Luke 2:1-20

I’m amazed and often dismayed by the preoccupation of the American church with political issues when there is no biblical mandate for such involvement. There is no record of Jesus ever taking a stand on any of the political issues of His day. Furthermore, most of the time we don’t know what is good and what is bad in the shadow world of the world politick.

For example, Caesar issues a decree that seems to involve an inconvenient census and according to some translations an extra taxation as well. For all the world this appears to be a forced exploitation of oppressed people being required to fund their conquerors through even more taxes. Ah, but that’s just what’s in the newspapers and on the radio.

What is really going on here is the provision of a legitimate cover to take Joseph and his young wife, who got pregnant before the marriage, away from their home town of Nazareth and to Bethlehem. This did two things. It took them away from the prying questions of neighbors who could add once the baby was born. It also placed them exactly where they had to be to fulfill the words of the prophet Micah (5:2):

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
      though you are small among the clans of Judah,
      out of you will come for me
      one who will be ruler over Israel,
      whose origins are from of old,
      from ancient times.”

And those taxes? Well, they provided the means whereby the Roman Empire could build good roads and enforce relative peace to facilitate the early spread of the gospel a few decades later.

We might not have voted for Caesar but he was an agent in God’s hand as are all rulers. That’s what I believe.