Journeys to Bethlehem
“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town.” (Luke 2:1-3 ESV) This well-known event caused a tremendous shift in population. At least for a little while, many people had to travel in order to be counted, and taxed, by the Roman government. One place that underwent an extreme adjustment was a tiny town, south of Jerusalem, Bethlehem.
While Bethlehem was famous, it was small and little actually happened there. The book of Ruth took place there; also the great king David was from Bethlehem. But that was what Bethlehem was best for: being from there, but moving elsewhere. Yet, when Augustus issued his decree, suddenly numerous people were forced to head to Bethlehem for a number of different reasons. During this time, formerly sleepy Bethlehem was filled with activity. At the same time, one of the most amazing events in all of history took place: God was born as a human baby! Seemingly more amazing is the fact that most of the people who swelled Bethlehem’s population apparently were oblivious to this. How could this be? Most of the people were so busy with what brought them to Bethlehem that they missed out on the birth of our Savior. This advent, we will take a look at a number of the different groups that came to Bethlehem, including common people, soldiers, merchants, Mary and Joseph, shepherds, and finally Jesus, and see why each came, and how that effected what they noticed or did not notice. Along the way, we will see how we can be like many of these groups and can sometimes miss and sometimes catch God’s coming and working among us.
Please join us for Advent and Christmas services as we take our spiritual journey to Bethlehem and seek to not miss, but to truly see our Savior who came for us.
