Happy birthday, Jesus

 

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

 

While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

 

Happy birthday, Jesus.

Born of an unwed mother. Impregnated by One other than her betrothed husband in a culture where he would have been justified to have her stoned to death.

In those days, the oldest son inherited all. If the oldest son died, then the second oldest son inherited. If there were no sons, then the oldest son of the second oldest brother inherited. If any of the sons in the line-of-succession were a bastard, then all property would leave "the family". And a reading of the parable of The Prodigal Son informs us of the potential fate of families that squandered or lost their inheritance.

Born in a barn.

Born into a country that was newly under the heel of Roman oppression. His parents displaced by the census, a census taken so the Empire could squeeze the maximum amount of tribute out of it and levy the maximum number of soldiers from the population. 

It was the habit of the Romans to station soldiers in the corners of the Empire farthest from their homes so they would have no inhibitions about running their spears through the local populace. That undoubtedly made it easier for Herod's soldiers to slay all of the newly-borne boys some months later.

In one way, being born some distance from Nazareth was a blessing. The old bitties who were fond of counting months might not catch wind of the fact that Jesus was born out-of-wedlock, a fact that would make him a target of bullying and teasing.

Another blessing is that his nominal father, Joseph, had skills that were in demand and could flee with his family to Egypt and still make a living as a stranger in a strange land. One suspects that he had a few coins in his fanny-pack to ease the burden of travel. The trip from Bethlehem to Be'er Sheva to the coast and thence to Cairo is 300 miles or about 20 days travel if all went well. Yes, Joseph was literally a journeyman-in-the-trades.

Those who study such things tell us Jesus was fully human. He felt pain and sorrow and joy. They tell us that Jesus was also fully God and not some sock-puppet or ink-and-paper version of God parading around Israel.

Sometimes God's sense of purpose (or maybe His sense of humor) defies human understanding.

Happy birthday, Jesus.