Divine Power in Humble Beginnings: The Birth of Jesus

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria, and everyone went to their own town to register. 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. [00:01:04]

Luke is deliberately drawing a great contrast here. We start by mentioning that the ruler of the world, Caesar Augustus, and he's the one that's got all the power. He believes himself to be in charge. He issues a decree because that's what rulers do, that's what leaders do. They make an order, and everybody does what they say. [00:02:04]

Caesar, who everybody knows is in charge, issues a decree. People got to register. You'll notice that that word census or register is used four times in this little passage. Luke is underlining the fact that Caesar is the guy who thought that he was in charge of the world. So he sets in motion a chain of events. [00:03:37]

How surprising that one of those tiny little events with a person that he never knew in a land that he never visited in a place that he didn't even dream about was that a man named Joseph went to a town named Bethlehem. And there's a second purpose at work, as there is in your life, in the events and circumstances that are going on. [00:04:34]

The wisest of us have always known that ultimately hearts are not inspired just by trying to get richer or more powerful. We think that's what runs the world, but deep inside we understand we know better. And Caesar's not in control. There was a mathematician, Edward Norton Loren, and he described what he called the butterfly effect. [00:04:52]

The idea of the butterfly effect is very small events can sometimes have staggeringly great and unpredictable consequences. A famous article about that talked about how a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil could impact a tornado, when it arose and where it would land, in Texas weeks later. [00:05:01]

Luke is saying precisely this world, there is another purpose that's going on here. So there's another way of looking at the or chart of the universe, and here we have God at work. And then we have Jesus, who is going to make God known to our world, appears to be this insignificant little baby in a manger. [00:05:38]

The Bible says actually the way that the world is running is quite different than the way the world thinks that it's running. Caesar issues a decree, sets everything in motion like Yurtle the Turtle. If you know that old book, I'm the king of all that I see, and all these other turtles are way down beneath me. [00:06:10]

The rule of power is going to be changed because what happens is as a result of this decree that Caesar thinks is just his idea, just his power, it sets in motion a string of events where one obscure man named Joseph leaves his town and goes to a city called Bethlehem, where, as it turns out, a prophetic prediction was made many centuries ago. [00:06:36]

Bethlehem played a wonderful role in the birth of Jesus that has often not been understood. People's picture of this often is that Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem, and they can't find any place for Jesus to be born, so they got to go to a barn somewhere. It's not quite the way that it works. [00:07:56]

The village of Bethlehem is a place that prized hospitality, and David would have made space. So now the invitation is to me today, to you today, make room for him, make space for him. And we do that first of all in our time. You're doing that right now. That's a really good thing. [00:10:15]

The butterfly effect is still at work. The orders and decrees of the high and mighty are not actually running this world. It ain't really all about the money. It's really not. It's really about the self-offering love of the God who made you and me, who has become present in our world and in your life and mine in the person of Jesus Christ. [00:12:07]