Mark Twain became famous for writing about a jumping frog and cemented his place in literature with a story of a boy and a runaway slave rafting down the Mississippi River. His most atypical work was an historical novel set in Tudor England. In The Prince and the Pauper, Edward, the son of Henry VIII, encounters Tom Canty, a beggar who is his double. As a lark, the boys change places. Edward soon learns the harsh facts of life as a peasant. He must elude Tom's drunken and abusive father. He learns firsthand the inequalities of English courts of law, where evidence for guilt can be scant and the punishments draconian. When King Henry dies, Edward must regain his throne and prove that, though clothed in the rags of a pauper, he is in fact the prince and future King of England.
The story functions not only as a tale of adventure but also as social satire. Edward learns the truth of how most of his father's subjects live, and Tom, pretending to be prince, shows a rare common sense in rendering justice. And it makes you wish that the kings and leaders of this world knew how life really works when you're not rich and powerful.
The idea of a king living incognito did not originate with Twain. One wonders if the story of Jesus might not have, perhaps subconsciously, inspired or shaped Twain's story. It might be hard to see, however, because we sentimentalize Jesus' life, beginning with his birth. We view it as quaint, whereas it really was the most unglamorous event possible. It is only remarkable if you consider how paradoxically unpromising was the life that began there.
The place where Jesus was born and lived out his earthly life was a crappy little country, at least in the eyes of Rome's rich and powerful elite. Judea's importance was primarily its geographical position. Connecting Asia, Asia Minor, Arabia, and Egypt, it was the crossroads between the East and West for both commerce and conquest.
And the people who lived there, the Jews, were a troublesome lot. They believed in only one God, which practically made them atheists in a polytheistic society. The Jews objected to the cult of the divine emperor, to graven images, and to the taxes, of course. They also had a tendency to revolt in hope of recreating their glory days under a shepherd boy who ruled 1000 years ago. But in the eyes of the world at large, David was a nobody and his kingdom was just a blip in history. These descendents of slaves just didn't appreciate how good they had it under the Pax Romana, the peace made possible by the might of Rome.
The town in which Jesus was born was not that significant, either. Sure, Rachel's tomb was near Bethlehem and David's ancestors had lived there. But the town itself was so small that the massacre of all of its infant boys by Herod is estimated to have only involved a dozen children and so history did not bother to record the event. History is much more interested in kings who murder their own children, which Herod also did.
For that matter, the town from which Mary and Joseph came, and where Jesus grew up, was not much to speak of. In fact, it wasn't mentioned in the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, the Talmud, nor by the Jewish historian Josephus. It was overshadowed by nearby Sepphoris, the “jewel of Galilee,” rebuilt by Herod Antipas, Herod the Great's son. And Nazareth had a bad reputation. When Philip goes to recruit Nathaniel to follow Jesus of Nazareth, his friend says, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Only his encounter with Jesus convinces him otherwise.
Galilee itself was not a region renowned by the Jews of Jesus' day. The Gentile influence was so pervasive that the Jews were evacuated from there during the Maccabean revolt. It was recolonized by the Jews 50 years later but its diversity of peoples and its rural nature meant it was looked down upon by the Jews in the south who lived in Judea and Jerusalem.
Neither Mary and Joseph would have seemed to be anybody special. Mary was probably between 12 and 14, 16 at the oldest. Girls were married off as soon as they reached puberty, due in part to life expectancy. She had to have as many children as she could, as early as possible. A quarter of her offspring might not see their second birthday and half might not live to become adults. Plus women often died in childbirth. Hence the concern in the Bible about your family name living on in your children. It was never a sure thing.
Joseph was probably older than Mary by a decade or more. For one thing, he had finished his apprenticeship as a craftsman. For another, he had moved from his ancestral home in Bethlehem and established himself in Nazareth. That would have taken a few years. Joseph was probably in his middle to late 20s, at the youngest.
Joseph was a tekton, to use the Greek word. Traditionally, this has been translated as carpenter in Europe where many buildings were made from wood. However, given the abundance of rocks in Israel it could also mean stonemason. Whichever he was, Joseph worked with his hands, cutting and carving either furnishings and tools or stones for building. He worked for hire, getting jobs wherever he could. It wasn't a secure or profitable profession. And though he must have owned some land in Bethlehem, which would have been the reason he had to return there for the tax census, it must not have been bringing in much if any income. That may be why Joseph left Bethlehem in the first place, to set up shop in a better market, like a town not far from prosperous, booming Sepphoris. In any case, we know that Joseph wasn't rich when Jesus was born. He and Mary bring two turtledoves or pigeons to the temple when Jesus is presented as an infant. That is the offering of a poor family.
We do know that Joseph was a devout Jew. Matthew says he was a righteous man. That was why he contemplated breaking off the engagement when Mary was found to be pregnant. Betrothal was much more binding than engagement is today. The only way to break it was by divorce. Premarital sex was frowned upon and sex with someone other than your betrothed was considered adultery. Mary could have been stoned to death. That's why Joseph was considering divorcing her quietly. I'll bet that was why Mary was sent out of town to see her relative Elizabeth under the pretense of helping the older woman give birth. That way Mary's pregnancy and birth would not be known in Nazareth. When Joseph decided to marry her anyway (with the urging of an angel in a dream) it made him look bad in the eyes of his community and the religious leaders. And there is evidence in both the gospels and in ancient Jewish sources that Jesus' paternity was always in question.
So these two poor, disreputable people from an unsavory town in a suspect region travel to a nothing place to register on some sad piece of property there. And wouldn't you know it, Mary goes into labor. The tiny town is so packed with people that there is no room for them. Since Joseph has land there, they are probably staying with his relatives and the guestroom is already taken (“inn” is a mistranslation.) So Mary has to deliver in the middle of the family room. Poor homes were split level and the animals were brought in at night to stay on the first level. A ladder led to the family's living space and a feeding trough full of hay rested on the lip of the second level, where the animals could reach it. Jesus' first cradle was that feeding trough or manger. At the time, no one would have found this all that out of place for a poor, presumed bastard child.
It seems that Mary and Joseph settle in Bethlehem for a year or more, because when the magi visit, the family is in a house. Also when Herod decides to wipe out the boys in Bethlehem, he specifies that their age is 2 years and under. Joseph is warned of the coming bloodbath in a dream and once again, the family has to move, becoming refugees.
This time they go to Egypt. There was a large population of Jews there. Perhaps a third of the millions of people who lived in Alexandria were Jewish. Many were well-to-do, schooled in Greek thought. Naturally, the Jews in Judea questioned the religious purity of their cousins in Egypt, much as they did the Galileans.
When Herod the Great dies, Joseph returns with his family to Nazareth. There whatever customs or accent Jesus picked up during his formative years in Egypt would have marked him out as different. These things are rarely an asset socially.
In addition, Jesus is smart, drinking in the scriptures, memorizing them and even formulating his own interpretations. As anyone who's ever been in school knows, it's not always good to be “the smart kid.” Teachers forever hold them up as examples to be emulated, creating resentment among the other kids. And if the smart kid asks questions the teacher can't answer, as Jesus was able to do at age 12 in the temple, it's a rare teacher who doesn't want the kid to just shut up and parrot what he's taught. If Jesus had any friends in Nazareth, there is no evidence of them in scripture. None of his disciples come from his hometown. In fact, on his visit there during his ministry, they have so little faith in him that he is unable to heal very many people. And after his sermon in the synagogue, they almost toss him off the hill on which Nazareth is built.
Joseph completely disappears from the gospels after the visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was 12. He probably died, leaving Jesus, the eldest child, to support a family that includes his mother, 4 brothers and at least 2 sisters. That meant years of hard manual labor and lean times at home. Perhaps this is why Jesus doesn't start his ministry until he's about 30. He had to work until at least some of his brothers were old enough to take over and support his mother and their other siblings.
It might also explain why Jesus seems never to have married even though the Bible rarely gives us personal details about the people it chronicles. Still you would think that a major fact, like Jesus being married, would have been mentioned. We know the names of all the wives of all the patriarchs. We know Peter had a wife and a mother-in-law. Not only is that mentioned in the gospels but Paul uses it in an argument he makes in one of his epistles. You'd think that if Jesus had a wife, Paul would have used that fact, instead of Peter, to cinch his point. So Jesus, whose favorite image of the kingdom of God was a wedding feast, never knew the joy of attending his own.
During his ministry, Jesus traveled with no fixed place to “rest his head.” Though some of those healed, especially the richer ones, must have donated money, Luke tells us that a group of women, among them Mary of Magdala and Joanna, the wife of Herod Antipas' steward, supported his mission out of their resources. So even as he proclaimed the gospel, Jesus did not have much to call his own. The nicest thing he had was his outer tunic, the only thing his executioners thought worth gambling for.
Jesus got a lot of attention but he didn't court it. He told those he healed to praise God but not to give him credit. He avoided talk of him being the Messiah, the holy warrior king that Jews were hoping would throw off the Roman yoke and establish a kingdom of God on earth. When a multitude he had fed wanted to crown him as king, he told them that they must eat his body and drink his blood and he lost a lot of followers after that.
After about 3 years, Jesus is betrayed by one of his inner circle, put through a few rigged trials, beaten, whipped, and nailed to a cross, a punishment reserved for slaves and traitors. As he hangs there, naked by the side of a busy road, every nerve in his body screaming in pain, his enemies come out to mock him. He sees his mother's heart break. Most of his friends aren't even man enough to put in an appearance.
There was nothing glamorous about Jesus' birth, life or death. And we wouldn't have known anything about him if that were the end of his story. But on the third day, everything changed. The mourners became joyful, the cowards became courageous and the skeptics became believers. Jesus rose from the dead and that event made his followers re-evaluate everything they knew about the man.
They discovered their idea about the Messiah was wrong. His mission wasn't to bring peace by spilling the blood of God's enemies but by reconciling them to God through his own blood.
Their idea of God was wrong. He wasn't so removed, so hidden, so wholly other that no one could look at or touch him. Though holy, he loved his people enough to become one of them in order to forgive and heal them and save them from their sins.
Their idea of Jesus was wrong. He wasn't merely the “Son of God” in the sense of being God's chosen king, but in the sense of being one who shares the nature of God. After all, he made the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the mute speak, the withered whole , the sick well and the dead alive again. He liberated those who fought with their demons. He stilled storms, walked on water, and multiplied meals. He forgave sins. And he even overcame his own death. He did things only God could do. And when Pentecost came and the disciples were filled with the Spirit of God as Jesus promised, they boldly proclaimed the good news: Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Forgiveness and transformation and eternal life are his to offer all who turn their lives around, take up their crosses and follow him.
Just as the empty tomb at Easter cast the cross in a new light, so it also changes the way we view a squalid birth in the middle of nowhere. In that blood and pain and squalling, God was present. In the life of a despised peasant, the Prince of Peace spread his reign.
And in your life, and in the life of each person around you, Jesus could be present. In the lives of everyone you meet, including the guy in the dirty hoodie asking you for change in the Winn-Dixie parking lot, Jesus could be present. In suits or rags, wearing shoes, flip-flops, or barefoot, beautifully coiffed or bald, bearded or clean-shaven, good-looking or not, young or old, tall or short, fat or thin, happy or sad, healthy or sick, pink, brown, red or yellow, male of female, in the most unlikely of lives and the most unlovely of places, Jesus could be present.
He could be present. But only you can make sure he is. Only you can open your heart to him. Only you can turn your focus from yourself or whatever else you worship and turn it to him as Lord. Only you can let his Spirit work in you, restoring the image of God in which you were created.
On the first Christmas, Jesus Christ was born. This Christmas let him be born in you. Let his Spirit be embodied in you. Be Christ to others. Seek Christ in others. Serve Christ in all.
First preached on December 24, 2009. It has been revised and updated.
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