From Caesar's Shadow to a Manger: The Humble Beginnings of a King

We are in the book of Luke, right?

And today we fall on that chapter probably that so many of you are so familiar with.

And I guess you could say today that this is part two of last week's, nothing is impossible.

But really a theme this morning, I believe, as we look at this, is a tale of two kings.

The shadow of Caesar Augustus looms large at the beginning of chapter two, right?

Luke's inclusion of Augustus' name in verse 1 here is not necessary for him

to communicate the details regarding when the events took place.

But his reference there to Quirinius in verse 2 actually pinpoints the timing more specifically.

And the mention of Augustus, though, it would have conjured up all of the power

and glory of the Roman Empire, All of the authority behind that.

After all, he was the most powerful man in the world.

Flattered by the Roman Senate as actually the son of a god, is what they called him.

The son of a god. And hailed by the poet Virgil, I should say,

actually as the son of the deified, who will make a golden age, he said, rise again.

And so at Augustus' instruction, everybody traveled to their ancestral home

in order to register. In verse 3, we see that.

And I want y'all to observe here just really quickly this morning how these

opening verses actually take us on a downward spiral, if you will, of power and influence.

So just quickly, we open talking about Augustus, right? verse 1.

He was the embodiment of ruthless power and privilege.

And then we get to Quirinius in verse 2, a regional governor.

And then Joseph in verse 4, a poor but free man.

And then we get to Mary in verse 5, an unmarried pregnant woman.

And then finally the baby in verses 6 and 7.

And it'd be hard to imagine, y'all, a less powerful, less privileged person

on the planet at that moment than this infant sleeping in a feeding trough for livestock.

Everything, church, in these opening verses here in Luke chapter 2,

Luke 2 · chapter mention

points to how lowly the baby was.

The irony is palpable for those who know where Luke's narrative is heading, right?

The man, he lived where? Where did Augustus live? He lived in a palace surrounded by all this finery.

This child's beginnings, however, couldn't have been more humble,

but his kingdom, guess what, church, would far outstrip the glories of Rome.

Jesus, as the child named in verse 21, according to the angelic instruction, guess what?

Truly, he was the son of the Most High.

He would reign on David's throne in an eternal kingdom that puts Augustus' empire to shame.

We'll see that in verses 32 and 33. The lowly circumstances of Jesus'

birth show us all that God's kingdom will come in ways that surprise and even

subvert our expectations about what true greatness and power look like.

We'll see that on over in chapter 22, verses 25 through 27 down the road as

well. But, you know, evangelicals, that's us, right?

We don't often reflect on the material poverty of Jesus in comparison to some

other groups, I should say, like the Franciscans.

They're an order of monks, right? They emphasize it. But the fact that the Son

of God would enter the world in the most humble way that was imaginable and

then live his life in poverty,

as it'll tell us in chapter 8,

verse 3, is extremely significant, I think.

Consider the words of the Apostle Paul here on this next slide.

It's written to the church at Corinth.

Listen to what it says. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.

So that you, through his poverty, might become rich.

That's 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9. Jesus' church became poor so that his people

2 Corinthians 8:9

might become spiritually rich through his poverty and suffering.

And so before his incarnation, the Son of God was rich beyond anything imaginable,

beyond anything that Augustus could ever have imagined, for sure.

But for our sake, he stooped to be born, not merely as a human.

That alone would have been an incredible condescending, right?

Condescension there. But as a powerless infant in a barn outside and in,

in an insignificant town.

Because he did, Eastwood, all those who trust in Christ have the sure hope that

they'll be brought to heaven with Jesus when they die.

Luke chapter 23, verses 42 through 43. Jesus became low, in other words,

Luke 23:42–43

in order that we might inherit the greatest spiritual treasure.

That's the ultimate point here of Luke's paradoxical contrast between Caesar

Augustus, the most powerful man in this world at the time, and the baby King Jesus.

What a contrast. They called him the son of a God. Jesus was the son of the most high God. Wow.

Well, then that brings us to the familiar. Y'all know this story,

but the shepherds and angels, right?

I mean, the study in unexpected methods continues here in this word of God here

in the gospel of Luke, when the angel of the Lord appears to who in verses eight and nine,

the shepherds right in nearby fields.

Y'all, a modern publicist might recommend a press conference or a full-page

advertisement, maybe in the New York Times or wherever, you know, that famous newspaper.

You know, I don't know. Maybe I would say the Mobile Register.

Everything's online now, right?

But it would be flashing social media everywhere.

All of it. But the Lord, what? He chose to send a messenger to a group of shepherds in the fields.

The surprise is lost on those who are used to that role that these men,

you know, play in the birth narrative, right?

But these would have been among

the least likely church candidates to ever receive such an announcement.

I mean, shepherds in that society. I know you probably have studied this before,

but shepherds in that society, guess what?

They were despised. They were distrusted and they were deprived of their civil rights.

And it's as if God were trying to make it crystal clear to what kind of people

the good news of Jesus comes.

It doesn't come to the rich and powerful, those who have no sense of their need.

In other words, that's not the way God works. He doesn't reveal his ways to

the seizures of the world, right?

He is the God, church, who sends a messenger to shepherds.

The shepherds, y'all, were terrified, though, in verse 9, right?

Haven't you ever saw the best Christmas pageant ever this year?

Yeah, just remember, every time I read that verse, it's just like,

hey, you know, she comes out.

But anyhow, they were terrified, right? And you might be too,

right? On a peaceful night, you think about it, interrupted by the glory of

God shining all around you.

The angel encouraged them, though, not to be afraid.

In verse 10, in fact, he informed them of the joyous news of Jesus' birth in

Bethlehem, and the shepherds could be forgiven if they had trouble reconciling that data.

The one who was Savior, Messiah, and Lord.

They could be forgiven. The message was for them too. And also a baby would

be lying in a manger, it says in verse 12.

A trip to Bethlehem, guess what, confirmed all that the Lord had spoken to them through his angel.

And as the people actually processed and pondered all these things,

the news began to spread about the shepherd's story in verses 16 through 20

that Sharon read earlier.

The events, in other words, in Bethlehem were meant to inspire praise in those

who become aware of them.

They were, in the words of the angel, if you look, a cause of what?

Great joy for the people.

You see, the great company of the heavenly host here modeled that joy for the

shepherds, didn't they?

With their declarations of praise that we see in verses 13 and 14,

And the responses of the humans here that were involved ranged from what? Amazement.

Those who heard the shepherd's story, it says they were amazed in verse 18.

What else did it lead to? We also see in verse 19, Mary, to treasuring and pondering

these things in her heart, to glorifying and praising God as well.

The shepherds themselves in verse 20, that was their response.

The surprising news of this section, church,

namely that God's favor, in the words of the angels in verse 14,

was resting on people like shepherds, barren women, poor teenagers.

It was enough to kindle joy, church, and wonder in those who heard of it.

That may be because at the heart of the gospel, Eastwood, the heart of the gospel

joy are those twin realizations, I think, that we're not the kind of people who deserve God's love.

In fact, it turns out, newsflash, there aren't any of those kinds of people.

But that in his great love, God has sent his salvation to people just like us anyway.

Aren't you grateful? Don't that cause you to lift your hands and praise God?

Thank you that your salvation has come to me and my household.

That this great salvation is not just for the rich and powerful Lord. It's for all of us.

It's for all of us. No wonder Christians have spent the last 2,000 years joining

the shepherds and glorifying and praising God for all the things that they've heard and seen.

We all, this leads us to, we didn't get to this part as far as reading this

morning, but we're going to pick up here just a little further to Simeon's and Anna's stories.

We're going to look at these just for a few moments. The events recorded in

verse 21 through 38, as well as much of the first chapters, may in fact be the

testimony of Mary herself.

We know from the book of Acts that when Luke, he also authored that book,

right? that he probably spent extended time alone in Jerusalem with his traveling

companion, Paul, while he was in prison.

We see that in Acts chapter 2 and chapter 24. And it's not hard for us to imagine

Acts 2 · chapter mention

that Mary was herself part of the church family there.

And that would, of course, explain how Luke had access to the details of her inner life.

You can look at verse 19 that was read earlier. later on, verse 33,

51 of Luke chapter 2, and to the two events that took place in the temple shortly after Jesus' birth.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

It's not hard to imagine here Mary being one of those eyewitness accounts,

one of those sources for the gospel of Luke.

And the details of this account show us that Joseph and Mary were obedient.

They were law-keeping Jews.

In fact, Leviticus chapter 12 prescribed certain rituals, if you remember,

Leviticus 12 · chapter mention

for Jews to complete after childbirth.

And that includes circumcision, circumcising male infants on the eighth day.

And it talks about that in verse 21.

And purification rites performed for the mother 33 days later in the temple.

And that's in verse 22, 24. But in addition, Exodus chapter 13 actually instructed

Exodus 13 · chapter mention

the Israelite parents to set apart their firstborn to the Lord.

And that's referenced in Luke 2, 23. And after naming the child Jesus in accordance,

if you remember with the angel's instructions in verse 21, the parents journeyed where?

To Jerusalem in order to fulfill their obligations and sacrifice the pair of

birds that were prescribed in the law for poor people.

And so while they're in the temple, I want you to see the backdrop.

While they're in the temple, the family met two extraordinary people.

Simeon is described in verse 25 as righteous and devout.

Usually when Luke uses the word righteous, he's actually describing somebody's

conduct towards other people.

Devout usually refers to being careful about religious duties.

They were devout in those duties.

But in addition to that, in verse 25 here, we're told that the Holy Spirit was on Simeon.

And the wording here, church, indicates that the Spirit was on him continually

and had communicated to Simeon that he would see the Lord's Messiah,

if you look at verse 26, before he died.

And when the Spirit brought Simeon into the temple courts, Simeon encountered

the family and he understood that the infant baby Jesus to be for the fulfillment

of the Lord's promise to him in verses 27 and 28.

And at that moment, it, verse 38, a widow also named Anna came up to the family.

She was a very elderly prophetess. She lived in the temple where she worshiped,

prayed, and fasted constantly.

It tells us that in verses 36 and 37.

And in response to the family's presence there in the temple,

Anna gave thanks to God and began to speak about the child.

To all who were looking forward to the redemption of Israel, in verse 38.

So we see that both Simeon and Anna's stories here emphasize that the faithful

people of Israel were engaged in a long process of waiting for God's act of salvation to come.

And according to verse 25, Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel,

A phrase that really conjures up Isaiah's prophecies about the arrival of the Lord, right?

The Lord's comfort and compassion he talks about in Isaiah 40 and 49.

And so in a similar way, here we see Anna testified to, it looks what it says

there in Luke 2, 38, to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

Most likely all these crowds thought of the coming redemption in political terms.

After all, yes, Israel had been groaning under foreign oppression, right, for centuries.

The arrival of a deliverer who would actually throw off the Roman shackles of

rule there in Jerusalem and restore the glory of Israel that they were looking for, probably.

It was certainly a cause for joy and excitement for them.

But instead of uniting the nation toward a glorious overthrow of Rome,

Simeon told Mary that the child was destined actually to be the cause of the

falling and rising of many in Israel in verse 34.

And as Luke's narrative here progresses, we're going to see as we go deeper

into this book that Jesus's ministry effectively splits the nation in two, doesn't it?

The Jewish religious establishment for the most part will see Jesus as somebody to be spoken against.

Even as many others, including Gentiles as well, receive him as their deliverer. We'll see that split.

In addition, something in Simeon's prophecy in verse 34 and 35 gives us a clue

that the deliverance that this child will bring, guess what,

church, will not come about through political power and military conquest, will it?

No, he tells Mary, it's kind of enigmatically or kind of like a mystery here,

that the coming of this comforter, redeemer, means that a sword will pierce her soul.

Whatever the specific meaning of that phrase is, it's clear that being the mother

of this child will be a cause of suffering for Mary, won't it?

And for the first time amid all of the joy, church, in the beginning of Luke's

gospel, We see the cross that's there looming in the distance.

This child would indeed, what, redeem Israel and thank God us too, right?

But it would be through what? Through pain and cost.

You see, the details of Jesus's salvation are still hazy in these earliest chapters.

What is clear, though, is that Jesus is the one that's sent by God as the Redeemer.

And that's the point that we have to have emerging from all of these different

stories in the first two chapters of Luke.

Simeon had been promised, again, that he would see the Messiah before his death.

And when he held the child in his arms, he knew, church, he knew that the promise

had been fulfilled, it says in verses 28 and 29.

Don't miss the power of verse 30, by the way, where Simeon there declares that

his eyes have seen God's salvation.

God's salvation, church, is not a what.

It is a who. To see Jesus is to see God's salvation here.

Wow. I mean, this means, church, that our experience of salvation is not primarily

seen in a change of our circumstances, is it?

Or a program of self-improvement of some kind.

But you know what it's seen in, Eastwood? It's seen in a relationship,

a vibrant relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A transformed life. God did not send us, church, an impersonal force or a guide

to better living, did he?

He sent us his son, his one and only son, to pay the penalty,

to pay the price that we could not pay.

And so the Christian life is not primarily a code of conduct or philosophy of life, is it?

What is it again? It's a relationship with a living person.

You see, our relationship with

Jesus Eastwood displaces everything else to the periphery of our lives.

Everything else.

It becomes the central reality that controls each day.

We know God's grace when we look at Jesus with the eyes of faith, and we say, what?

This is God's salvation.

This is God's salvation. Y'all, I pray that we do not forget this,

that we don't forget these stories here, what Luke's account is trying to share

with us today, and Simeon and Anna's stories are trying to share with us today.

Jesus is the one that God sent to even to all of us, to the lowly of us, the lowliest.

You see when we think about the caesars of the day right they had them then

they had the caesar augustus right do you ever envy or fear those in your day who are like that.

I hope luke here helps to reorient your perspective because as a christian guess

what you have the greatest treasure i have the greatest treasure in the forgiveness

that is offered to us through God's one and only Son, the Son of the Most High,

the forgiveness of our sin, of being right with our Lord and Savior.

And y'all, church, that is something that should never grow old, never grow old.

Y'all, we don't ever graduate from the gospel.

If anything, church, it's like a swimming pool that's right out here,

and we dive deeper into it.

We dive deep into the gospel, as we realize the treasures and the salvation that our God offers us.

And when I said that at the end, that our relationship with Jesus displaces

or should displace everything else to the periphery of our lives, I meant it.

That relationship with the one true God, our eyes focused on him and the salvation that he brings.

Everything else, just like the words of that old hymn, turn your eyes on Jesus.

Look full at his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely

dim in the light of his glory and his grace.