Every country is in need of an abundant supply of money to equip a strong army, organize state departments all around the country, and build grandiose palaces. This is why the Roman state regulated the law of census once every fourteen years, where all people of the entire Roman Empire should be registered with all their properties to enable tax collectors to control and collect the taxes. The governors registered all trees, houses, animals, and men by force and scolding. They spread their spies everywhere to arrest those who might abstain from giving exact numbers, in order to raise the taxation for the coming years taking no consideration of the harvest, death, or other considerations. Thus, grudge and curse grew increasingly in the hearts of many because of that injustice at the time of Christ’s birth. All citizens hated this census, and everyone raced to his homeland and birthplace to be registered there out of fear of severe punishment.
In compliance with the order of the Caesar, Joseph, the carpenter accompanied his fiancée Mary from Nazareth toward the south of the town of Bethlehem. Bethlehem signifies the house of bread; a proper place for him to be born in who is the Bread of life, the Bread that came down from heaven.
Joseph took the trouble of that long journey of 170 kilometers with his fiancé among the mountains, hills, and robbers who lurked to attack the travelers, rob them, and kill them. Joseph was not pleased with this journey with his fiancé who was pregnant in her last days. However, he was required by the government to take this inescapable procedure.
Here, we may find a distinguishing feature of the account of Christ’s birth: that God employed the great Caesar Augustus, who called himself the wonderful savior of the world, to move the officials of his state all around the world, in order to accomplish the promise that was summed up in the Book of Micah that the true Savior of the world should be born in Bethlehem and not in the shining Rome, or Nazareth, or the pious Jerusalem, or the holy temple, but in a despised village, in the solitude of the world. Thus God begins his great things quietly with small things. He employs kings and countries to fulfill his redemptive plan, and reaches the goal of his designs away from those that are great and important in human societies.
When Joseph arrived at his town late, all the houses and inns were overcrowded with the newcomers who came from everywhere because of the census. He could not find a place to sleep. At such hard times, none but those that are rich and notable could find a house to receive them and provide them with food. The Son of Mary was born in an awful stable. From the first day of his birth he looked like those who had no refuge. From his first day he began to face the calamities of our world. His contemptible birth indicates that God has no place in the world of man, for the dislike of the selfish drives away the love of the Eternal One to a place which is not appropriate for him, such as the stable that is filled with microbes and bad smells. However, the mother looked after beloved child and wrapped him in swaddling cloths to keep him warm. Joseph must have probably put straw and hay in the manger, and covered them two nights before the child’s birth, and thus the stable was changed into a home of love, which lighted and overcame all poorness and distress.
The arrival of the Son of God to the stable means not only comfort to men, but also hope to animals, for all creatures expected the revealing of the Son of God and the appearance of the new creation (Romans 8:19-23). The Son of God came down from the glory of his heaven immediately to include in his redemption all the creation even animals.
Thus the Son of the Highest was born, and nine months of spiritual striving around faith and trust in Mary and Joseph ended, for the impossible and wonderful thing, that is the incarnation of the Spirit of God, was beyond the understanding of the Virgin and her fiancé. Yet, both the angel and the Holy Spirit confirmed with all clarity that the fetus in Mary was truly the Son of the living God. He was not a daughter, but a firstborn son. What joy, thankfulness, and hope were sent out around the poor manger!
The fullness of time was now come, when God visited the world, reconciling it to himself. Let us not forget that God’s descending took place in a stable and not in a palace, in order that all men should realize that God comes down and does not require of us to go up. The Holy One seeks those that are sinful, going astray, unsuccessful, and repentant, not those that are content, clever, rich, proud, and pious.
How does your heart look like? Does it look like a stable full of faults and sins, having no comfort but bad smell? Have you become a poor manger prepared for Jesus? No doubt, all people are filled with mud, but when Christ enters into one’s heart, divine cleansing begins, and the Son of God puts in us love, thankfulness, and hope. There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. So prepare your heart as it is so that Christ may dwell in you and sanctify you, and his presence illuminates your mind and your heart be filled with the Holy Spirit.