CALEB CUNNINGHAM: THE INSIGNIFICANCE OF JESUS' BIRTH

The Insignificance of Jesus’ Birth
Luke 2:1-20

If you look back in the first two chapters of Luke at the situation, time, and place of the Birth of Jesus you’ll find everything needed for a great story:
· Political intrigue
o The census decreed by Caesar Augustus while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
o Herod’s curiosity and unwillingness to acquiesce his throne to God
· Conflict
o Mary, an unmarried, but engaged, woman who has become pregnant.
§ In the modern U.S., where a million teenage boys and girls conceive children outside of wedlock, Mary’s predicament has undoubtedly lost some of its force, but in a closely knit Jewish community in the first century, the news an angel brought could not have been entirely welcome. The law regarded a betrothed woman who became pregnant as an adulteress, subject to death by stoning.
o Travel about 75 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register for the census.
· Anticipation
o Nine months of anxiously waiting for the Miracle Child.
o Difficulty in finding shelter in Bethlehem to stay the night.
· The drama of a delivery room – Mary in labor pains and Joseph pacing nearby.
· Fear – Many women died from childbirth in those days. Would Mary?
· Doxology (hymn of praise) – Rejoicing new parents and the multitude of the heavenly host.
· Amazement –
o At a helpless, fragile, new life.
o The message from the shepherds who had received word from the angel of the Lord.

But one thing that impresses about the birth of Jesus is how simple and unadorned it really is. In fact the events and circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus seem embarrassing. As Phillip Yancey wrote in The Jesus I Never Knew, “It seems that God arranged the most humiliating circumstances possible for his entrance, as if to avoid any charge of favoritism” (p 32). What captures me in the story of Christ’s birth is the “insignificant” element.
Some might object by saying, “Insignificant?” How could the birth of the virgin-born Son of God be insignificant? Indeed for God to become human (John. 1:14) is no small thing. But watch how Luke, the only Gentile (outsider) to write about the life of Christ, shows in the birth of Jesus how God fills the seeming insignificant with His presence and makes what might have been mundane into profound mystery.

I. Insignificant Places.

The “happening” places of the world were Rome, Athens, and Syria. People who ruled others lived there, and that mattered. No one cared much about Palestine, tucked away in a small pocket of the Mediterranean Sea—no one cared except God.

But our story sets its focus on little places:
Like Bethlehem (house of bread)—granted, the City of David, but really not all that important in terms of size and clout.
Micah 5:2 – But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah…
Like Nazareth (in Aramaic means, “watchtower”)
This town was of minor importance.It was “secluded and isolated from traffic” (Nelson’s New Illustrated Dictionary). In fact, it is never even mentioned in the Old Testament.
Nazareth was so small and insignificant that historians and archaeologists doubted its existence until recently…
It had a bad reputation in morals and religion and a certain crudeness in its dialect, which caused Nathanael to ask, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46)
Like a manger—a common cow trough but mentioned three times in our text.
Like fields—where shepherds watch flocks. The first Christmas took place “down on the farm.”

When God comes near all the little places become big!
Although Bethlehem was “too little to be among the clans of Judah” (Micah 5:2), God would say of it, “From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel” concerning the Messiah. The “Bread of Life” would come from the ”House of Bread” (Bethlehem).
Although Nazareth was not an important town before the New Testament era, it became immortal as the hometown of Jesus the Messiah. And according to Matthew 2:23, the prophets had predicted that Jesus would be called a “Nazarene”.

II. Insignificant People.

The important people of the world were mentioned in v. 1 & 2: Caesar Augustus and Quirinius. They were the movers and shakers. When they spoke people listened. They could call for taxes and the word was, “So let it be done.” Their faces would be on money. Their figures would be made into statues…

But our story looks to different key players:
Like a young poor couple from Nazareth—Mary and Joseph.
Yancey wrote, “God emerged in Palestine as a baby who could not speak or eat solid food or control his bladder, who depended on a teenager for shelter, food, and love.”
Joseph’s job as a carpenter in Israel during the first century wouldn’t have given him any prominence. In fact, in our chapter we find out that Joseph could even find a place at a crowded Inn for his pregnant wife.
Like shepherds—Biblically shepherds had important roles, but socially they were outcasts. They stayed out in the night with their sheep. The smelled like sheep.

When God comes near all the little people suddenly seem to matter!
Mary would forever be respected amongst the people of the world and the angels in heaven:
Gabriel called her “favored one” (lit. “woman richly blessed”) (Luke 1:28).
Elizabeth, who was filled with the Holy Spirit according to Luke 1:41, said to Mary, “Blessed are you among women…”
And Mary could rightly say in Luke 1:48, “From this time on all generations will count me blessed.”
And then there’s Joseph…We don’t know much about Joseph after the birth of Jesus. We do know that…
Matthew 1:19 calls him “a righteous man.”
We know that he “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him” (Matt 1:24).
He protected the baby Jesus from wicked king Herod by fleeing with his family to Egypt.
Out of all the men in the world who ever existed, God trusted Joseph, a carpenter from Nazareth, to be an earthly father to His Son Jesus.

III. Insignificant Event.

The events that would make news were war and taxes—it still does. But the birth of Jesus would go unnoticed to the busy world. Babies are born everyday. The papers are filled with new birth announcements that go unread by the vast majority of people in a town. But our story gives attention to the birth of a baby. When God comes near, all little events take on spiritual power.

The angelic assembly in heaven would say to the shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you; you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger…Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” (Luke 2:10-14).

The ancient prophecies were being fulfilled, the star had appeared, and the virgin conceived and gave birth to our Savior.

But think: God started to save the world with the birth of a baby. Therein is the wisdom of God:
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 – For consider you calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the thing that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

God uses the simple things in life. He uses the weak and inferior things. God uses the still, small, voices. He uses the little people in little places doing little things for His great power. You see…

IV. The Significant Life

When God comes near, all the little places become big.
As Ralph W. Sockman said of Bethlehem, “The hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable.”
Maybe you don’t come from a “big” place. Your hometown might not be that special. Your home and family life might be broken up and untraditional. But God is famous for taking people from small places and insignificant homes to accomplish great things. And no matter what your home situation is, God can and will use you if you’ll let Him.

When God comes near, all the little people suddenly seem to matter!
It’s easy to get lost in a sea of faces. A feeling of insignificance can cause you to feel depressed, alone, and unhappy. What’s worse is when we feel as though we don’t have the right talents or looks, the right amount of money job or education. But God takes WILLING people no matter how small they are in their own sight or in the sight of others and uses them for great purposes. No matter who you are and what you’ve done, God can and will use you if you’ll let Him.

When God comes near all little events take on spiritual power!
There was a series on television based on interviews with survivors from World War 2. The soldiers recalled how they spent a particular day. One sat in a foxhole all day; once or twice, a German tank drove by and he shot at it. Others played cards and frittered away the time. A few got involved in furious firefights. Mostly, the day passed like any other day for an infantryman on the front. Later, they learned they had just participated in one of the largest, most decisive engagements of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. It did not feel decisive to any of them at the time, because none had the big picture of what was happening elsewhere.
Likewise, as Joseph and Mary engaged to be married, as they went to Bethlehem to register for the census, as they returned to Nazareth to raise a family, they probably didn’t realize that they were, in fact, fulfilling prophecies made concerning the salvation of the world.
As you continue to do those little acts of righteousness and as you continue to plant those small, seemingly insignificant, seeds of faith, you may not be aware of the overall picture that God has painted you in. No how matter what you daily routine is in life, if it is a routine done righteously, God can and will bring spiritual significance to your daily life.

Conclusion

For the Gospel written for the outsider this was very good news. The birth of Jesus subtly announces that all places, all people, and all events matter to God.

Maybe you haven’t realized you importance to God. Maybe you’ve been letting where you live, who you are, and what you do, keep you from His love. If so, I hope I have convinced you that you are just the person that God can use. Don’t remain in insignificance any longer, but come to Jesus now, give Him your broken life and allow Him to rebuild according to His image and His glory. Don’t make the Lord’s trip to earth in vain for you…