God’s Family: Simple and Lowly People (Luke 2:1-20)
Introduction
Luke’s Gospel invites us to hear a story that turns the world upside down. Kings reign, empires boast of peace, and yet heaven quietly enters history through a peasant couple in a crowded town. What Luke gives us is not a story of political triumph or cultural success, but divine irony. The true King arrives when the world’s rulers appear to have everything under control.
As we follow Luke’s narration, we encounter three surprising groups. First, there are insiders who should have recognized their King. Second, there are outsiders who had no right to believe but did. And last, the compromised witnesses bear witness to the unlikely events.
Luke wants us to feel the tension: that the kingdom of God breaks into the world where no one expects it, and through people no one would choose.
Evil Insiders?
Luke sets Christ’s birth in a world where Christ is supposed to bring world peace. The problem: Caesar has beaten the Lord to this goal. It seems that Caesar is calling the shots. He calls a world census, and Joseph follows the call.
We can think about how it is that God is establishing his king, and it is Rome’s king that is driving and calling the shots? Luke chooses to let that question linger for a moment.
One would expect that Joseph, a descendant of David, would simply have a room. The story has been understood that Joseph is a poor planner. However, Bailey points out that it is not the case. I think Bailey brings out a lot of helpful history regarding Christ’s birth, but we need to note at least two major things:
Joseph is in the line of David, but he is tied to peasants. He does not stay in a wealthy man’s house. (Luke wants us to know this detail)
The world is not embracing this child. This would include Jerusalem, which has failed to welcome Christ.
The point is that the people who should embrace the Messiah and welcome the messiah as king are failing to do so. His being laid in a manger will be echoed when Christ dies. He is wrapped and laid in a tomb.
The insiders in the city of David should roll out the red carpet and secure a palace for Christ. However, the city is ruled by Rome’s ruler. Has the Lord entered history too late?
Strange Outsiders
We would expect that Christ’s birth would be announced to priests or diplomats. At least, that is how Matthew introduces Christ’s significance. Christ received a proper greeting that recalls Solomon with the Queen of Sheba. The nations are coming to bring gifts to Christ.
Luke makes it very clear that Christ is the peasant king for the simple people. There are shepherds in the field. These would be social and religious outsiders with a reputation for uncleanness. This is not only because the Levites see them as uncouth, but even Rome would not allow them to testify in court. They lacked the credibility and integrity to be believed.
However, these men that we would consider outsiders receive the testimony of Christ from Angelic messengers. They see heaven’s glory, and they are moved to find the child. They are moved to report these things. It is ironic that the first witnesses have no credibility to be credible witnesses.
Has the Lord failed in his mission? A city that rejects, and now there are witnesses bearing witness who cannot credibly testify in court.
Conclusion
Luke’s birth narrative reminds us that God’s story does not depend on human recognition, status, or credibility. The insiders failed to welcome Christ, but the outsiders who had nothing to offer became the honored guests of heaven’s announcement.
The pattern is clear: Christ comes to the unworthy to make them worthy. The manger and the cross both testify that God’s grace is not earned but given. Christ is the King who understood the problem of the fall. He is the priest-king who understood the loss of the fall. He is the priest-king-prophet who speaks and acts to overcome. He is the action and word of God. He is God who has taken on the flesh. He is God who has come as the servant to be raised as the victorious priest-king. He is the definitive word from heaven. Let us bow before him, live in him, and find our lives in him.