Luke 2:4-7 “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.”
Having some months to wait and reflect, what were Mary and Joseph anticipating about the birth of the long-awaited Messiah? Certainly they must have expected their circumstances to change dramatically – wealth, comfort, protection, and certainly a few more angelic pronouncements and appearances. This was, after all, nothing less than God entering time and space. But how remarkable that Mary and Joseph continued to believe even as life plodded along in its ordinary way, as they traveled to register for the census, as they experienced the frustration of no decent place to stay, much less give birth. How would I have expected God to come? The whole world could have known of his arrival instantly. Splendor and majesty. Shock and awe. Enemies defeated. Judgment rendered. The Roman Empire overthrown. But twenty centuries ago, God arrived in the most counterintuitive way imaginable. Even the spectacular appearance of angels was “wasted” on a few uneducated sheep herders in the fields beyond Bethlehem (2:8-20). This tells us much about God. He “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:7-8).
Lord Jesus, your ways are not anything like my ways. You chose the path of utmost humility, suffering, and self-sacrifice. Yet you accomplished everything you came here to do in your short time on earth, bearing the world’s sin upon yourself and defeating death. Now, all who are willing to receive your forgiveness can be set free!