Christmas Chronology: Luke 2:1-7

The Birth of Jesus

¹In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ²(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³And everyone went to his own town to register.

Caesar Augustus was the first true emperor of the known world. He established one-man rule and Caesar worship throughout the Roman Empire, which had previously been a republic. The fact that he had the power to issue this one order and the whole world had to follow it shows the kind of power he had. After he had consolidated his empire, he wanted to take a census of it so the Roman government could tax the people effectively. It’s easier to tax your subjects when you know how many there are, who they are, and where they live.

We can see God’s timing at work here. Jesus was born during the reign of Augustus, and not before, because Augustus was the first ruler who could issue a decree that would send Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Jesus needed to be born so the prophecy could be fulfilled. And he was born during the reign of Augustus, and not after, likely because Augustus was a relatively benign emperor compared to the cruel Tiberius or the mad Caligula who followed him.

⁴So 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. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Bethlehem is 80 miles from Nazareth. Not an easy journey, especially traveling by donkey with a pregnant girl. Traditionally, we think of Mary and Joseph making this trip late in her pregnancy, but the Bible doesn’t actually say that. It says in verse 6 that the time came for Jesus to be born while they were there. Joseph may have taken her there well in advance to spare her embarrassment from the gossip that was doubtless going around Nazareth.

In verse 5, Luke implies that Mary and Joseph still weren’t married at the time they went to Bethlehem. But in Matthew 1:24, it says that Joseph “took Mary home as his wife” after the angel told him the baby really was conceived by the Holy Spirit. This could mean that the actual wedding took place in Bethlehem while they waited there for the census. Based on Luke’s language here, I had assumed for years that Mary and Joseph still weren’t married when Jesus was born, but that may not be true.

I don’t think we appreciate the sacrifices that Mary and Joseph made in order to obey God in this circumstance. Did anyone believe their story, other than Zechariah and Elizabeth? Would you have believed them? Think about it. She was pregnant before they were married, and he stayed with her. What conclusion would you draw? The only reasonable conclusion would be that the baby must be his, right? Mary and Joseph lived with that stigma for the rest of their lives. Future generations rise up and call them blessed, but their own did not. How many of us hesitate to obey God when facing far less scorn than they did? We can’t possibly calculate the debt we owe to these two ordinary people who did extraordinary things because they were willing to obey God no matter the cost.

The image I’ve always had in my head of the birth of Jesus, like my mental image of many Bible stories, turns out to be wrong. I’ve always pictured Mary and Joseph going from hotel to hotel, all of them with signs saying “No Vacancy.” Finally, one innkeeper offers to let them stay in his stable, where Jesus is born. At least that’s what I’ve seen all my life in movies and church Christmas pageants. But Bethlehem was Joseph’s ancestral home, and he had family there.

A friend of mine who recently went to Israel and saw the place in Bethlehem where all the evidence says Jesus was born gave me some real insight into this. In that culture, what we would think of as hotels were assumed to be brothels, and righteous people would never stay there. That’s why Jesus and his disciples stayed in private homes when they traveled, as did the apostles. But there were (and still are, in the Middle East) other types of inns called caravansaries. A caravansary is a large complex, usually square or rectangular in shape, with a central courtyard where a caravan’s animals can be kept, surrounded by walled cubicles where people can stay.

Typical caravansary layout

It turns out that the main caravansary in Bethlehem was owned by Joseph’s family. This is where Mary and Joseph would have gone, and Joseph’s family there would have made every effort to accommodate them, unless they couldn’t, or were unwilling to because of Mary’s premarital pregnancy.

Bethlehem was where the lambs meant for sacrifice at the temple were raised. Those were the sheep that the shepherds watched over. Since it was located in Bethlehem, one distinguishing feature of the caravansary that Joseph’s family owned was that it had a lambing cave. This was below the caravansary grounds, like a basement. Caves are common in that area. The traditional image of Jesus born in a stable is unlikely. The Bible never says that. The reason people assume that is because of the use of the word manger, which is a feed trough for animals. Jesus was actually born in cave, but not just any cave. Because there was no room for Mary and Joseph in any of the caravansary cubicles, they were offered shelter in the cave where lambs meant for sacrifice were born. Jesus, the Lamb of God who would be the sacrificial lamb for us all, was born in a lambing cave, and one owned by the house of David.

While it’s certainly possible that the caravansary was full because of the census, I also think it’s entirely possible that the reason there was “no room in the inn” was that Mary was pregnant out of wedlock. Word of their “situation” would have spread through Joseph’s family. Gossip travels fast. At Christmastime, it’s easy to get stuck in the imagery of the Nativity scene, and miss the reality of the situation. I believe it’s very possible that the reason Mary and Joseph had to use a feed trough as a cradle for the baby Jesus was that Joseph’s family did not want them to stay in the public cubicles because of the shame it would cause. Jesus bore shame that he did not deserve, not only in his death, but also in his birth. It’s impossible to overstate how much we owe Mary and Joseph for their obedience to God in an unbelievably difficult circumstance.