Road trip when the baby is coming? No reservation at the inn? What were they thinking?
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This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is December 10, 2024 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called Why Didn’t Mary and Joseph Plan Better? Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
When I was in college, I was part of a really great young adults group at church and we made some fantastic memories together. Sadly, I wasn’t there for one of the funniest episodes, but I certainly heard about it because this story got told over and over, and it always makes me laugh.
One time some guys from the group went camping and they invited our young adult pastor, Mike, to come along. Mike didn’t plan well. He showed up with no tent, no sleeping bag, and a weekend’s worth of clothes and toiletries, plus sheets and a pillow, stuffed into a hard-sided suitcase. Now, the campsite was only a mile or two from the parking lot, but Mike arrived late, after dark, and didn’t have a flashlight. Remember how he had no tent? Yeah, of course, it rained. Any time I think about this story, I’m left wondering: didn’t Mike know what he was getting into? This was a camping trip. Why didn’t he plan better? It seems like he made this a lot harder on himself than it had to be.
Sometimes, I think something similar when I read the Christmas story. We’re going to look at a few verses from Luke chapter 2 and as we do, ask yourself, why didn’t Mary and Joseph plan this better? Let’s start reading in verse 4:
Luke 2:4–7
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
Two things stand out to me here. First, Joseph had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be counted. That’s a bit of a hike if you don’t have a car, which Mary and Joseph obviously didn’t have. Depending on which road they took, it would have been 70 to 90 miles. Considering road conditions, walking only in daylight hours, stopping occasionally to eat or rest, and you’ve got a very pregnant woman coming along, it’s probably at least a four day journey. They knew Mary was pregnant; the angel Gabriel saw to that. But they get to Bethlehem, and while they are there, the time comes for the baby to be born. How long did they stay? They didn’t see this coming? Was there no other way to do this?
Then it gets worse: in verse 7, Mary has to lay the baby in a manger because there is no room in the inn. I understand that they couldn’t call ahead and make a hotel reservation. The woman and her newborn baby end up in some kind of stable. It could have been a stable or it might have been a cave, but the point is, it is a dwelling intended for animals.
Could they have planned this better? If you’re going camping, bring a tent and not a hard-sided suitcase. If your wife i
s going to have a baby, maybe plan your next big trip around when she is having the baby and then give a little thought to where that baby is going to be born. Well, it’s easy to ask questions like this, but I don’t have to sit and reflect on this for very long before it occurs to me: I’m sure they actually did do a great job planning, but really, it was God’s planning that mattered most here.
The story could have gone much differently. The son of God could have been born as royalty, lived in a palace, and been carried on a litter rather than carried by a poor Jewish mother riding a donkey. He could have had an entourage of kings and ambassadors and the rich and powerful rather than a ragtag following of barnyard animals, shepherds, and wise men from a far land.
But God planned it this way so that the greatest king the world has ever seen would be born in the most humble circumstances that the world could ever imagine. God saw to it that if sinners were going to come to this Savior, it would be for the right reasons: not because of his wealth, his fame, or his popularity. God designed it so that sinners would come to him because of his humble origins.
Jesus was made low and born lowly because of the best planning in the universe: God’s. This leads us to worship.
Later, the apostle Paul would write in 1 Corinthians 1:27–29,
27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
No human would have planned it this way. But God sent his son humbly into the world in order to humble the world. And while Jesus’s birth does humble the proud, it is also a great encouragement and comfort to everyone who needs salvation. Because it reminds us that Jesus has come down and is near to every one of us. So if you are tempted to think that God is far from you, distant, unreachable, remember that he is near to the lowly.
If you are tempted to think that circumstances in your life don’t seemed to have been planned very well–if you got an injury before your big game or got sick before your big performance or got scheduled during the big party, then remember, if God can manage the massive details involved in sending the Savior of the world, you can be confident that he can manage the details of your life as well.
If you have repented of your sins, Jesus has come down to forgive you and now has sent his Spirit to be in you. He planned all of this by planning for Mary and Joseph to encounter all they did on that first Christmas.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!