Gospel for Wednesday, December 25: Luke 2:1-14
Christmas of the Lord
1 In those days a decree of Caesar Augustus ordered that a census be taken of the whole land. 2 This first census was taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 Everyone went to be registered, each in his own city. 4Joseph also, who was of the house and family of David, from the city of Nazareth and Galilee went up to Judea to the city of David, called Bethlehem, 5 to be registered together with Mary his wife, who was with child. 6 Now while they were there, the days of childbirth were fulfilled for her. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, for there was no room for them in the inn.
8 There were some shepherds in that region who kept watch at night by guarding their flock. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared before them, and the glory of the Lord shrouded them in light. They were seized with great fright, 10 but the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; behold, I announce to you a great joy, which will be to all the people: 11 Today there has been born to you in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 This is the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” 13 And immediately there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God and saying:
14 “Glory to God in the highest.
And peace on earth to men whom he loves.”Lk 2:1-14
Dear sisters and brothers of Misericordia, I am Carlo Miglietta, a doctor, biblical scholar, layman, husband, father and grandfather (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it). Also today I share with you a short thought meditation on the Gospel, with special reference to the theme of mercy.
A strange census
“Luke places the birth of Jesus in the setting of Bethlehem, a small town near Jerusalem, the homeland of King David, on the occasion of a census ordered by “the governor of Syria, Quirinius” (Luke 2:1-7).
There is, however, a rather serious historical difficulty. Quirinius’ only documented census in Palestine was performed in 6-7 A.D., when Jesus was at least twelve years old and astonished the doctors of the law in the temple in Jerusalem (Lk 2:41-52).
Did Luke, in evoking that censorious operation, confuse the dates? Or did he do so to impart a universal scope to Jesus’ birth? We know that the Gospels, while telling the historical story of a concrete figure like Jesus of Nazareth, do not have rigorous historiographical concerns. However, we also know that Luke is the evangelist most attentive to the historical record. It is possible, therefore, to follow two paths.
On the one hand, it can be argued-as a leading commentator on Luke, Heinz Schürmann, writes-that “the census theme places the birth of Jesus in relation to the whole empire. In him is fulfilled not only the expectation of the Jews but of the whole earth. A horizon as vast as the world is opened; the universal importance of Jesus’ birth is affirmed.”
On the other hand, however, one can attempt to sift through all available historical data: “the first census,” as Luke defines it (Lk. 2:2), would be to be framed in an overall census plan designed by Augustus, intended to involve even an autonomous and exempt kingdom, as was that of Herod, rex socius et amicus, that is, king allied and friend of Rome.
Emperor Augustus issues a census for his entire empire, under which every citizen subjected to Rome must go to his hometown to register: the purpose is in function of taxation. In the face of an emperor who believes himself powerful because he counts his subjects by setting an empire in motion, there is an obscure family from Galilee that keeps the secret of a birth announcement and sets out from Galilee to Judea. Everything seems to happen by chance, but nothing is accidental. Men scramble to manage their own little history, believing themselves to be “great”: they are only occasions for processes that escape their consideration because the new history must start again from the “city of David”” (G. Ravasi).
The contrast of values
“In chapter 2 of Luke’s gospel, the contrast effect dominates, highlighting what is happening this night and establishing what is important and what is appearance. This causes us to reconsider what are our criteria of evaluation, discernment of the facts we experience. In front of Emperor Caesar Augustus stands a Jewish girl named Miriam. The powerful one and a little girl.
The emperor rules the world, the girl is alone and is only pregnant.
On the one hand, the emperor calls a census as a sign of power: counting his subjects to impose taxes; on the other hand, the dark Jewish girl is in a deep relationship with someone Else to whom she leaves the tallying of the days of her giving birth. The powerful man thinks he rules the world and events, while the Jewish girl is content to become aware that “the days of childbirth were fulfilled for her” (v. 6) and devotes herself to the birth of her child. The powerful man thinks he rules the whole world; the Jewish teenager gives birth only to Life. The emperor with a single order moves millions of people, forcing them to obey him. For her part, Mary sets out herself to go and serve her cousin Elizabeth who is to give birth: power and service. The powerful man remains stationary in his palace; the Jewish woman sets out on her own.
The emperor is served and obeyed, the woman serves and surrenders herself to the will of her Creator (Luke 1:38).
The birth of Jesus
In Luke’s Gospel, while John’s birth is narrated in two verses (Lk 1:57-58), as many as twenty verses are devoted to Jesus’ birth (Lk 1:1-20).
In this account Luke summarizes the message of the entire Gospel:
1. the true humanity of Jesus: “This is the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12). Luke uses “crude” terms: “brèphos” (Lk 2:12,16), denoting the fetus to be delivered or just delivered, and “gennòmenon”( Lk 1:35), designating the fetus in the womb;
2. the divinity of Jesus: the proclamation to the shepherds (Lk 2:9-13) is a true Easter proclamation, as we have seen
3. the choice of the poor: Jesus is born with the poor of his time, “laid in a manger because there was no room for them in the ‘katalyma’ (Lk 2:7), that is, the part of the cave, where Joseph’s family was staying, used as a shelter for men and not for animals (same term used for the room at the Last Supper; but it does not speak per se of birth in a cave or stable). His birth is announced not to the great or the wise, but to the “unclean,” as the shepherds were, who become the first disciples:
4. Christmas in Luke is immediately linked to Easter: Mary “wrapped Jesus in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger” (Lk 2:7), just as Joseph of Arimathea “wrapped in a sheet and laid in a tomb” (Lk 23:53) the body of the crucified, and such “bandages ‘shall lie empty’ (Lk 24:12); in Bethlehem it is the “unclean” shepherds who are the first witnesses of Jesus’ birth (Lk 2:8-20); in Jerusalem it will be the “unclean” women who will be the first witnesses of his resurrection (Lk 23:55-24:10); in both events, there are angels to make sense of the mystery (Lk 2:9-14; 24:4-7). “In little Jesus”-according to the orientation of the infancy Gospels-we already glimpse the glorious risen ‘Lord’ proclaimed by the Church’s Easter faith. The typology of the Russian icon of the Novgorod school (15th century) makes this connection explicit by depicting the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger that has the shape of a tomb” (Ravasi).
The annunciation to the shepherds
“There were in that region some shepherds who kept vigil at night guarding their flocks”: these are the presences that populated the wilderness of Judah adjacent to Bethlehem… In the Sanhedrin treatise (25b) of the Talmud, the great collection of Jewish traditions, we read that shepherds could not testify at trial because they were considered impure, because of their cohabitation with animals, and dishonest, because of their violations of territorial boundaries. Their civil status was, therefore, at the bottom of the social ladder, and their living conditions were far less “georgic” and idyllic than Virgil or Theocritus have accustomed us to think.
After the annunciations to Mary and Joseph we can, then, speak of an annunciation to the shepherds. Again the angels are on stage, singing that “Gloria in excelsis” that will be sung in thousands and thousands of Masses throughout the centuries. This chorus that comes from the lips of “the whole heavenly army,” as Luke biblically calls the angels. On Christmas night the angels had sung, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to men (object) of the (divine) good will” (this is the more correct version of Lk. 2:14, where the scene is God’s love and not so much human will). At the threshold of the Passion, during the entry into Jerusalem, the disciples will sing, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Lk 19:38). Comments Raymond Brown in an important work on The Birth of the Messiah according to Matthew and Luke, “It is a touch full of charm that the multitude of the heavenly militia proclaim peace on earth, while the multitude of disciples proclaim peace in heaven: the two passages could almost become an antiphonal responsory.”
There is, however, amid the choreography of angelic epiphany a specific message addressed to the shepherds. In the original Greek Luke calls it a “gospel” and it has an exquisitely theological content: “Today there has been born to you in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). It is a small Christian “Creed” revolving around three basic titles attributed to the Child: Savior, Christ (i.e., Messiah), Lord (i.e., God). Paul is also familiar with this Creed and quotes it in writing to the Christians in Philippi, “We are waiting for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (3:20).
Well, the first to flock on pilgrimage to Christ the Lord are the last on earth, anticipating a saying dear to Jesus: “The first shall be last and the last first” (Mt 20:16). The entire Lucan account is peppered with verbs of motion and surprise: “let us go, let us know, they went, they found, they saw, they reported, they all heard, they were amazed, they returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” The family in Bethlehem is surrounded by shepherds, the rejected by the Sanhedrin, the marginal ones whom Luke, however, sees as the prefiguration of Christ’s Church” (G. Ravasi).
Happy Mercy to all!
Anyone who would like to read a more complete exegesis of the text, or some insights, please ask me at migliettacarlo@gmail.com.