Another Layer to the Christmas Story

Luke 2

            Luke 2 contains some of the most familiar stories in all the Gospels, especially the first 20 verses, which are the Christmas story. One of the issues with that kind of familiarity are that we stop hearing everything the story has to say. As an example, we aren’t always able to hear the anti-imperial rhetoric in the story, the challenge to the powers that dominate this fallen age of the world. Consider that the birth of Caesar Augustus was considered a day of ‘good news for the world.’ ‘Savior’ and ‘Lord,’ were likewise associated with Caesar. And peace, well, Caesar brought peace, the Pax Romana, to the world. So, here is the apparatus of world domination, enforced by the might of the Roman legions, opposed by another king, born in poverty, in a backwater town, who by the end of the Gospel will reign from a cross and create peace not by His victory but by His death. Caesar can make his claims, but Jesus is the one who is truly the Savior, who brings peace.