Sermon Tone Analysis

Luke 2:1-6

The opening words of this famous section of Scripture provide the setting for this, the greatest of all stories, by informing us that Caesar Augustus (Octavian) was ruler of “the entire Roman world”—“all the inhabited earth” (NASB).

The ancient historians tell us that Caesar Augustus was the great-nephew of Julius Caesar and was a born fighter who clawed his way to power by defeating Antony and Cleopatra and then, through the considerable genius and force of his person, gave the empire a solidness that was to endure for centuries.

He was the first Caesar to be called “Augustus” when the Roman Senate voted to give him that title.

Augustus means “holy” or “revered,” and up to that time the title was reserved exclusively for the gods.

It was under Augustus’ rule that decisive strides were taken toward making the Caesars gods.

In fact, at about the same time Luke was writing these words, some of the Greek cities in Asia Minor adopted Caesar’s birthday, September 23, as the first day of the New Year, hailing him as “savior.”

An inscription at Halicarnassus (birthplace of the famous Herodotus) even called him “savior of the whole world.”2

Historian John Buchan records that when Caesar Augustus died, men actually “comforted themselves, reflecting that Augustus was a god, and that gods do not die.”

So the world had at its helm a self-proclaimed, widely accepted god and savior.

Luke, the historian and theologian, wants us to see this as the tableau for understanding the coming of the real Savior.

The contrast could not be greater.

Inside Rome, in the Forum, the doors of the Temple of War had been closed for ten years and would remain closed for thirty more.

To memorialize the peace, the famous monument Ara Pacis Augustae propagandizing Augustus’ peace had been erected.

Rome and Augustus had bludgeoned every foe into submission.

There was “peace,” but it was a dark peace—a Hitler’s peace—and no man or woman or boy or girl could say a word against it without fearfully looking over their shoulder.

The Decree by Caesar

The Shocking place of the birth

The Law (2:2-3) All are required to return to their ancestral homes because of a census.

Caesar Augustus’ relentless arm stretched out to squeeze its tribute even in a tiny village at the far end of the Mediterranean.

Thus it came about that a village carpenter and his expectant teenage bride were forced to travel to his hometown to be registered for taxation.

It was a miserable journey.

Mary was full-term, which forced a slow, rolling gait as she walked those eighty miles.

Perhaps, if she was fortunate, she had borrowed an animal to carry her.

But whatever their situation, she traveled in the dust and cold of winter, bearing the distressing knowledge that she might have her first baby far from home, from her mother, and from nearly everyone who cared about her.

Seen through everyday logic, Joseph and Mary were insignificant nobodies from a nothing town.

They were peasants.

They were poor, un-educated, of no account.

But she understood who she was and who God was.

Early on, after Mary learned she was pregnant with “the Son of the Most High” and met Elizabeth, she sang her great Magnificat, beginning with the words, “My soul praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant” ().

And toward the end of her song she said of her son: “He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble” (vv.

51–52).

Joseph and Mary capsulized the mystery of grace—the King does not come to the proud and powerful but to the poor and powerless.

As it is so often in life, things were not as they seemed to the world around, because humble Mary and Joseph were the adoptive father and birth mother of the King of kings.

Seven hundred years earlier, the prophet Micah had prophesied: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah [such an inconsequential little town!], out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel” ().

And now the poor couple’s forced journey to Bethlehem to pay taxes would set the stage for the fulfillment of that messianic prophecy.

They appeared to be helpless pawns caught in the movements of secular history, but every move was under the hand of Almighty God.

The Messiah would indeed be born in tiny, insignificant Bethlehem!

As the Virgin traveled, her steady beating heart, hidden from the world, kept time with the busily thumping heart of God.

The baby Mary carried was not a Caesar, a man who would become a god, but a far greater wonder—the true God who had become a man!

The baby Mary carried was not a Caesar, a man who would become a god, but a far greater wonder—the true God who had become a man!

a robe of virgin flesh.

The baby Mary carried was not a Caesar, a man who would become a god, but a far greater wonder—the true God who had become a man!

The Location (2:4-5) Joseph and Mary must travel to Bethlehem.

Before the birth of Christ, no royalty would ever show their humility.

That would be too human, too common.

Kings have parades & entourages to draw the focus toward them.

When Queen Elizabeth last visited America, she brought with her the following items

• 4000 pounds of luggage – 4 outfits for everyday she was in America

• 40 pints of plasma

• Her own hairdresser

• Two valets

• An official photographer

• Two personal secretaries

• THE COST OF HER TRIP TO AMERICA WAS 20 MILLION DOLLARS

In meek contrast, God’s visit to earth took place in an animal stable, no attendants were present, there was no place for the baby to lay down except in a feeding trough known as a manger.

In fact, the event, which divided history and our calendars, went by unnoticed except for a few shepherds who came by for a visit.

Jesus Christ, Birth—Bethlehem—God, Providence: there was the miraculous taxation.

Three things should be noted.

a.

The taxation was used by God to fulfill His plan for the birth of the Messiah.

It had been prophesied that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, and Scripture had to be fulfilled.

Joseph and Mary lived in Galilee, and Mary was now great with child.

How was God going to make sure that the child was born in Bethlehem?

The taxation happened just at the right time and in the right way; that is, everyone had to return to the city of his birth to pay his taxes.

God was miraculously controlling the events of the world, working all things out for good so that He might fulfill His promise to send the Savior into the world.

Three things should be noted.

a.

The taxation was used by God to fulfill His plan for the birth of the Messiah.

It had been prophesied that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, and Scripture had to be fulfilled.

Joseph and Mary lived in Galilee, and Mary was now great with child.

How was God going to make sure that the child was born in Bethlehem?

The taxation happened just at the right time and in the right way; that is, everyone had to return to the city of his birth to pay his taxes.

God was miraculously controlling the events of the world, working all things out for good so that He might fulfill His promise to send the Savior into the world.

b.

The taxation forced Joseph to Bethlehem.

Everyone had to return to the city of his birth.

Note the great detail given in describing the journey to Bethlehem.