he was born in the city of the King. \u00a0<\/p>\n
And then, Luke, tells us that the announcement of the birth of Jesus was made the SHEPHERDS. \u00a0Shepherds were despised at the time of Jesus, they were seen as thieves of a sort \u2013 because they were always grazing their sheep on other people’s land. \u00a0(Which happens when all the land is privately owned.) \u00a0They were USELESS. \u00a0But after telling us about the Men who Ran the Empire, after doing all that work to put Jesus in Bethlehem, Luke goes on to describe in explicit detail an interaction between the angels of God and the shepherds up in the hills. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, to be fair, David was a shepherd. \u00a0So maybe Luke was just going over his point again. \u00a0The more I study Luke, the more I can believe it. \u00a0Of all the Gospel writers, he is the smartest and the best story teller. \u00a0He’d weave something like that in on purpose. \u00a0But he also choose to talk about shepherds. \u00a0Matthew talks about Magi. \u00a0Luke’s shepherds IMMEDIATELY differentiate the sort of King that Jesus is going to be. \u00a0<\/p>\n
He’s born in the City of David. \u00a0He’ll ride triumphant into Jerusalem and die there like David did. \u00a0But his kingship isn’t going to look anything like David’s. \u00a0He isn’t going to take the throne. \u00a0He isn’t going to lead an army. \u00a0He isn’t going to go through political machinations to increase his power. \u00a0Jesus is going to be the one who pays attention to the poor, the sick, the women and children, the powerless, the refugees, and gives them ways to help each other. \u00a0He is going to call the powerful away from their power. \u00a0He is going turn the world upside down, and wash his disciples’ feet, and change what even power means. \u00a0He’s the son of a backwater carpenter and a teenage mother. \u00a0And while we’ve all but forgotten the other great man whose names appear in his birth story \u2013 other than their appearance in his birth story \u2013 we’re still getting out of bed before Dawn to celebrate the wonder of the one who brought peace to earth and purpose to our lives. \u00a0Born in the City of David, but from Nazareth. \u00a0Isn’t that everything all at once? \u00a0Jesus wasn’t a part of the power structure of Judea, but he changed the world more than any of them did. \u00a0All the contrasts, conflicts and wonders of Jesus! \u00a0Isn’t it great? \u00a0 Merry Christmas! \u00a0Amen \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rev. Sara E. Baron December 25, 2015<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady\u00a0
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
\u00a0http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n