Start with a Caesar - End with a World Transformed
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Luke 1:1-2
The story begins far away. Consider the Emperor Augustus. Has anyone ever seen a nativity play that included Augustus?
He think he is a powerful man. (And he is.) Surrounded by people who said Yes. Luxury, clean clothes, music from a lute in the background. The servants are silent. The women are attractive. In the movies, the emperor and his advisors speak with an educated British accent. The viewer wants to live in this scene, wants the silent servants, the platters of grapes.
Not that this man is without his concerns. He needs an enormous army to maintain his control over his vast empire. An enormous payroll. One of his advisors has an idea. Let the people who are being patrolled pay for the troops themselves.
So an entire empire shifts. All within it return to the towns where they were born. They hand over their personal details to the government, so the government knows where to find them to hand them the bill for their oppression.
From a comfortable palace to an obscure province. From the bright sunshine of Rome to the rainy season of Palestine. From the seat of power to a poor couple who are jerked around. In a few sentences, the evangelist embraces it all.
The emperor knows nothing about this poor couple. In his great power is great ignorance. The world would turn upside down, starting with this poor couple forced to travel to this little village. And the emperor would become a footnote. Of interest to art historians and coin collectors. But not worth a tinsel crown in a children’s nativity play.
Time to bake the cake and finish the sermon for tomorrow, when I won’t be writing.
Nollaig Shona. Happy Christmas.