From Nazareth to Nazareth: Celebrating the Humility of Our Savior
And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him. Luke 2:40
Luke 2:1–52– Luke
First Sunday of Christmastide – December 27, 2020 (am)
Humility is a quality that doesn’t come very naturally to us. Right in the moment when it’s needed, the thought of it can make us feel like losers when we most feel like we need to be winners. Humility calls us to keep quiet just when we most feel the need to speak. It urges us to be gentle just when we most feel the need to be tough. Humility favors forgiveness or generosity or self-control just when we want to stick it to someone or deny them something or put them in their place.
I’ve said on many occasions that I’ve never encountered a problem in this life that would not be either resolve or significantly aided by greater humility. I’m talking about personal battles or relational strife, marriage and family struggles, conflicts in the workplace, or at sporting events, whether among players or fans, political discussions or campaigns…. I’ve never encountered a problem in this life that would not be either resolve or significantly aided by greater humility.
Some of you are inclined to assign a word to the new year as a target, a reminder of who you want to be, what you want to develop, to grasp. I can think of no word more worthy than humility. And we need go no further than Luke’s account of the birth and early life of Jesus Himself to be persuaded of its significance, indeed to be immersed in it, to swim in the sweet, refreshing waters of humility.
Paul wrote: Phi.2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Our key word in Luk.2 is celebration. Messiah has come! And the context of His coming spotlights humility, our target virtue. These two themes are also prominent here in Phi.2:5-11. So, do we have this mind among (us)? Let’s look first at Jesus story, then consider ours.
Let’s read the later portion of Luk.2 (the only part we’ve not yet read this Christmas season), then let’s walk quickly through the whole chapter together.
Celebration with the Humblest of Servants – 1-20
As Luk.1 finishes we’re amazed by two appearances of an exalted angel, first, opening the NT era with virtually the same words (1:16-17) that closed the OT era (Mal.4:5-6), then announcing to a young peasant girl in lowly Nazareth (humility) that she was God’s chosen instrument to bear the promised Messiah.
More questions than answers would’ve filled our minds if we’d lived in that day: why do we have to wait for Messiah to be born and grow up into a king? Even so, how could the sort of Messiah everyone expected be born into a peasant family? But our primary question may’ve been: how can a young teenager in Nazareth bear a child who’s supposed to be born Bethlehem? (Mic.5:2).
As c.2 opens, Luke begins answering our questions. Throughout his gospel he gives us historical or political or geographic anchors that root his story in the real world. And he does that right here. 1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. … 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. So, how was God going to get a peasant girl from Nazareth to Bethlehem (4) to bear a child when she was already nearing full-term? Simple! He was going to assign the premier leader in the entire world to call for a tax registration that required a trip to the hometown of one’s ancestors! Pro.21:1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
So, Bethlehem is where it happened. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. It’s not like Mary would’ve wanted to give birth in an inn anyway; they weren’t like the hotels or motels we have today, with private rooms. An inn was just a place of shelter with a big, open room for many people—not a great place to have a baby! So, they took shelter with the animals instead, in a small barn or perhaps a cave. The wrapped little Jesus in cloths as the poor people did (humility), to keep him warm and cozy with straightened arms and legs.
And Messiah, God of very God, was laid in a feeding trough. The omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, Creator of the universe, born by natural means from a supernatural conception, lay silent and sleeping, utterly dependent on his young teen-aged mother and her betrothed husband.
As Augustine put it: Unspeakably wise, He is wisely speechless. Or as Lancelot Andrews (translator of the KJV OT) said in a Christmas Day sermon before the King James in 1608—Jesus was the word without a word (Hughes 84). Charles Wesley wrote: Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail the incarnate deity.
Meanwhile there were shepherds nearby (8), the night crew, who were about to have the night of their lives! And although the OT prophets, and Jesus, and Paul used shepherds as a positive metaphor for leading God’s people, true shepherds in Israel were outcasts—distrusted, despised, believed to be thieves. They were the lowliest, humblest element of society, above only the lepers on the social ladder (Hughes 87). The Talmud (Sanhedrin 25b) said their testimony was inadmissible in court. Like the women who first visited Jesus’ empty tomb, though, these humble shepherds were God’s appointed witnesses, and messengers (20).
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them…. How do your eyes feel when you’re in the dark and someone turns on the light? Add to this the fact that these shepherds had no electric lights; the darkness in their homes was dispelled only by a dim lantern or a candle. So, I suspect that the latter half of v.9 is a bit understated: … they were filled with great fear. But the angel reassured them, saying: 10 … Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This must’ve been overwhelming! Then a multitude of (angels) (13) appeared—multitude could be translated the whole number (ESL), and which angels would’ve been assigned elsewhere on this night? This was a grand celebration!
Eventually they disappeared. And the shepherds just looked around at each other and said: Let’s go… and see! (15) So, that’s just what they did (16-17). 20 And later [they] returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, which was just as it had been told them. This was celebration among the humblest of servants!
Celebration with the Holiest of Servants – 21-39
Jesus’ living perfectly according to the Law began, as it had to, from His earliest days. And as the assigned caretakers of the world’s only Hope—the designated parents of the promised Messiah, of God in infant flesh—Mary and Joseph were diligent to make sure it happened. Jesus was circumcised on the [eighth] day (21), 22 and when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord—He was a firstborn male (Exo.13:2, 12). Now, the Law records that the proper sacrifice (24) was a year old lamb for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering (Lev.12:6). Lev.12:8 And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering, which is what Mary and Joseph did. Jesus’ family was poor (humility).
But more than this happened at the temple that day. 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. We know nothing more about Simeon than we hear in this passage. He’s righteous. He seems like a [prophet] (the Holy Spirit was upon him [25]). He hung out with a [prophet] (36). And he was clinging to the word of a prophet: the consolation of Israel echoes Isa.40:1 Comfort, comfort my people. He had received a [prophetic] word from God (26), and much of his statement about Jesus (29-35) reads as though it were rooted in the servant songs of Isaiah (cc. 42-53). But what is clear is that he’d been living in hope of the coming Messiah. And now he was celebrating His arrival!
36 And there was a prophetess, Anna…, of the tribe of Asher who was doing the same. 37 … She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Celebration among the holiest of servants, this scene is saturated in humility, in affliction.
Celebration with the Highest of Servants – 40-52
Having returned to Nazareth (humility) (39), the boy Jesus enjoyed the favor of God as he grew (40). 41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple…. Can you imagine the anxiety? Jean and I lost track of our son at a wedding reception in a downtown hotel when he was three. For ten minutes we couldn’t find him, and we were out of our minds! Three days? How do you even pray? Father, I’m sorry, we’ve lost Your Messiah!
They finally located Him, in the temple (46), dialoguing with the teachers (46a). Where had He slept those two nights? What had He eaten? Luke records that He was listening to them and asking questions (46b). And evidently He was answering a fair number as well because 47 all who heard him were amazed at his understanding. 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. All who heard about Him, met Him, celebrated, and were amazed! 51 And he went down with [his parents] to Nazareth and was submissive to them (humble). And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart (celebration). 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Conclusion
Luk.2 brings us to celebration each time we read it. It reminds us that Jesus came in humility, and that humble hearts welcome Him, now just as then. Yet, this is so difficult for us—Augustine had a statement hanging above his desk: God has humbled Himself / And still man is proud. So, this is our call. Peter may have said it best: 1Pe.5:5 … Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you (cf. Jam.4:6), just as He did with Jesus (Phi.2:8-11). This is part of our inheritance in Him—not just His modeling of humility but our enabling in it! So, in this coming new year, Christian, by God’s grace through faith enabled by His Spirit, purpose to enter into your inheritance. Phi.2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus and see what difference that makes in your life and you relationships, in your home and neighborhood and workplace, and in our Church.
Next Sunday: Prayer Subverts, Prayer Engages, Prayer Bleeds—Ephesians 6:18, Todd Walker