It’s the most well-known passage in the entire Bible. For committed believers, it ranks right up there with Psalm 23 and Romans 8:28. It’s read over and over again during the Christmas season. Linus, from “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” read it in it’s entirety. It’s Luke 2:1-20, the passage that announces the Savior’s birth.
While I believe every word of the passage, I must admit, if I were in charge, I would have done things differently. It just seems to me, God could have done a better job. Please consider “my take” on how things should have happened.
What should have happened …
Jesus should have been born at home. Luke 2:4-5 communicates that Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem in order to register for the census ordered by Caesar Augustus. Joseph had long since made Nazareth his home. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem took days—include an expectant mother, and it all adds up to poor planning. The birth of this child should have taken place at home in Nazareth. Things were awkward enough without Joseph and Mary having to deal with all of this far from familiar surroundings.
Mary and Joseph should have made reservations at a local inn. Rather, Joseph should have taken care of this detail. Yes, it was crowded in Bethlehem. Due to the census, Joseph should have known it would be difficult to find accommodations on short notice. And the innkeeper gets undeserved negative publicity at this very point. He did what he could under the circumstances. I know they did not have hotels as we do in our day, but there were plenty of homes which provided space for travelers.
This leads to the whole stable/manger situation. Jesus never should have had to use a feeding trough for a bed. The poetic and nice images of mangers is simply not the case here. After the birth of the baby, Mary and Joseph had no other place to lay him. Luke never mentions the other things that had to be part of the whole animal/manger scene: smells and insects. As stated above, Jesus should have been born in a safe and warm environment. After all, we are talking about God’s only son here.
Swaddling cloths? This is not right. These were rags that were used to complete the obvious chores that accompanied the care animals and barns. Royal robes should have swaddled the Lord.
I take issue with the witnesses to all this. Local teenagers, who were charged with keeping other animals, stumbled on the scene after receiving divine revelation. The King of Kings should have been greeted by the likes of the wise men who arrived much later.
What did happen …
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My tongue-in-cheek assessment of Luke 2:1-20 acknowledges that what God did in his planning of this entire event was simply miraculous. Isaiah 55:8-9 says: “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” God does not think as I think. He does not need my help in orchestrating the arrival of his son, our Savior.
Galatians 4:4-5 asserts: “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” Jesus was born at just the right moment—not too early and not too late. In God’s loving plan, his son became flesh and blood to bring us back to where we belong.
The truth of Luke 2 should remind me that God works in mysterious ways. His kingdom is not of this earth. His kingdom is that which controls the heart and mind, a kingdom of heaven. The circumstances of his birth make it clear that his way of life is no ordinary way of life. I must see him through eyes of faith, or I will see nothing of him at all.
God’s mysterious ways stand the test of his own prophecies. Seven centuries before Jesus’ birth, Micah prophesied he would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). So Joseph made that seemingly unnecessary, politically motivated trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem in order to fulfill prophecy.
And the prophecy to end all prophecies concerned the virgin, who would conceive and give birth to the Son of God: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). I have profound respect for the manner in which Mary and Joseph handled the unbelievable circumstances they faced.
The birth of Jesus means we can be saved from our sins. It means God is truly with us in every circumstance of life. It means God is in control. It means God has the whole world in his hands. It means his planning is perfect. It means there is hope for all of God’s creation. It means God is true to his word. It means God has a plan. It means such things as peace, love and joy are real. It means everything.
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