Luke 2:3–20

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Dean, School of Christian Studies, University of Mobile

A UNIQUE PERSON: PRAISE GOD

Luke 2:3–20

Account of Jesus’ Birth (3–7)
For a census, the Roman government required the head of each family to journey to the town where his family records were kept. Joseph had been living in or near Nazareth, up in Galilee. But he was a native of Bethlehem. Therefore he took Mary and returned to his hometown, the city of David.

Wives were not required to go with their husbands for the census but Mary’s pregnancy was full-term. Had Joseph left her in Nazareth, the townspeople might have mocked or even abused her when she delivered her baby. That Mary was his “espoused,” i.e., promised, wife means only that the marriage had not yet been consummated. 

The great number of people returning to their ancestral home left no room for many travelers. The only place open to Joseph and Mary was a stable. There Jesus was born, wrapped in swaddling cloths and placed in a manger. Swaddling a newborn involved bathing it in olive oil and rubbing it with salt and then laying its arms by its sides and wrapping it with cloth bands. This was done to support the baby’s body until it “jelled” solidly and/or to promote good posture. A manger was a feed bin for animals. It would not have been made of wood because wood was scarce and expensive.

Announcement by Angels (8–14)
Some stoutly deny that Jesus could have been born in December. They hold that shepherds would have watched their flocks “at night” only in the spring when lambs were being born in case a ewe needed help delivering her young. And they believe no shepherd would have been in those cold, open fields in a winter month. However, it is not at all certain that shepherds were in the fields only in the spring. And Bethlehem is roughly on a line with Mobile. Hardly any snow falls near there, and the winter drop in temperature usually comes only after the first of the year. The bottom line is that no one knows for sure exactly when Jesus was born but no one can rule out December as a possibility.

An angel, a messenger from God, appeared with radiant glory, and the shepherds “feared a great fear” (literally; doubling shows the intensity of their fear). The angel ordered them to “stop fearing” because of the presence of “great joy!” The joy was all-inclusive and based in the birth of the Savior, further identified as “Christ,” i.e., Messiah, “the Lord.”

Even before the shepherds could ask, the angel announced a “sign.” But the sign of heaven was most unheavenly. They would find the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. No palace with silk sheets and strawberries with cream for the King of heaven, only a stable with straw for a bed and His mother’s thin milk.

Angelic hosts joined the announcing angel and praised God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest!” and “on earth, peace among men upon whom His favor settles!”

Visit by Shepherds (15–20)
When the angels left and the glory faded, the shepherds wasted little time. They believed the message and hurried off to see what the Lord had done. “In haste” may mean “to cut across,” implying that they did not take time to travel the ordinary path but cut across the fields to reach Bethlehem more quickly. Everything was just as the angel said. They found Mary, Joseph and the baby lodged in a stable.

Some scholars think these shepherds tended special flocks of sheep intended to serve as Temple sacrifices. If that is so, then it is noteworthy that what they saw in the stable was the Lamb of God, the Sacrifice that would end all sacrifice.

That “all who heard the shepherds’ testimony were astonished” suggests that Mary and Joseph were not the only people to whom they told their story.

Mary stored up this event in her heart and pondered its meaning.

The shepherds went back to their simple job of guarding the flocks. But they were never quite the same. Perhaps for years after, they kept on praising God for all they had heard and seen.