Sermon: How Far is it to Bethlehem? Luke 2:1-7 Decmber 15, 2002
READ LUKE 2:1-7
I. Introduction
I Wonder as I wander for I wonder what it might have been there for that first christmas
II. Mary and Jospeh’s Journey
A. A Painful Journey
1. The year was 29 BC and a new Emperor was now on the throne of the Roman Empire, His name was Caius Caesar Octavianus Augustus. For centuries, the emperors of Rome had ruled the civilized world with an iron fist. Their mighty legions were nearly invincible, crushing every enemy that dared to attempt to stop them. Nation after nation had fell as prey to the Roman Army including country Syria and the province Judea, the home of the remnant of the Jews of the nation of Israel.
The Jews who lived in Judea were oppressed greatly. It was as though a dark cloud of sin and judgment had covered the land. This great people had disobeyed God and fallen into apostasy and idolatry. As a result, God had not spoken to his own chosen nation for 400 years. For 4 centuries, not one Prophet had appeared in Israel. No one in the land had heard the Word of God come forth as had been done during the time of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Elijah or Malachi.
In a world bound by sin and darkness, this was the midnight hour. The big government and dominating power of Rome was, once again, poised to renew its oppression of the Jews. They were slaves to Rome with little or no hope of gaining their freedom.
2. Israel had long ago been robbed of its wealth and power. The individual citizens had been taxed heavily to support the Roman garrison and to fill the pockets of the governors and rulers that Rome had put into place without any consideration of the desires of the people
There is nothing like oppression through taxation without representation that will stir a people to action against those who impose unwanted and unwarranted taxes upon them.
3. The Jews must have felt like the dying business man who called his friend to his bedside. “Bill,” he said, ”I want you to promise me that when I die you will have my remains cremated.” “Okay, Bill, I promise. But what do you want me to do with your ashes.” The businessman replied “Just put them in an envelope and mail them to the Internal Revenue Service with a note that says “Now, you have everything.”
4. It was a world of power and money-mad Dictators. Of big government that refused to be satisfied until every bit of wealth had been drained from the people. Caesar Augusts had ordered that all of Judea should be counted in a census so that none would escape the new taxation to support the lavish Roman government.
5. And to make matters worse, every man who lived in the Land of Judea had to return to his place of birth to register for the census. News of this census caused great concern for Joseph for he knew that, somehow, he must make the long and dangerous journey to his hometown of Bethlehem.
But how could he do so. He was barely making ends meet. There was no money for food or lodging. The road between Nazareth and Bethlehem were long, hard with robbers lurking behind rocks all along the way. This was not going to be a pleasant journey.
6. And then there was the problem of Mary. It wasn’t necessary for anyone other than the men to make the trip to be counted in the census but Joseph couldn’t risk leaving Mary behind. She could not stay behind for the circumstances of her pregnancy were questioned by many in town. Especially the orthodox Jews who felt that Mary had committed a sin worthy of death by stoning. Jospeh was concerned about what would happen to Mary if he left her behind all alone, unprotected.
7. And so Mary and Joseph convinced that God had blessed them with this child and that God would take care of them on the journey leave, loaded some clothing, food, water and what little money they had, and began the long journey to Bethlehem.
8. It was 70-80 miles of rough terrain. Mary was in the final days of her pregnancy. It was a difficult and arduous journey. Jim Bishop writes in his book, The Day Christ Was Born,
(a) She no longer noticed the chafe of the goatskin against her
leg, nor the sway of the food bag on the other side of the
animal. Her veiled head hung and she saw millions of pebbles
on the road moving by her brown eyes in a blur, pausing, and
moving by again with each step of the animal.
Sometimes she felt ill at ease and fatigued, but she swallowed
this feeling and concentrated on what a beautiful baby she was
about to have and kept thinking about it, the bathing, the
oils, the feeding, the tender pressing of the tiny body
against her breast -- and the sickness went away. Sometimes she
murmured the ancient prayers and, for the moment, there was no
road and no pebbles and she dwelt on the wonder of God and saw
Him in a fleecy cloud at a windowless wall of an inn or a
hummock of trees, walking backward in front of her husband,
beckoning him on. God was everywhere. It gave Mary
confidence to know that He was everywhere. She needed
confidence.
(b) It was that confidence that sustained Mary on this journey. It was that same confidence that would sustain in her in the future as she watched her son journey to the cross. It was confidence that was rooted in her understanding that this was a…
B. Destined Journey
1. The Roman Government thought they had planned it. That it was about them, about money
2. But this journey was ordained by God
(a) Micah 5:2, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
(b) God is in control
C. But it was a Missed Journey by many
1. Innkeeper
(a) Bible doesn’t mention an inn keeper
(b) But there must have been one (poem)
(i) O Innkeeper, O Innkeeper, are you a man of sin, Because you said to Joseph and Mary: “There is no room in the inn”? Are you a man that is mean spirited, grumpy and weary? Who slammed the door in the face of Joseph and Mary
(ii) Or are you a kind hearted man we should console That was the victim of circumstances out of your control. Whether you are a villain or a hero, For sure we will never know.
(iii) But I believe your response was that of preoccupation. I doubt you ever gave them any real consideration.
(iv) Never had your inn been so full as on that night.Never had demands on your time caused you so much plight.
(v) All you wanted was to take care of the guest who had come.After all, the price they paid added up to a tidy sum.
(vi) O Innkeeper, O Innkeeper, you are so much like people today. They are so busy: They run this way ad that way.
(vii) They are so busy with all the things of the season. They don’t have a clue abou the holiday’s reason.
(viii) They are so busy they don’t open their heart to God’s love. Therefore they never received the CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS FROM God above.
(ix) Let it be our prayer that we will not do the same. Let’s let “opening our hearts to Jesus be our Christmas aim.”
(c) In his back yard the greatest event in history is taking place and he is conspicuously absent but he wasn’t the only one
2. all those in town
3. the jews
4. only angels, a couple of shepherds and Magi
5. No room in the inn?!– for many there was no room in their schedule and no room in their lives for the Christmas journey and this journey
D. More than any other Journey Requires Making Room
1. Wally was a 7th grade student who was bigger than any of the other students in his Sunday school class. His mother had been an alcoholic when he was born, & as a result, Wally just did not have all the mental capabilities that the rest of his classmates had. But somehow he managed to get by.
Christmas time came & his class decided to put on a Christmas pageant. Since he was the biggest, Wally was selected to be the innkeeper. After all, the innkeeper is kind of a villain in the Christmas drama. So they coached Wally to be just as mean as he possibly could be.The night came for the Christmas play. And was going well until Mary & Joseph arrived at the Inn.
2. Joseph knocked on the door. Wally opened the door & said, "What do you want?" just as mean & gruff as he could possibly be.
Joseph said, "We need a room. We need a place to stay tonight." "Well, you’ll have to stay someplace else," said Wally, "because there’s no room here. There’s no room in the Inn."
Joseph said, "But my wife’s expecting a baby just any time now. Isn’t there someplace where we can stay, where we are protected from the cold & where she can deliver her child?" "No," said Wally, "There’s no room here."
Then suddenly there was a silence on the stage. It was one of those embarrassing moments when you know that someone has forgotten the lines. From behind the curtains you could hear the prompter saying, "Begone. Begone." Wally was supposed to speak, but for some reason he had choked up & forgotten to say "Begone."
Finally, after he had been coached for several long seconds, Wally managed to say, "Begone." Mary & Joseph sadly turned to leave. But just as they did, Wally said, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You can have my room."
3.
III. Christmas is about a journey. A journey in which we need the strength and support of spiritual friends, a journey that requires mercy, obedience and forgiveness. A journey that may sometimes be painful,, yet it is a journey that each of us must make, a journey destined by God, a journey that requires us to make room in our busy lives, in our busy schedules. A journey that should cause us to pause and ask, not “How far is it to Bethlehem? But what must I do to get there?
