St. Luke 2:1–7
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. At least, all the civilized world, all the territory surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, held by the power of the Roman legions, and ruled over by the first Emperor of Rome: Caesar Augustus. Basically his name means “Magnificent King,” and he thought he would brag a bit about how big his dominion was. So, he sent out a decree that everyone should be registered. He wanted to count heads. He wanted to learn just how big his kingdom was and how best to control it.
But Caesar was a bit like Caiaphas, who would be high priest later when Jesus was arrested and crucified, who would prophesy, without knowing it, that it is better that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish (John 11:50). So also, Caesar Augustus, without knowing it, was really fulfilling the Scriptures, as all things must. God is not only at work at the specific, obvious moments described in the Bible. God is always at work, hidden but directing the course of human history. Caesar didn’t know it, but he was merely playing the part that God had for him in the great drama known as the salvation story.
So, when Caesar’s officials went out and recorded all the people of the known world, they eventually recorded something like this entry: Registered three: Joseph, son of Heli of Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah, betrothed to Mary; one child—Jesus. There inscribed in ink, on the list with all the other men, women, and children, was the name given to a baby boy by Joseph, who had been directed by an angel—the name, Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21).
Even in infancy, the Christ was obeying His true Father and was reconciling the world in His newly assumed flesh. There on Caesar’s list, the Son of God was numbered with the children of Israel, numbered with the descendants of Adam and Eve—the perfect Son of God numbered with the transgressors. This is the Good News of Christmas. Our God became a Man—He was numbered as one of us. And it IS good news because if God is Man, then Man cannot be killed. Man cannot be lost. Man cannot be left to decay and to the destruction of death and hell. If God is Man then God must love Man, and Man must be saved as he is loved by God. If God is Man, then there is hope for us all.
And even more glorious than Him being numbered with the transgressors is that the transgressors are numbered with Him who knew no sin. Jesus became like us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Though Jesus was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). Caesar thought he was numbering his subjects, but really, the heavenly Father was numbering His children. Caesar thought he would bring glory to himself and to his Empire (and from a human perspective, the names of those Judean peasants have mostly been lost to the dustbin of history, while the names of illustrious Caesar and Rome live on). But at least three of the names of those Judean peasants have been preserved for the ages: Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, because in truth, God has brought His glory to all people.
Your name is also recorded, not on Caesar’s list, but in the Lamb’s Book of Life. You that are baptized in His name and cling to Christ by faith, you are registered among the citizens of heaven. The Holy Spirit has made you a dwelling place for God. The Son has counted you as His brothers and sisters. And Christ’s Father is your Father.
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
Most of this is from Rev. Mark Lovett, Christmas Eve 2017.
