Born in Bethlehem
Text: Micah 5: 1 – 5a
Rev. Peter R Green, Sunday morning, 22 December, 2002

MENTIONED a Herald article at Friday’s prayer meeting. It was about a protest held when an exhibition toured America. The exhibition showed how the manger scene is depicted in various societies. One was a tableau of porcelain figurines of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, various animals, and a man squatting in a corner relieving himself.

You can imagine how prudish American Christians reacted! It’s not nice to think of people relieving themselves in the stable where Jesus was born.
I suppose it’s not nice to think of animals doing it either, but I’m sure that Mary and Joseph had had to kick a few treasures into the corner to make the stable acceptable for a baby to be born in.
Apparently it’s a tradition in parts of Spain to include that figure in their Christmas tableaux. They don’t want people to forget that the first Christmas was not nice. They don’t want people to forget that the stable was squalid, dirty, unlit, uncomfortable and totally unsuitable for any child to be born in.
I think we should have the pooing shepherd in every Christmas tableau!

Today let’s look at the significance of Bethlehem as the place where the Lord’s life on earth began.
We read today,

“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. “

The nice simple part is that, around 600 years before the event, the prophet Micah accurately predicted where the Messiah would be born.
We know that this was the unambiguous understanding of this passage among the people of Jesus’ time. When the magi from the East came to look for the promised Messiah, King Herod, the Arab king of Israel, didn’t know where to look, so he called in the chief priests and they told him, “That baby will be born in Bethlehem.” And, when the magi took another way home and didn’t come to report back to Herod, he sent soldiers to Bethlehem to kill the babies.

Bethlehem. It was where the promised Messiah was to be born.

You can understand why Herod feared this baby. Herod was a usurper, and he knew it. The Jews never accepted him. They knew the Messiah had to come from among the Israelite people. They knew he had to come from the family line of King David. Herod was of Arab descent, a puppet placed on the throne by the Romans.
As soon as a baby appeared whom the people might accept as their true king, Herod knew he was a goner. His claims were ended, his family would not survive.

When Herod heard that the Messiah had been born in Bethlehem, the news scared him worse than half to death.

Bethlehem had long been known as the birthplace of the Messiah.
But what makes Bethlehem so important? What is Bethlehem all about?
Bethlehem was no great shakes as a city. We sing,

“Once in royal David’s city, stood a lowly cattle shed.”

Bethlehem was David’s home town. It is about 5 miles south of Jerusalem. It has never been a mere suburb of Jerusalem, though. It was always an independent town.

Bethlehem is a sheep–and–wheat area, though it’s more sheep than wheat. They say that it means “Home of bread”. Beth means house or home, and lehem is bread in Hebrew. Bethlehem was a town long before the Israelites arrived. Jacob’s wife, Rachel, was buried near there. In fact, the name goes back to before any Hebrew was ever spoken in the area.

Bethlehem was an ancient town. It was one of those little, solid places that never grow, but never die.

But Bethlehem was only a village. Think about North-Western NSW, up near Tamworth. Think of the little towns there, Baan Baa, Maule’s Creek — places where the same families have lived for generations, places where the people feel left out in the struggle to survive.

My uncle in Baan Baa supported the New England secession movement. “The lawyers and the accountants down in Sydney don’t understand us up here, they aren’t interested in our needs. We need our own State, with Armidale as the capital. It will be a State that looks after the farmers and the country business people.” That was how they felt in Bethlehem.

In Bethlehem, they almost had their own State. There’s a ridge separating Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Those 5 miles take you from Sydney to Baan Baa in one leap. Jerusalem is the capital city, on its hill; Bethlehem is the most important country town on the border of Southern Israel.

If people in Bethlehem talked about their own State, they knew the capital would be Hebron, not Bethlehem, just like people in Baan Baa knew that if they ever got their own State the capital would be Armidale, not Baan Baa.

It’s also like NSW and Victoria. The Capital city of all Australia is in southern NSW, but Wodonga is the biggest border town in Victoria. The difference is that Canberra to Wodonga is a couple of hundred km, and Jerusalem to Bethlehem is about 8km. But you’d never mistake Wodonga for Melbourne.
That’s the kind of place Jesus was born in.
Are you wondering why it is important that Jesus should be born in such a country town? Why have I been trying so hard to tell you what kind of town Bethlehem is?

The answer is vital: Bethlehem is not Jerusalem. It is not the capital city, it is not the centre of Jewish life, it is not the country’s pace–setter, it is not even easy to walk between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Jerusalem and Bethlehem are not twins, they do not belong together. They are very different places.

You know where the absolutely best ever Prime Minister of Australia will come from, don’t you. The answer is “Marrickville”, because Marrickville is the centre of the world. That’s why John Howard will never be the ABE Prime Minister of Australia. Poor John Howard is from Dulwich Hill. Close, but no cigar.

So imagine the way people thought about the Messiah. Realise why God chose Bethlehem as the starting point, and didn’t choose Jerusalem.

For the Jews, the most important person who would ever come on earth was the Messiah. They didn’t have a full answer to what he would be like, but he would have to be such a powerful leader that he would defeat the Romans, he would have to be so wise that he could set up a kingdom based in Israel that would be dominant over the entire world, and he would have to be so close to God that this kingdom would be exactly what God wanted, and would have to be blessed by God in every way.
That is a Very Important Person, a true VIP. So, where would someone like this start out from?

Of course, people were sure that Jerusalem is the place for the Messiah. And he will eventually rule from the New Jerusalem.
But God says,

ISA 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God’s approach to many things is quite opposite to our own. Again, in I Corinthians, Paul writes:

1CO 1:26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

No one would suspect Bethlehem. Even observant Jews who knew their Bibles were not absolutely clear on the idea that the Messiah must come from Bethlehem. But it was precisely because God chooses the foolish, the human, the weak, the not-very-nice things of our world and did it to shame the wise and the strong, to nullify the things that already stand in the place of God, to put an end to every boast and every proud thought.

I can imagine how people were thinking. Every mother giving birth to a boy wonders, “Is this one going to be the Messiah?” And she imagines him growing up, marrying a nice girl, being anointed by Elijah, being chosen by the people. She dreams of the tickertape parades for her boy. She imagines how humble she will feel when he ousts Herod and sends a message, “Mum, Dad, come on over and live in the palace with me and Rebecca and the tinlids”.
But the real Messiah isn’t being born into a good family. His mother is hunched up on a couple of bails of hay giving a last push, Joseph is panicking in the darkness. the single oil lamp gives almost enough light. The cows are curious and keep wanting to investigate, and he has to shoo them off. It’s all messy, and Joseph is half remembering what his mother had told him had to be done and half remembering what happened when lambs were born. Somehow they make it through, and the baby lives, and Mary is doing OK.

The Mayor of Jerusalem dreams in the early morning, as he begins stirring back into wakefulness. The Messiah has suddenly arrived, and he has to put on a civic reception. In the dream, he has thousands of the best citizens eating together while the Messiah lays out his plans to rebuild Jerusalem and get a palace set up alongside the temple. Now it’s time. As mayor of Jerusalem, he is going to make the speech of the century. When people talk about the Messiah, they will also talk about the Mayor and that wonderful reception. In his dream, he stands up, begins, “Gentlemen and ladies!” They begin to giggle. He looks down. He has forgotten to wear his tunic...

But the Messiah has no tunic or cloak. His mother wraps him in clean rags and pulls hay around him to keep him warm. He isn’t going to even understand a speech for another three years.

In the Jerusalem temple, as they prepare for worship, some wonder if the Messiah will come forward today and declare himself. They think how splendid the Temple is, and how well worship is conducted every day. The Messiah will thank them for their faithfulness. He will pay for a great Passover celebration for the entire nation. His praises will bring honour to the entire Temple staff.

But the real thing is happening in that stable over in Bethlehem. There is no sacrifice over there, just some shepherds who wandered in and said that angels told them to come, shepherds looking at an ordinary baby, but worshipping because the Angels told them, “This is someone special! This baby in this squalid barn is the one whom God has sent to you!”

There was real faith in that barn! Could this Bethlehem baby in this barn, with these two as his parents, ever become anyone of any reputation or account?
The shepherds didn’t worry about such questions.They came and worshipped, even in Bethlehem.

LK 2:1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Just think. Would you get an invitation to the Messiah’s birth if it were in Jerusalem? Would you be welcomed if it ocurred in a palace? Would we be let in if we had mud on our feet or bad breath?

The Messiah was born in Bethlehem because he is the Messiah for you and me.

Come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord!

AMEN