By Harry R. Jackson, Jr.
The Mess
Looking at Luke 2, it is easy to see that Mary and Joseph were in trouble. Their bright-eyed child was not born in a palace. He was born in a manger — a cradle for food for horses. Justin Martyr believed that the place of Jesus’ birth was actually a cave full of horses, donkeys, and their food.
There were three types of messes in which the chosen couple found themselves.
First, Mary and Joseph were in a marital mess. Mary became pregnant during their betrothal period. Under the Old Testament covenant, a girl could have been killed or stoned for such a thing. Joseph was so confused about the situation that he was considering a quiet annulment until an angel appeared to him in dream (Matt. 1:20). In like manner, many people experience difficulties in their marriages at pivotal points in their journey. Conflict, communication issues, or even sexual problems do not portend that a marriage has to fail. Sometimes prayer alone will turn things around. Other times counseling, coaching, and reading must be added to the mix to bring healing.
Advertisement
Second, Joseph and Mary had a monetary mess. Although, the newlyweds had enough money to pay their taxes, tradition paints the scene of Jesus’ birth as lowly and poor. Mary is pregnant for the first time. Not anticipating the timing of Jesus’ birth well, she didn’t expect to find herself stranded in a strange town without her mother or other members of her support system.
One cannot help wondering whether a room really would have been available if they had more money. Certainly without cash, the manger had to suffice — there was nowhere else to go. The smell of the horses, donkeys, and nearby livestock would have been overwhelming. This was not the most positive environment in the world! I would have felt trapped — just like I did when the bank repossessed my late model car during my first year in graduate school.
The third mess they faced was a military mess. The Roman Empire had essentially colonized Israel, yet King Herod feared that someone would rise up from among his people to depose him. Like a cruel African despot, he seems to have a fear of an armed coup. Further, because he misinterpreted the prophetic writings of Micah (5:2), Herod decided to put a preemptive strike on all the children two years and younger in Bethlehem.
Herod operated very much like Satan does. The genocidal attack on young children is similar to the conflicts we see in the Sudan, Iraq, or the Middle East today. More generally, all Christians must remember that they are often at war with an entire culture. Like Mary and Joseph they must live out their lives against a backdrop of local, national, and international intrigue.