Have you gotten an envelope yet asking you to participate in the census? It’s not such a strange thought in the US, this nose count (in a pseudo metaphorical sense) that is used by government officials to determine funding, number of representatives, etc… Not so long ago, our government set up so that the number of representatives each state had in the House of Representatives was based on the population of the state – so that was and is a very important number.
This is not a new idea though, there was another census taken back when Caesar Augustus was in charge of Rome. Who was Caesar Augustus, not the one with the red cape and the shiny armor in a Charles Hesston film, but the real Caesar – who was this man? Well, first of all – Caesar was a leader of Rome. Gaius Octavius was his name, born in 63 B.C.; the very famous Julius Caesar was his great-uncle. Octavian climbed the ranks of Roman leadership under the guidance of his great-uncle. One of the things that Octavian was known for was to restore peace to Rome after 100 years of civil war. The Senate also gave up power to Caesar and gave him the title of Augustus – meaning exalted. So, it makes sense to me that Caesar wanted to see what exactly he had control over. The census was an ongoing process, repeated every fourteen years. Historians have argued over why there would be a census, but it could have many purposes, including: taxes, preparing against possible rekindling of civil war factions, did Caesar trust Herod, and of course ego.
Regardless of why, the census took place. So, Mary – who was now back home and Joseph packed their bags and headed to Joseph’s home town. You couldn’t e-mail or fax or even mail in your paperwork, instead you had to go home. We haven’t really heard much about Joseph in all of this so far. Except, we know now that Joseph was an ancestor of David, and so went from where he lived in Nazareth to Bethlehem. The David that was mentioned is the King David that we meet in the Old Testament.
Joseph takes Mary with him on this trip, his fiancé, his pregnant fiancé. By now, Mary is getting pretty close to her due date. I would imagine that she is suffering all the normal end of pregnancy discomfort. Rather than focus on Mary, let’s shift to Joseph for a little while. Luke doesn’t go into detail about Joseph like some of the other books of the Bible do. But, we do know from them that Joseph had initially had thoughts of quietly breaking off the engagement and then had a visit from an angel who basically told him to not break this off, and instead in a dream told him, “do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins," (Matthew 1: 20-21). What an enormous vote of confidence that God had in Joseph. Not only was Mary being trusted with the Son of God, but so was Joseph. This was a very strict, very conservative society – where Mary really did face repercussions for her obedience. Now, Joseph was being told by God that he needed to obey as well.
There was going to be a cost in obeying I’m sure, rumors and discussion of whether the baby was his or not. Joseph was giving up his reputation. This was also a people not set free by grace, but bound by laws and this would appear as if laws had been broken, which could also force consequences. Yet, Joseph gave up his reputation, his rights to complain, he gave up a lot for obedience. But, what a show of favor to this man.
I’m not always obedient either – sometimes I know what I’m supposed to do, but I might be giving up my right as well – my right to complain or to be perceived a certain way. When I weigh the cost of obedience versus trying to reason, ignore, plead with, or just flat out disagree with God, the scales always seem to tip back towards obedience. Then, there is the fear of obedience – what will people think if I…. if I don’t…. if I try….if I succeed…if I fail… … … Again, I urge my heart to measure the consequences with God’s point of view instead of my limited one. I can’t way that I am always obedient, but I’m trying to grow in my obedience. Are you?
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