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We Who Thirst
Delve into the captivating tales of women from the Bible, exploring their lives within ancient cultures and historical contexts. These narratives reveal not only their stories but also the profound love and beauty of the God we worship.
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We Who Thirst
014 Historical Context of the Nativity: Part 2
Have you ever considered the significant role women played in the nativity story? Our reimagining paints a picture of Jesus being born not in isolation, but in the warmth of a peasant home, surrounded by supportive women. This episode uncovers the vital contributions of women during crucial moments in Jesus' life, offering a richer understanding of customs and norms that highlight their often-overlooked significance. By reexamining these narratives, we aim to honor the strength found in community and hospitality that would have been evident to the first listeners of the gospel.
The essence of Christmas isn't just a distant echo from the past; it's a vibrant reminder of God's presence among the humble. As we navigate the socio-economic realities of Mary and Joseph's lives, we'll reflect on the universal reach of God's message, as shown through characters like Simeon, Anna, and the Magi. Listen in for a discussion that not only revisits the roles of the ordinary people in the nativity story but also encourages us to embrace the message of hope and humility during this festive season.
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Welcome back. Today we are talking through our second part of the Historically Accurate Nativity series. It's a two-part series. Today we're going to be focusing on Luke, chapter 2, and the birth of Jesus. Again, as I look through this passage, I'm not going to be doing it exegetically, I'm not preaching a sermon. I'm going to be kind of taking apart the story as the author of Luke wrote it. I'm not going to be doing text critical work to see was Jesus really born in Bethlehem or any of those sorts of issues. I'm just going to take the text as it is written and talk about the historical context elements that enlighten the text as we have it written so that we can get inside this story more accurately. That means I will be talking about some people who aren't mentioned in the text but were likely there and bringing out some themes from Matthew, chapter 1 that I think Luke also brings fully to our attention over and over. So Luke 2 starts with a census. It says In those days, caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This is the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria and everyone went to their own town to register Verse 4,.
Jessica LM Jenkins:So last time we talked about Joseph and how he was probably a construction contractor or laborer, not a carpenter with his own little shop who makes tables and chairs. He likely would have gone out to work on major construction projects, either when he lived in Nazareth, either in Tiberias or Sephora, or when he's in Bethlehem, maybe even in Jerusalem. He could have gotten a job working, because Herod's Temple is being built it's in progress during this time, so he could have gotten a job working there or on other major architectural works going on in the region at the time, which there were several. So his job, though he's artisan class, which we talked about last time, but it can be very fluid in where he's actually working at the time. If that was the type of job that he had. The word for Joseph as a carpenter in the Greek just means artisan, so it's somebody who works with their hands as some sort of craftsperson, not just like day laborer, the person you'd go hire to haul rock for you on the construction site. So he has specialties and techniques, but we don't necessarily know specifically what they are. So Joseph is going, he's in Nazareth and he's going to be going from Nazareth to Bethlehem because he is from the town lineage of David and he went verse five he went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
Jessica LM Jenkins:Now this is where our look at the text starts to diverge from the stereotypical nativity story that's often taught. This may sound familiar to you. The Christmas story from Luke 2 is often framed as Mary and Joseph are a young, very, very young, poor couple that are engaged to be married but they're not married yet and they have to go from Bethlehem to Nazareth. So she is like nine months, right at the end of her pregnancy, traveling just the two of them on their little donkey, traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem. They get there middle of the night. She is in labor. She's been in labor for hours. Joseph is desperate. They go to the nearest hotel and they knock on the door and the hotel manager says sorry, we're full up because, hey, you, it's a census, you should have planned ahead. But you can go sleep in the barn out back. And so Joseph takes his wife, who's literally in labor, in his arms and gets her into the barn in the back of the hotel and there she continues laboring. Nobody else wants to host them or let them in because they're not married yet. And this is a shameful situation. So people are tittering and, oh, look at that, you know baby that's going to be born out of wedlock. And so they go into this barn Nobody's there, smelly cows, manure everywhere, gross, and she's laboring. She has the baby in the barn, he delivers it, and then the angels come to the shepherds, who are the outcasts, despised, hated by the community. They're like the thieves and the homeless people, basically. And it's the shepherds who come running in to see this baby just after he's born, delivered by Joseph, and some people put the wise men right there. Some people think, oh, they got out of the barn and now they're, a couple years later, they're in a house somewhere in Bethlehem, and then the wise men show up and Jesus is two or three years old when the wise men show up. That's kind of a very rough draft of how the nativity story from Luke 2 is often told. But this verse verse 5, is where we're going to start to pull it apart and say, okay, let's compare to Matthew and let's think historical context as we go through, and say, okay, let's compare to Matthew and let's think historical context as we go through. So it says that Joseph was pledged to be married to Mary.
Jessica LM Jenkins:Later rabbinical writings talk about this sort of engagement, this betrothal, as a legal document that to sever that is as serious as divorce. There's all sorts of types of marriages that were going on in first century Judea and Galilee. We're not exactly sure what type of betrothal they had. They could have had a document like what the rabbis described later on in the second or fifth centuries, or it could have been a much more informal agreement. Either way, matthew, chapter 1, verse 24, says when Joseph woke up from the dream he had with the angel where the angel told him to marry Mary. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him to do and took Mary home as his wife, as his woman in Greek. So by the time he gets, by the time Jesus is born, joseph has married her. So there's a little bit of contradiction between Matthew and Luke on whether they are married or engaged. It's likely they were in that process somewhere. I would say they were probably more married, or at least the legal ramifications was that they were as good as married and Joseph, in deciding to marry her, is basically taking the blame for the illegitimate child, for her pregnancy, which nobody ever considers is an illegitimate child.
Jessica LM Jenkins:Jesus is not raised under the stigma of being an illegitimate child. He's raised as though he's Joseph's son. So when Mary and Joseph arrive in Bethlehem it is not under the stigma of a illegitimate pregnancy. It is a young couple, engaged and just didn't make it to the wedding, or newly married, and she's pregnant. So they arrive. It's also likely they didn't travel the ninth month. That's just not smart. Their travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The text doesn't tell us when it happened. It simply says that while they were there in Bethlehem she had the baby, so they could have been.
Jessica LM Jenkins:The annunciation happens with the angel. She gets pregnant, she goes to visit Elizabeth, stays there about three months and then goes back and then sometimes she and Joseph go to Bethlehem. So she is anywhere from four to seven and a half I would guess seven and a half eight months pregnant Probably not past seven, I wouldn't think because they're not going to want her traveling a whole lot towards the end of that pregnancy. So they get to Bethlehem when she's partway through the pregnancy. But we're not talking like middle of the night, desperate contractions kind of deal.
Jessica LM Jenkins:The Proto-Evangelium of James, which is a, I believe, second century pseudepigraphal or apocryphal writing. It gets a lot of the details in the Proto-Evangelium of James. Proto-evangelium of James, excuse me, does not match Luke's account. That apocryphal work looks at it differently. I didn't look up whether it's pseudepigraphal or apocryphal before this. It's one of the two, I apologize. So it gets details from the account in Luke. It changes some of those details but that is likely where the idea of Mary being in labor when she arrived in Bethlehem came from, though in the proto-evangelium of James she doesn't even get to Bethlehem. They end up doing it on the side of the road, on the way to Bethlehem, in a cave. That's where the cave idea could have come from. Way to Bethlehem in a cave. That's where the cave idea could have come from and they're not in Bethlehem proper. It doesn't even talk about an innkeeper, as I recall from when I read it a couple years ago. It's just he grabs a cave because she's about to have the baby. Then he runs and goes and finds a midwife, which shows the historical assumption that a midwife is necessary for the birth. Anyway, getting back to the flow of the text, so they get to Bethlehem and she is pregnant, but not that far along.
Jessica LM Jenkins:While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, they likely were staying in a small peasant house. He has family. He has generational roots in Bethlehem. They probably have traveled from Nazareth with potentially Joseph's parents and aunts and uncles and extended family, because they obviously would have similar roots if they had relocated to Nazareth. And if they haven't relocated to Nazareth, they might be in Bethlehem and Joseph might be headed to their house. Joseph's job he could have been more mobile around the country because, unlike Peter James and John, they were fishermen who had a family business that's physically located on the Sea of Galilee could be moving to where the big construction jobs are happening. So he might have been more mobile than an agrarian family or a peasant family that is farming or fishing or some such like that. So anyway, joseph and probably extended family if that family was in Nazareth with them, would have been all traveling, and if family wasn't traveling with them, then there would have been a caravan In the first century.
Jessica LM Jenkins:You don't travel alone. We see this in Jesus' parables, like the parable of the Good Samaritan how dangerous it is to be traveling by yourself. The Samaritan gets mugged and beaten and left for dead. And we know when Joseph and Mary go to Jerusalem for Passover, when Jesus is 12 and gets left at the temple, they were traveling in a large caravan at that time as well, with a bunch of family. So it's likely there's a lot of family, or the very least neighbors from Nazareth or some such that they're part of a big group. Some may have petered off in Jerusalem or other cities as they were all traveling south, but they were not traveling alone. We have no idea if they had a donkey, no idea. So they get to Bethlehem, they go probably to family to try to find somewhere to stay. That would be the logical place for a peasant to stay.
Jessica LM Jenkins:There were hotels or inns in the ancient world. There's a specific word for that and it's used in the parable of the Good Samaritan. That. And it's used in the parable of the Good Samaritan because that's where the Samaritan takes the injured man to a hotel and asks the innkeeper, the hotel owner, to care for the injured man. So there is a specific Greek word for hotel. However, when we look at Luke 2 and it says that there's no room in the inn, in many translations the NIV translates it guest room. That is a different Greek word. That Greek word indicates guest room or a place where guests would stay. It is not the official Greek word for hotel or inn, which is used in the parable of the Good Samaritan. So you have two different Greek words going on here. Samaritan so you have two different Greek words going on here. It is likely that the guest room was already full with a higher status guest of some kind or family of the host family, like a son-in-law and his family, are occupying the guest room of this small peasant house.
Jessica LM Jenkins:It's likely that the house Joseph and Mary would have gone to stay at with their family or extended family would have been a one, maybe two-room peasant home. They would have a large room where baking, weaving of cloth, your daily things that you have to do indoors would happen in this one room and into that room. They would also bring their animals at night. If they had a donkey, any sheep, they would bring those animals inside at night for safety. Most peasants did not have external barns, so the idea of Mary and Joseph being sent away to a barn, even a barn that's attached to the house, like on the side of the house, that doesn't really match up with the geography of how peasants lived. Wealthy families would have kind of like a compound where they would have like the main rooms of the house and they would have a stable room in their compound. If Mary and Joseph were going to wealthy people to try to find somewhere to stay, are going to wealthy people to try to find somewhere to stay, they could potentially have been sent to a separate stable room, but not if they are going to peasants like them to stay.
Jessica LM Jenkins:The manger for the animals would be in the main room of the house with the rest of the family, so that when you have in verse 6, while they than Mary and Joseph being sent away to a barn, they have been brought in and encapsulated into this house. The guest room is full so they can't stay there. The manger is in basically the living room because animals are brought in at night for safety from robbers and also that's free heat for your house. Cows or sheep put off a lot of heat, so do donkeys. It's cold.
Jessica LM Jenkins:We don't know what time of year it was Jesus was born. We celebrate Christmas in December. The jury don't know what time of year it was Jesus was born. We celebrate Christmas in December. The jury is out on what time of year they may have been bringing the animals inside a lot because of the winter or if it's a different time of year. The animals may have been kept in an enclosed courtyard, but the animals are still. The manger is likely inside the house, where the animals' water or food or whatever they would need during certain times of the year would be. It's probably made of stone. It could even be built into the wall of the house, not a freestanding object. So baby Jesus is born in a completely different setting than our tale typically tells. This also means there are people that probably would have been there that our typical retelling of the nativity stories completely ignore.
Jessica LM Jenkins:If we place Jesus' birth in a peasant home, you have the host family who would be there? Likely the wife, the hostess she would likely have been there when baby Jesus was born. A midwife or a woman in the village who's skilled at midwifery things, even if she's not an official midwife, likely was brought in to help with the birth. Any family members who Mary and Joseph were traveling with probably came. Mary was not alone and ostracized shamefully when she gave birth to Jesus.
Jessica LM Jenkins:That is how I was always taught the story. Growing up outside of my immediate family, my dad was the one who brought to my attention the fact that Jesus was probably born in a peasant home. But in church and everywhere else they always taught the story as though Jesus was born in a barn the whole. Were you born in a barn? Yes, he was born in a stable with the animals. It is most likely they brought him in.
Jessica LM Jenkins:So you have the host woman, you have the midwives, you have all of these women who are surrounding Mary and Jesus. It's likely they even kicked the men out, because for thousands of years birthing was a purely women's activity and men were not to be around. And so Joseph may not have even been present when baby Jesus was born and the women would have surrounded Mary and baby Jesus so that when the incarnation happens, it happens into the womb and then the hands and the arms of women. When God becomes flesh, women are the first to touch God. The hospitality culture of the ancient world would not let a laboring newlywed mother who's not at home labor alone. That would be deeply shameful for the family, for the community, that would be a black mark against them. And so they draw in Joseph and Mary, perhaps even the host, giving up their own bed in the main living area of the home for Mary and baby Jesus. And he is born and these women, they take him, they rub him down. I've seen sources that they would rub newborns with salt and wrap them in swaddling clothes, sources that they would rub newborns with salt and wrap them in swaddling clothes. They took care of Jesus in his most vulnerable moments, all throughout scripture. In Jesus' vulnerable moments it is women who are there ministering to his needs. It is always women who are the first to touch God. When the incarnation happens, it is women who are there touching and caring for Jesus. When the resurrection happens, it is women who are there touching Jesus. When Jesus died, right before the resurrection, it was women who were going to anoint his body and care for him after burial.
Jessica LM Jenkins:The role of women in the gospel story is incredibly important. Now you might be asking if it's so important, why isn't it mentioned in Luke chapter 2? Luke chapter 2 says nothing about a hostess or a midwife or neighbor woman coming in to help. Why wouldn't it be mentioned? My argument is it isn't mentioned in Luke chapter two because to the original hearers it is obvious. They would know mangers are in the living room. They would know that you don't send away family to a hotel, because that's where Roman soldiers stay, that's where wandering traders stay, that's where Gentiles stay. You're not going to send a pregnant woman and a son of David, who's from your town, to a hotel. How could you? The original hearer would understand that implicitly.
Jessica LM Jenkins:We, as the modern readers, are the one who have no idea. We're the ones who see mistranslation of the word guest room. The Greek word for guest room has been translated as inn, so we assume hotel, when it's actually the same word used for the Last Supper. When Jesus tells the disciples go prepare the guest room for the Last Supper, it's the exact same words the place in which there was no room for Mary and Joseph. So if Mary and Joseph are knocking on the door of the hotel and being denied entrance, we also have to place the Last Supper in the conference room of that hotel rather than the upper room of a house in Jerusalem, which is how we always frame the Last Supper. So we need to be consistent on our definitions of this word.
Jessica LM Jenkins:So the women are there. We don't see them because we don't understand how the culture works. The expectations, the presuppositions of the original hearer would be hospitality on the part of the Bethlehemites and Joseph's family. It would be that animals for peasant families, which is who we're dealing with here, are brought inside the house and it would be that women are going to surround and care for the laboring mother while she gives birth. We are used to women going away to the hospital. Maybe her mom or sister or like one person from her family, goes with her, but her neighbors don't. Her best friend usually doesn't. Women labor alone. We're used to an individualistic culture where we do things alone. In the ancient world that was completely outside of their frame of mind. They had no reason to specify these things because it was so obvious to them. So she wrapped baby Jesus in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available to them. Now there are shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night.
Jessica LM Jenkins:These shepherds I've often heard it taught. People often teach that the shepherds were vagabonds, they're thieves, they're smelly, they're despised, they're just like the lowly of the lowly. That idea, that characterization of the shepherds, comes from 5th century rabbis in Babylon. So we're talking Babylonian, talmudic writings, which is 5th century, 500 years after the events of Luke, chapter 2. Rabbis wrote about shepherds in Babylon, in Persia. So we're talking thousands of miles away, completely different geographical region. They, those rabbis in the 5th century in Persia, babylon, despised shepherds and the shepherds around them were smelly thieves, the dregs of society In Israel, in Judea and Galilee.
Jessica LM Jenkins:We have no evidence from the Jerusalem Talmud that's written around or Mishnah that's written around the 2nd century. We have none of thatishnah that's written around the second century. We have none of that evidence from them From the second century. We don't have it and we see all throughout scripture that shepherds was a perfectly fine job to have. There's no shame attached to being a shepherd. In fact, there may have been priestly shepherds in and around Bethlehem that were watching the flocks that would be sacrificed at the temple.
Jessica LM Jenkins:We have absolutely zero evidence that those shepherds were the ones that the angels came to. They could have been priestly shepherds. They could have also just been the run-of-the-mill blue-collar worker, peasant person, husband, teenage boy kind of shepherd that's out in the field. It could even be some of the husbands that the wives kicked out of the house when Mary went into labor. So they're going to go hang out with the sheep for a bit, because what are we going to do? The women just took over the house.
Jessica LM Jenkins:We don't know who these shepherds are, except they are nearby Bethlehem. They might've even been from an adjoining town, not from Bethlehem proper, but imagine them in your minds not as like the despised dregs of society, but like your neighbor Joe who drives truck, or Charlie who works at the shop and takes care of cars. You know your good-hearted, hardworking, blue-collar neighbor who's just doing what he needs to do and doing it faithfully. That's the kind of people the shepherds were, and so the angels appear to them saying glory, and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. But the angels said don't be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord this.
Jessica LM Jenkins:So the shepherds immediately run to see this baby, and they are just so excited, so, verse 16, excited, so verse 16, they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger, and when they had seen them, they spread the word about what had been told them about this child and all who heard it were amazed. So there's a lot going on here. You have Mary has given birth and they lay the baby in a manger. Why would they say they lay the baby in a manger? Baby in a manger. Why would they say they lay the baby in a manger? Partly because that is a cue that says this baby's like the rest of the peasant babies.
Jessica LM Jenkins:A manger is a strong, sturdy, solid walled, safe place to put a baby in a peasant home, beds could have been a wooden bed like we have, where you have a mattress on some sort of bed frame or it's a rolled up mat on the floor, depending on the peasant family. So there may not be a bed available to lay your baby down. If you need to stop holding it for a minute, you definitely don't want to put the baby on a table. We've all learned that Don't put babies on tables. That's a bad idea. Mangers are a great place to set the baby down for a few minutes because it has walls, it's sturdy, it's not going to get knocked over by an errant sheep or toddler or something. It's stone. It's not going anywhere. These are co-sleeping cultures, so it's not like they're using the manger as a crib. They don't do cribs, they're co-sleeping cultures and we have evidence of that throughout scripture. So a manger is a great place to put a baby because it's built in, it's solid, it has walls, it's secure, baby's not going anywhere. So they lay the baby in the manger and that's familiar language to all the peasants.
Jessica LM Jenkins:Because part of what's going on in Luke 2 is a bringing home of the concept from Matthew 1 that this child is Emmanuel. It's God with us. Matthew 1 tells us that directly. The angel tells Joseph he is Emmanuel, he is God with us. Luke 2 shows us that he is Emmanuel, god with us. It doesn't say the words in Luke 2. It describes it that God became human, born into the hands and arms of women in a peasant home. He is not in the temple, he is not in the palace. He is with the average everyday person. He is God with us.
Jessica LM Jenkins:The shepherds know where to look because they're looking for a home that's similar to theirs. There might have also been a giant party going on outside. A son of David is born in Bethlehem. The men are all celebrating, the women are taking care of Mary and the baby. There's a giant party happening. This baby has been born. Mom and baby are healthy. This is good news. The shepherds come into town Look for the party. That's where you're going to find the baby, and a manger is also a great place to lay a baby for safe viewing.
Jessica LM Jenkins:When a bunch of shepherds come barging into your house, into your hospital room, into your birthing room, straight off the field, and I just imagine the midwife being like whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on? The shepherds are like we just saw an angel and they said the baby. And she's like okay, I don't know what's going on because I didn't hear the angel. I've been busy with the mom, but I'll put the baby in the manger. You may look, no touching, you may look at the baby you want to see.
Jessica LM Jenkins:I think further evidence that Jesus was born in a peasant house, not in a rich person's stable room or a barn that's not adjacent to the house, a standalone barn somewhere else, is that the shepherds have no problem with the living arrangement of the baby. The angels come and they say a savior has been born, he is the Messiah. The shepherds show up at the house to see the Messiah and he's in a manger in a peasant home. To them. That's like. This is awesome With us. The Messiah is with us. He is ours, he belongs to us. He is our people. He is going to work on our behalf. He is not here to work on the behalf of the rich mucky mucks in Jerusalem that tax us and take our sheep. He is here to work on our behalf. But if he was in a stable or ostracized away the shepherds who, again, are not the dregs of society, they're your average neighbor If Jesus was off in a barn somewhere, the shepherds would be like hold on, you're the Messiah.
Jessica LM Jenkins:The Messiah is in a stable by the hotel with the Romans, caravans and Gentiles. No, no, no, no. You're coming home with us. Come home with us. Come home with us right now. We're getting you out of this. We're getting you out of the barn. We're getting you out of the hotel. You're coming home with us. We will take care of you. You are our Messiah. We can't leave you in a stable, in a hotel situation, like the typical situation.
Jessica LM Jenkins:These shepherds would not likely have abided Once they have heard from a literal angel that this is the Messiah, the Savior of Israel. They are not going to be okay with a barn, hotel situation, but they are going to have no problem at all with their Messiah being in a peasant home like theirs, being cared for by their family and community. So, verse 19 mary treasures up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned glorifying and praising god for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. The shepherds leave. Baby's been born, life starts to settle back down. Mary and joseph are still staying in town. She's just had had a baby. Now maybe Joseph's trying to get some work. He's like we need to be here for a while. He might be getting a job or some such, and life starts to settle in. But Mary is remembering all this. She's treasuring this in her heart.
Jessica LM Jenkins:Eight days later, when it was time to circumcise the child verse 21, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived, which Verse 21. The angels told the shepherd the Savior is born. The Messiah. Jesus' name literally means the Lord saves.
Jessica LM Jenkins:So, verse 22, when the time came for the purification rites required by the law of Moses, joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord and to offer the sacrifice a pair of doves or two young pigeons. So they're offering a sacrifice for a family that's not wealthy. They are definitely peasant, even though Joseph could have been an artisan class, which you can listen to the last episode I talked about that in more detail have been an artisan class, which you can listen to the last episode I talked about that in more detail. Even though he may have been a higher class than peasants, that doesn't mean he has stable work, that doesn't mean he's wealthy. He's just a slightly different social class and so he may not have a lot of work at the time. And so they're offering the poor people's sacrifice a couple of doves or pigeons.
Jessica LM Jenkins:And when they go to do this, there's a man in Jerusalem called Simeon who is righteous and devout and waiting for the consolation of Israel. And so the Holy Spirit had told Simeon you're not going to die until I've seen the Lord's Messiah. So Simeon goes to the temple that day and he sees the baby Jesus and he breaks out in prophecy saying verse 29,. Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation. Again that theme Jesus, the Lord saves your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations, a light for the revelation of the Gentiles and a glory of your people, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations, a light for the revelation of the Gentiles and a glory of your people, israel. The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed the child and said this child is destined to cause the rising and falling of many in Israel and it is a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your soul also. There was also a prophet named Anna. She is called a prophet. She was around 80 something years old, woman who lives in and around the temple, and she comes. The text doesn't tell us what she tells them, but she comes and she speaks to Mary and Joseph, giving thanks to God, and then she tells everybody around about this child.
Jessica LM Jenkins:Jesus' birth is brought into the lives of the average everyday people. It is God with us in the most mundane ways. It is not in the temple, surrounded by the priests. Notice that you have Simeon, who's just, he's righteous and devout. He's not in the temple all the time. He has to come to the temple. The Spirit brought him to the temple that day. You have Anna, who is a widow. She's been a widow for decades and she lives in the temple. She's a prophetess and she just lives there.
Jessica LM Jenkins:It is these people who recognize what God is doing. It is not the Sadducees, it is not the Pharisees, it is not the priests. It is the simple people who are listening to God that get to participate in what God is doing. Last episode we talked about how God started in the temple with Zachariah, and Zachariah did not believe God and was silenced. Though God's plan was not impacted by Zachariah's faith, zachariah's privilege to participate in some of the plan was curtailed through discipline and the rest of the priestly class and the Pharisee class and all of these people. They did not participate. God is incarnating himself. Yes, to humanity, but also to the lower classes of humanity. These are not the rich and the powerful. They are not the strong and the wealthy. It is the simple, humble people who hear the word of God and rejoice.
Jessica LM Jenkins:And then, lastly, going back to Matthew, looking at Matthew, chapter 2, the magi come to visit and see Jesus. We don't know. They could have been there right after the birth. They could have been a couple years Arguments I've heard that they were there a couple years after Jesus was born is because it says they were in a house when the Magi come. And so people who assume that Jesus was born in a stable are like, well, now he's in a house, so that's sometimes later, but if he was born in a house to begin with he would have already been in a house. We don't know when the Magi show up, it doesn't really matter. But we see God working in the everyday Jewish people and then he brings in magi. These could be priests or astrologers from foreign nations, we don't know which nations, just that they were to the east. And he brings in Gentile astrologers and perhaps Zoroastrian priests to worship the Messiah, to worship the king of the universe made flesh.
Jessica LM Jenkins:God is coming to be with his people, not in pomp, not in circumstance, not in power, not in declarations made to those who could move and shake and make things happen, but to the simple, everyday, weak, powerless person who has very little social standing and very little ability to do anything on the grand governmental scale. He comes to your everyday, humble person and he says I am with you. I am with you in the suffering, I am with you in the joys. I am just, I am God with you, and their voices cry out that God is doing something beautiful, god is doing something unique and I want you, this Christmas season, to have that vision of God with us, to have that vision of God with us. It's easy to get caught up in the presents and the shopping and the cookies and the baking and the events and the parties and all of the things, and, especially as those of us who are wives and moms, there's all the doing, the doing, doing, doing, doing, the mental load of Christmas and it's easy to forget that Christmas is about God being with us. While we're shopping, while we're working, while we're doing whatever. God is with us in real time now, because he came to be incarnated then.
Jessica LM Jenkins:Women have always been crucial. They've been central to the plan of the gospel. The gospel hope was first given although she probably didn't fully understand it to Eve back in Genesis, chapter 3, where God says I will send a seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent. That is fulfilled in Mary, who gives birth to the Messiah Jesus, who is helped by the invisible women, who are not mentioned in the story, though they would have been assumed to be there. God is working through the average, everyday, normal people, and especially women.
Jessica LM Jenkins:Women have been there every step of the way along the gospel journey and God uses those who are weak and lowly and limited to show his goodness and his grace, and he longs to walk alongside them. Jesus has no interest in rubbing shoulders with the power brokers and those with money to further his own status. He just wants to be with his people. So as you continue on in this Christmas season this year, I hope we can all take that with us, the idea of God with us.
Jessica LM Jenkins:Emmanuel born into a community for the sake of that community, and being born into that community enables him to act on behalf of that community. Those are his people the lowly, the peasant, the weak, the limited. That is the people that God, from the very beginning, says these are mine, these are the ones I want to be around and among, so that when we feel weak and limited and unable and whatever, we can remind ourselves that we are the very people God said he was the Messiah, for, that he promised to work on the behalf of and that he promised to walk through life with. Merry Christmas, may you, this coming year, know, in great fullness and joy, how much your God is with you and how much he loves you. God bless.
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