Amy C Walters

The Birth of Jesus – Luke 2:1-7

If we got to choose how and when and where our children came into the world, we would pick a time and place that’s peaceful and clean. But God in his infinite wisdom chose to send the Messiah right into the middle of a messy time and place–political instability, a couple with a bad reputation, a dirty barn. God doesn’t wait for us to clean up before he shows up. Instead, he enters into the mess.

This story takes place in a very tumultuous time. Caesar Augustus has united the Roman Empire, including Israel which is under its oppression. And that unification came at a great cost. There was a lot of bloody, expensive conflict to create the empire. 

There are other rulers in control, like Herod, who we met in the first story, that are paranoid, jealous, anxious about retaining their own power. And so it’s a very volatile time.

We also know that a census has been taken for the purpose of taxes. Nobody likes taxes. That does not feel good.

Israel is also wanting their own autonomy, freedom as a nation. They don’t want to be under the oppression of the Roman Empire. They don’t want to be subject to Roman laws. They want their own rule. And as we’ve noted, there were some Jewish people at this time who believed that the Messiah would be a socio-political figure who would free them from the Roman Empire.

Even Mary and Joseph are not free from controversy. Many of their neighbors at the time, I’m sure, would say that they are unfit parents. You have this couple who is pledged to be married to one another, not yet married, and yet the woman is pregnant. To anyone on the outside, this would have looked like they were messing around and doing inappropriate things.

Now, we don’t know if Mary told them the story of the angel. I do know that I would have had a hard time believing that as a neighbor. “Yeah, right, the Holy Spirit, okay. Maybe you and Joseph just didn’t wait long enough.” 

So we have parents that have a bad reputation in their community. They also seem a little bit unprepared for Jesus’ arrival. They’re staying in a barn because there’s no room for them in the inn. They’re in a dirty, smelly place. There’s no privacy. There’s animals nearby. They have only strips of cloth to wrap him in when he is born. You’ve got Joseph probably having to help deliver the baby. This is unsafe, unclean.

And yet, this is exactly what Jesus comes into.

If you and I were deciding when and how and where the Messiah of the world should come and live with his people, we probably would have made some very different choices. Just think about our own children. If we got to choose when and how they came, we would probably choose a very safe time, maybe nice weather so that there’s no trouble getting to the hospital. We want to choose the best hospitals or the best places to have that child so that it’s clean and the right people are there and we have everything set up for when they are born that they can be taken care of well and safely.

If we could choose a political climate for them to come into, we would choose one that’s making godly choices where there’s peace, where there’s unity.

If we’re talking about the Messiah, the King of the world, the Savior of the world coming, what he deserves is so much greater, a palace to come into, all the best things.

But God, in his infinite wisdom, does not choose all those best things to send his son into, does not choose a palace, does not choose a couple with a great reputation or all the resources in the world. He doesn’t choose a peaceful time where there’s unity and freedom and things are going smoothly.

He chooses to send Jesus into the mess of that moment, into the mess of a barn and a scratchy straw-filled manger. He chooses to send Jesus to a couple with a bad reputation and yet good, godly hearts. He chooses to send Jesus in a time of political unrest, because God is not afraid of our mess. God doesn’t avoid it. God doesn’t wait for us to clean things up first before he shows up. Jesus comes right in the middle of that mess.

And that is so important because our lives are so messy. We have relationships that are fraught with frustration and misunderstanding and arguments. Relationships that are broken. We have homes where there’s turmoil. We have lives where it just doesn’t seem like there’s enough resources for us to have everything that we need. We have a political climate that is very divided, and there’s a lot of anger back and forth.

We have messy lives, and these are messy times. And that’s exactly when we need Jesus. He’s not saying, “Clean it up first, get things together, and then I’ll come.” He comes right in the middle of it.

Many years ago, my husband was a youth pastor at a small church, and that church was going through a very messy, turbulent time. Relationships were splintering. There was deception that we had to wade through and understand actually what was really going on. And it was heartbreaking and frustrating to be in the middle of that.

And as Christmas time was approaching, I was getting so frustrated and saying, “God, I want to celebrate Christmas. I want to be joyful and cheerful and just really enjoy this time. And this messy situation is getting in the way of me enjoying it. I can’t focus on Christmas in this mess.” 

And then God spoke this story to me, reminding me that Jesus is in the mess with me. That mess is not a distraction, but it makes me look to him more. It helps me to recognize my need for him because life is messy.

When I think that I can handle it all myself, and I’ve got all this stuff together, that’s when I start to think that I don’t need Jesus. And nothing could be further from the truth.

My messy life reminded me that I need a God who’s in that mess with me, because he brings his peace, his order, his perfection into that chaos. And I get to enjoy that peace with him, even when my life is messy.

That’s why today’s key truth is that Jesus enters the mess. 

We need to be reminded of that because we tend to think he’s not there. We tend to think that the messy situation is keeping us from him, and yet it is that very messy situation that reminds us how much we need him, and where we can see him bring his peace into it.