“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’ When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

In his beginning dedication to Theophilus, Luke states a cardinal element of his gospel – the aim and purpose of giving an orderly account. Each of the four gospels has a beginning, but of them Luke’s is by far the most systematic and sequential. All start with addressing John the Baptist and his role in heralding the coming work of Christ, but only Luke goes so far back as to tell the story leading up to John’s birth, and provide more contextual background for the nature and relationships between the figures of Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary. While we gain historical context, none of this is solely about the individual people, but rather the ways in which we see God move in their lives, the ways in which He is honored and glorified, and the ways in which we can see His love and care in the kept promises to His people. As we continue our study of Luke we see this balance carry on – historical context that grounds the timeline, practical information that allows us to understand the conditions and environment in which these first century Jews, under Roman authority lived out their lives, and overshadowing all this, the profound weight of the will of God. What we read today is the Christmas story, the birth of the baby Jesus, the arrival of the Christ into the world – but we are terribly mistaken if we think to relegate this event to the one time of year when it’s specifically celebrated. The journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, the newborn Jesus laid in a manger, the testimony of the angels and the witness of the shepherds, all integral pieces of the familiar Christmas story – but they’re not just that, they’re all pieces of the story of the gospel, of the good news of Jesus coming into the world. As we read this section in the context of studying Luke’s gospel overall, we’re able to see just how seamlessly this event folds in as part of the orderly account, and how the things that are so greatly emphasized in the celebration of Christmas are constantly present in the lives of all who have received the good news.

Joy to the World and Glory to the Lord

1. A Faithful Delivery

“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.”

Usually when we read “city of David” the Bible is speaking of Jerusalem, which makes sense as it was David whom God blessed, some 400 years after the people of Israel entered the promised land, to finally take Jerusalem from the Jebusites, recorded in 2 Samuel 5. But it makes just as much sense that Bethlehem is also called “city of David,” as this is where David was born. It is for these very practical reasons that Joseph and Mary make the journey from Nazareth, not to Jerusalem, but to the much smaller nearby town of Bethlehem. All this, Luke tells us, was due to the edict of the current Caesar, a census taken, not just of the regions of Galilee and Judea, but of the sweeping entirety of the Roman empire, a headcount for the purpose of taxation. It makes sense that it took something this serious – a command from their ruling emperor, an order of which failure to comply would have meant severe consequences – to prompt the young couple to make the over seventy mile trip across varied, progressively uphill terrain, with Mary so far along in her pregnancy. And yet, it was through the ambitions of Caesar Augustus and his census that God fulfilled another prophecy concerning the birth of Christ, seen in Micah 5:2,

“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.”

No one was looking to Nazareth for the Messiah to come forth, whether because they understood Micah’s prophecy, or simply because Jerusalem and the southern region of Judea was regarded as more formally religious than the more Hellenistically integrated northern region of Galilee. And yet, regardless of what the people expected, because of God’s perfect timing, the young woman who is carrying the Christ, along with her betrothed, make their way to the place where the Savior is to be born. The way Luke relays this information helps us see both the practical implications of the events unfolding, as well as the spiritual relevance and prophetic fulfillment as through what may seem like mundane, worldly events, God faithfully delivers what He has promised.

“And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”

Childbirth has never been an easy thing. In modern times, with all the technological and medical advancements we’ve made, it’s still an extraordinarily painful and arduous process. This is a direct result of the fall, as God says to Eve in Genesis 3:16

“… I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children…”

As complicated as things can become now in a twenty-first century, first world nation, it’s nothing compared to the difficulties that could arise during labor in the first century. There was no sterile hospital environment, no team of trained staff with specialized equipment. People two-thousand years ago weren’t complete idiots as we so often end up painting them, but there was so much that wasn’t understood, and even with what was understood and the purity guidelines of the Law, there were many, many things we take for granted now that were impossibly beyond their reach. However even by first century standards, giving birth in an environment where a manger was your only option for a crib would have been less than ideal. But despite the conditions, what we see is the aftermath of a successful delivery – a healthy mom, and a healthy baby, swaddled and laid to rest in something that was essentially a feeding trough. What we read concerning this is the simple explanation that there was no room in the inn. This actually doesn’t require further explanation, because it makes complete sense. There are stories and dramatizations that will really hype up Mary and Joseph being denied shelter at the inn. Some translations actually have this as “guest room,” implying that it may have been their plan to stay with friends or relatives – regardless, we’re not told what conversations unfolded around Mary and Joseph’s lodging, we only see that they were ultimately provided for and that the baby Jesus and Mary were both safe. It’s unnecessary to imagine forced drama however, because the lack of accommodations makes complete sense – Bethlehem was full. The Roman census didn’t just apply to Joseph and his betrothed, but to every person in the empire, meaning that the small town of Bethlehem would have been packed with everyone whose lineage tied them to this place. In pulling from every study I can find, first century Bethlehem is estimated to have had a population of anywhere from 300 to 3,000, though the main consensus puts them at less than 1,000. There don’t seem to be any definitive estimations as to what the population could have swelled to during the time of the census, however with the average being so low, it wouldn’t have taken much to leave the town without any extra room. These are very real complications for any person to have to contend with – but they present no issue for God. His will was perfect, His provision secure, and there was no movement of the world, no barrier or obstacle that He didn’t foreknow and account for as He brought about the delivery of the Christ into the world.  

2. A Perfect Sign

“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.”

There’s quite a bit to unpack from the angel’s appearing to a group of shepherds. The first thing we can see is that Bethlehem seems to have remained similar to how it was when David was born there, and in the same societal standing as it was when God made His promise through the prophet Micah. David was a shepherd, tending his father’s flocks in his youth, and we can see from today’s passage that this occupation is still prevalent in the region hundreds of years later. The next thing we have to consider is the significance of God sending His angel to share the news of the birth of His Son, not to emperors, kings, or priests, but to shepherds. These are men who weren’t just absent from the top rungs of society, but lived near the very bottom. It’s commonly said that shepherds were despised outcasts within the first-century community, and while it seems that this sentiment can sometimes become exaggerated and made into a sort of hollow stereotype, it certainly was not a glamorous or highly regarded position to hold. Being a shepherd would have meant extensive working hours and prolonged exposure to harsh conditions and potentially dangerous environments. Their work would have made them ceremonially unclean on a consistent basis, meaning that interactions with the temple would have been severely limited if not impossible.  Despite their lowly position within society, the Bible provides us with a generally positive view of shepherds. The first shepherd we see in all of Scripture is Abel, who is named as a keeper of sheep in Genesis 4, and is the first person listed in Hebrews 11, the passage commonly called the Hall of Faith. Jacob worked as a shepherd for over fourteen years before returning to his homeland and receiving his new name of Israel. After fleeing Egypt, Moses was a shepherd for his father-in-law in Midian, until the Lord called him and sent him back to Egypt to confront Pharaoh and lead His people to freedom. As we’ve already addressed, David, who God would raise up to be one of if not the greatest king of Israel in all of the Old Testament, began as a shepherd before he was called before Samuel, anointed as king, and filled with the Holy Spirit. As if these figures weren’t enough, God Himself is likened to a shepherd in passages like Genesis 49:22–24,

“Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall. The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely, yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel)…”

Ezekiel 34:11–12,

“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.”

And, perhaps most famous of all, Psalm 23:1

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

There are also multiple instances throughout the New Testament where Jesus is referred to as “Shepherd,” and church leaders and teachers are called shepherds. The Bible’s message isn’t, “all shepherds are good,” but rather there seems to be an illustrated distinction as to the aim and spirit of the work that each individual shepherd is doing. We can see this contrast given in Jesus’ words in John 10:11–15,

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

The true shepherd is one dedicated to his flock, committed to their protection and well-being. The hired hand, a figure who is responsible for the flock, yet holds no ownership, no true loyalty or care for them, flees in the face of trouble. We can see the spiritual shepherds from the “hired hands” in their responses to the arrival of the Christ. If the sentiment that Pontius Pilate would one day express during Jesus’ accusation before the Sanhedrin gives us any indication to the stance of Rome as a whole, what we see is a sort of vague indifference verging on contempt. Herod, the so-called “king” of the Jewish people, responded to the birth of the Messiah by trying to have Him killed, and slaughtering multiple other baby boys (historical estimates range from approximately ten to twenty) in the process. Over the course of Jesus’ earthly ministry the religious leaders, these teachers who should have been overjoyed at His arrival, showed nothing but objection and contempt, culminating in their plot to see Him crucified. The humble shepherds, however, show us a far different response in the aftermath of their visit from the angel of the Lord.

“And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

Again we see the angelic greeting, a call to not be afraid, as with Zechariah, Mary, and figures from the Old Testament. There’s something particular that we should note here though, because we don’t just read that an angel appeared, but that the glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds. It’s not just the angel’s presence that is imposing, just as it’s not the message of the angel himself that is about to change the entire world – it’s God’s glory, it’s God’s message, it’s the Lord’s good news delivered through His angelic messenger that has broken the dark and quiet of night to share this good news with these shepherds. Despite the awe and wonder of what they’re seeing, there is no need to fear, the good news that is brought isn’t just for them, it’s not just for their nation, rather God’s promise from Isaiah 42:5–7 has been fulfilled in the arrival of the Light of the world,

“Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: ‘I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’”

When Zechariah is told that his wife will conceive and bear a son, he questions Gabriel as to how this will happen, and is struck dumb until the child is born and named. When Gabriel comes to Mary to tell her that she will bear the Christ she asks a question, though given the tone of the passage (and the fact that she maintained her ability to speak), there was a fundamental difference between her questions and Zechariah’s. Both were offered proof in time that what the angel had told them was true – Elizabeth did conceive, despite the age of her and her husband, and bore a son. Mary, despite her virginity, became pregnant with the Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. The shepherds are given no opportunity to question (if they’d been so inclined), nor are they left to watch events play out to see if the words of the angel come to pass. They are given a sign, a sign to seek immediately, a source of validation that requires no delay to find – a baby, swaddled and placed in a manger. I’ve seen some articles pop up through the years about how newborn lambs were immediately swaddled and placed in a stone manger to check for defects and assure that they were eligible for sacrifice, and so the shepherds would have understood the symbolism of the baby they were told of being the Lamb of God. The imagery of this is appealing, it’s a captivating and beautiful idea – but in trying to research it, it doesn’t seem to make much sense. Firstly, there’s not really a case where it’s a good idea to immediately take a baby animal from its mother right after it’s born. Secondly, sacrificial lambs weren’t killed until they were a year old, so the concept of needing to take a newborn to inspect and verify its sacrificial eligibility right away doesn’t really fit. We also have to consider that the majority of animals were sacrificially acceptable, the main qualifier being that they were healthy. Someone taking an animal that was blind or lame and would have been ineligible to breed from and setting aside for God would have been an insult to the Lord – you can’t sacrifice something that’s worthless, by its very definition, a sacrifice is something of value. Getting rid of the idea that lambs were swaddled and placed in stone mangers for inspection doesn’t undercut the reality that Jesus stood as the spotless Lamb of God, it just helps us see that this wasn’t the context that was built into what the shepherds were told. A newborn baby, swaddled and placed in a manger isn’t something that anyone would have expected to find, and the uniqueness of the circumstances stood as a sign to validate the news that the angel had brought.

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’”

At the conclusion of the angel’s message and the news of this sign that has been offered, there is a sort of eruption from above. The veil between realms seems to shift for a moment and what the shepherds see is a massive celebration. In Luke 15:10 Jesus says,

“Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

If there is joy over the salvation of a single sinner, then it makes sense as to why the heavenly host is rejoicing and praising God as they are. The Lord has given peace to the world, has given Himself in a way that we have never known prior, He has moved to offer the salvation that was so infinitely out of reach of mankind. We see that the first declaration of the host is to glorify God, but in acknowledging what He’s done we also see foreshadowing of just who Jesus has come to save – those with whom He is pleased. This doesn’t signify some kind of divine favoritism, but rather points to the heart condition of those who will receive the Word. Jesus says quite simply in Luke 19:10,

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

We can understand this as all who are estranged from God, but there’s a bit more nuance to it than that. John 1:11–13 tells us,

“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

And to return to a passage we addressed earlier, John 10:24–27 says,

“So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

To layer on the context from one more passage, Jesus says in Matthew 23:2–3,

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.”

Jesus came to seek and save the lost, but it would be a mistake to think of the ruling Jews as “lost.” Certainly, they were lost in their sin, but not out of any lack of teaching or absence of information. To them God had entrusted the teaching of His people and they had failed utterly. Their sins and transgressions were not so much ones of ignorance, but of willful rebellion for the love of their own perceived power. And so the Peace of God has come down from heaven, and we see His arrival declared, not to the religious leaders, those who should have been the first to recognize and celebrate the Christ, but rather it is the humble and lowly shepherds, dutifully tending their flocks by night who are given the news and the sign that their King and Savior has arrived.

3. A Joyful Testimony

“When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.”

There is, in the life of each and every person who hears the gospel, an opportunity for response. It could be at the very end of your life, a response of mere seconds as you place your faith in Christ, or it may be the continual response of a lifetime as the Holy Spirit works within you, sanctifying you as you decrease and Christ increases in your life. Paul writes in Romans 10:8–10,

“But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Sometimes there’s an overemphasis on the “confess with your mouth” part, and proclaiming faith in Jesus is treated like touching base in a game of tag – count to three and you’re good, you can carry on with your life as you were before. People sometimes fail to realize that a true confession is not just something verbal, but is marked by a heart transformation – the saved person, while still imperfect, does not behave in the same way as an unsaved person because they are fundamentally different. This is why James writes in James 2:18,

“But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

If there is not a genuine response to the Word, then there was no genuine reception – which brings us to the matter of the shepherds. They’re at work, they’re tending their flocks, it is, by all accounts, a normal night. An angel appears, the glory of God shining around him and onto the shepherds and they are understandably terrified at the sight. The angel shares his message, the Christ has been born, and the celebrating host of heaven is revealed. But then, the angels depart, the calm of the night is restored, and the shepherds are faced with a decision. It seems fairly obvious to us reading the story – you were just told that the baby Jesus has been born, you’re obviously going to go see the newborn Christ, you’re going to verify the sign that you were told to look for. But how often do we look at the world around us and because of our improperly ordered priorities, because of our hurried pace, because of our dedication to work, because of our easily distracted, and prone to wander flesh, we fail to do the thing that is set right before us? We speak out of pride or passion when what the moment calls for is patient silence. We hold our tongue before lies or injustice out of fear or uncertainty when the moment calls for the voice of clear and reasoned Truth. We burn our time with no regard on work or play, only to realize that we’ve grievously neglected to read our Bible or pray. We have choices, and too often, we choose wrongly. As improbable as it sounds, the shepherds could have marveled at what they just witnessed, and then returned to tending their sheep, they could have passed from a moment of miraculous news back into the mundane tedium of daily life and completely neglected the blessing of the news they’d been given – but that’s not what happened. The angels disappear and the response from the shepherds is immediate, with haste they seek, and they find exactly what they were promised – the newborn baby lying in a manger.

“And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.”

A habit that I’ve developed in reading Scripture is that I try not to make too much of the responses of the crowd at large. It’s not that the crowd can’t praise God or rejoice in His work, but what we tend to see is that the vast group as a whole struggles in their hearts with fully placing lasting trust in what the Lord is doing. They often begin the journey, but seem to hit an offramp somewhere along the way. It was the crowds who followed Jesus after the feeding of the 5,000, and the vast majority of them turned away shortly after, hearing Jesus’ declaration that He was the Bread of Life, recorded in John 6. It was the crowd that cried out “Hosanna,” and celebrated with great joy as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the week of Passover, and the crowd who demanded “crucify Him!” a few short days later. So when we read that “all who heard” wondered in response to the shepherds’ testimony, this certainly isn’t a bad thing, but it’s also not a guarantee of the right response among the people. It’s appropriate that the grand fulfillment of divine prophecy spark a sense of fascination and wonder in those who hear of it – but we also shouldn’t confuse wonder with faith. There are many who feel a sense of curiosity around what they suspect might be the workings of God, there are plenty of people who are fascinated by the practices of Christians, or of religion in a general sense, and yet watch as objective outsiders, spectating, wondering, but not actually joining in faith or worship. Wonder is appropriate, but if it’s all that is offered up then it’s ultimately rootless. We don’t know the hearts of each person who heard the good news that the shepherds shared – we do however see the response of Mary, and the continued praise of the shepherds.

“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

The people who hear the testimony of the shepherds wonder, which again has general sort of implications tied to it. Mary, however, treasures these things and deeply considers them. We’ve already looked at Mary’s character – how this young woman faithfully received the news that she would miraculously conceive and bear the Christ, how she delighted in the news that Elizabeth, her cousin who was barren for so many years had become pregnant, and how she exalted the work of the Lord in her song of praise. This is by all accounts a good and admirable young woman, obedient before the Lord. But trials affect everyone differently, and we never know how someone may respond to the stressors of the world. We don’t know exactly what Mary has thought and felt for the majority of her pregnancy, but we know that if nothing else she had to contend with making a lengthy journey late into her third trimester. But here in the aftermath of whatever she’s had to face, of pregnancy and labor, and whatever else the past nine months have brought, God has provided for her, and she has remained faithful. As far as we know, Mary received no word from the Lord after Gabriel’s visit, but here as she hears the testimony of the shepherds, which coincides perfectly with what she was told, as well as what Joseph was told by an angel in a dream, she treasures these things. Mary may just be a human woman, limited in her understanding as we all are, but the Lord had blessed her richly, and her devotion to Him was, by all appearances unfailing. As for the shepherds themselves, we close by seeing that their response, their awe and wonder at what God has blessed them to see and testify to is not some temporary or fleeting thing. The men return to their work – they went at once to see the Christ, to share the news that the angels had brought, but they have not forsaken their earthly responsibilities in the wake of what they have witnessed. But what we see is that as they return to their work, herding sheep is not what is at the forefront of their minds. They resume the task at hand, glorifying God, praising Him for what they had been blessed to hear and see. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31,

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

When the night began these men were shepherds, and when it ends their station in society has not changed, they’re still shepherds watching over their flocks. But their hearts and minds aren’t just about their work, they are filled with the knowledge, the awe and wonder, the joy of the testimony that they’ve been blessed with from the Lord.

Pastor Chris’ sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s2xoQwzBKE