Mark's thoughts: Mary and Joseph weren't immigrants, illegal, or rejected

 

This year there has been an intense national focus on immigration and what should be done about illegal aliens who are now living in the United States. Therefore it’s not surprising that in the days leading up to Christmas there have been a number of individuals who have tried to drag Mary and Joseph into the discussion by comparing their experience to these modern situations. However, any attempt to do so reflects a lack of understanding about the historical setting in which they lived.  These same historical facts help us to understand how God was at work in the birth of Jesus Christ.

 

When Mary and Joseph travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, they never left one country and entered into another. They were, in fact, within the kingdom of Herod the Great the entire time. The Romans under Pompey had conquered this area in 63 B.C. However, their typical practice on the eastern end of the empire during this period was not to take direct control over lands. Instead, they established client states that served as a buffer zone that separated the Romans from the Parthian empire`.

 

These client states were ruled by petty kings, and Herod the Great was one of these kings. Herod ruled a kingdom that rivaled the one over which David had been king. In an impressive display of being a survivor, Herod had managed to ingratiate himself to whichever Roman leader happened to be controlling Palestine at that time. Herod ran the affairs of his kingdom and had his own army, but there was no doubt about who controlled him. He answered to the Roman emperor.

 

As Luke 2:1 indicates, at the time when Jesus was born, that man was Augustus.  For more than fifty years, the Roman Empire had been racked by wars as leaders vied for control. Augustus had come out on top, and he took actions which transformed the Roman Empire into something that was truly ruled by one man – by him.

 

Luke states, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered” (2:1). Augustus ordered a census, and normally a census led directly into Roman taxation.  The available evidence indicates that usually a census was done for lands that were under direct Roman rule and therefore under direct Roman taxation. But in this case, it apparently also included lands that were under their indirect control – a land like the kingdom of Herod the Great.

 

This probably helps to explain what Luke describes: “And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David” (2:3-4).  Typically, a Roman census was done according to where a person lived. But there apparently could be some accommodation to local settings (as seen in Egyptian papyri), and so in the Jewish land of Herod it was done on the basis of family lineage.

 

Joseph and the pregnant Mary had not travelled to Bethlehem for the purpose of living there. They weren’t “immigrants.”  There was certainly nothing illegal about their activity. In fact, quite the opposite, the only reason they were in Bethlehem was because they were obeying what the government had told them to do.

There was no doubt that the timing of the decree was terrible for this young couple. We learn in our that Mary was pregnant (2:5), and it turns out that when they made the trip she was close to giving birth. When they arrived in Bethlehem they didn’t find the normal accommodations. They probably expected to stay in an extra room at the home of extended family. The ESV provides the translation: “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” (2:7). The Greek word translated as “inn” (ἐν τῷ καταλύματι.) doesn’t mean a place where travelers rent a room. There is a different word for that, and Luke uses it in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (εἰς πανδοχεῖον ;10:34).

 

Instead, the word used refers to an extra room in a house that is available for use. It is the same word used by Luke in 22:11 to describe the room where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples (ποῦ ἐστιν τὸ κατάλυμα ὅπου τὸ πάσχα μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν μου φάγω;). The influx of people for the census probably meant they weren’t the only extended family who showed up looking for housing. When Mary and Joseph arrived, there was no more room in the house, and so they were given the next best thing available – a stable where animals were kept.  The setting of Jesus’ birth did not indicate that Mary and Joseph were rejected or mistreated.

 

Rather than trying to use Marry and Joseph to comment on modern issues, we should see in their situation how God carried out his plan of salvation and fulfilled his word.. Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem because of forces over which they had no control. An emperor had issued a decree.  A king was obeying by implementing it. They had to obey. But what we now know, is that the emperor was subject to the One who controls all things.  St. Paul told the Galatians, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son” (Galatians 4:4).

 

God acted at the right moment according to his plan. He, the Creator of all things, had used empires in the past as the tools by which he carried out his purposes. He had used the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Persians. He had used Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyrus. Now he was using the Romans and Augustus. He used them to cause Mary and Joseph to be in Bethlehem at the time when Mary gave birth to Jesus.

 

Emperor Augustus was God’s instrument through whom he brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem at the time when Mary was to give birth to Jesus the Christ – the Messiah. He had done so because this fulfilled his word that he had spoken through the prophet Micah: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:3-6).