Wouldn’t we all like to live in a neighborhood like Mister Rogers’ neighborhood? A place where people are kind and always manage to get along? it seems very nice to us, especially because most of us grew up in neighborhoods that were not so ideal. No matter how good our childhood, conflict,  pain, and a variety of humiliations managed to find us.  Our neighborhoods make us who we are. Today we’re going to look at Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus and the neighborhood of David—David’s Hood. 

Luke 2: 1-5

1 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.  †

Humble or humiliated?

Mary was pregnant, and she and Joseph were merely engaged. Not. even. married. 

How much nicer it would have been to stay in little Nazareth—little, insignificant Nazareth—for yes, though it was a small town with all the gossip about Mary’s pregnancy known by the friends and relatives (let’s face it, in a small, rural town, everybody knows your business. Mary’s pregnancy would have been a secret to no one), but in Nazareth, it would be a well-contained scandal reaching a couple hundred people at most—a neighborhood matter.

But then came the news. First, the bad news that everyone was going to be taxed by Rome. Oh no!, but that is the price of being an occupied people. Worse, people were expected to register in their ancestral hometowns. For Joseph and Mary both, this would have been awful news. 

1.) Mary is pregnant. No one wants to travel 90 miles to answer to one’s occupying enemy forces. 

2.) I’m sure Mary preferred her pregnancy remain private—her own business—which would be much more easily accomplished by hiding out in her room in the neighborhood of Nazareth. But now, she will be on full display to everyone from Galilee to Judea. Think of it: any hope of keeping this under wraps has been thwarted. They will be traveling among hundreds of others on their way to Jerusalem. Every day, people coming up to them and asking, “Oh honey, when are you due?” “How long have you two been married?” “Ohhhh, reaaaally?” Day after day. 

3.) Worse still, they were going to the Big City where thousands of eyes would be upon them, with thousands of questions. Joseph coming to his ancestral hometown of Bethlehem brining his very pregnant fiancée—now legally wife, but sordid news still travels—to the biggest family reunion he would ever know. Aunts, uncles, first-second-and-third cousins, plus every shirt-tale relative imaginable. 

Can you see that this would have been the ultimate nightmare? The ultimate humiliation? 

To make it even worse: this was the year her cousin Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah was Man of the Year, so this called even more attention to the situation. Yes, Elizabeth was in on the miracle—Mary had stayed with her for three months—but now she was surely showing enormously, and making way with Joseph into Bethlehem. 

Let’s be clear: though we portray them has humble and poor, Mary and Joseph were royals from the Davidic line. They were Kennedys, or Bush’s, or Rockerfellers—to be in the lineage of David was to be part of the royal family in whom all of Israel still placed their trust for a successor. They may not have been “humble” in the sense of commoners, but they were certainly humble in the sense of living with ongoing humiliation.

HOMETOWNS

So Bethlehem is Joseph’s hometown. Does it even matter where you were born? I am technically a native of Washington State because I was born in Spokane. We moved to Riverside when I was less than two, and I’ve spent 40 years of my life and working ministry here. Does that not make me a Californian? 

When I was in junior high, I used to love books of wit. The Book of Insults was a favorite of mine. I remember the introduction to one chapter called, “Hometowns.” It said something to the effect of: You can make fun of a man—his looks, his tastes, his job—you can even make fun of his wife, children, and dogs, but when you go after his hometown, you strike a real nerve that can’t be accessed in any other way. 

I’ve found that to be true as true.   

I just happen to remember a few of those quips: 

• •His hometown is so small that whenever he plugs in his razor, the streetlights dim.
• •His hometown is so small that whenever they hold a parade there’s no one left to watch. 

I’ve had a number of towns to call home: Riverside (my childhood), Omaha (jr.& sr high), Spokane, Princeton, Dallas Texas, Edmond Oklahoma, Cambria, Pasadena, Bakersfield, and Upland—all of them are made fun of by someone. Even Bakersfield!

Do I care when people make fun of Riverside? Yeah, I feel it a little. Bakersfield? Yeah, I even feel a little defensive for Bakersfield. So who makes fun of Upland? Claremont: “You know Upland—that’s the town across state line full of billboards, fast food joints, and meat-eaters!”

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but grew up in Nazareth. We know people made fun of Nazareth: 

45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
                                             —John 1: 45-46a

There is something about our hometown that sits deeply in our hearts—the longing for home. You might say each of us has in our heart a “homing device” that tells us who we are. Our sense of self and identity is in part reflected by our hometown, hence the offenses. Jesus’ identity is in part formed by the fact that he was born in Bethlehem, as we’ll see. 

BETHLEHEM

What we know about Bethlehem: 

Bethlehem means“House of Bread.”

The original name of Bethlehem was Ephratha [or Ephrathtah], which means fruitful.  The prophet Micah prophesies that Bethlehem to be fruitful indeed: 

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past ... And he will stand to lead his flock with the LORD’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored around the world. And he will be the source of peace.         —Micah 5:2–5

The first mention of Ephratha is in Genesis. Rachel, wife of Jacob, died there and is buried there. 

Rachel bore two sons: Joseph and Benjamin. Rachel died in Ephratha (fruitful) giving birth to Benjamin. His name comes from Benoni, which means “son of suffering.” 

Ephratha becomes known as Bethlehem, which means “house of bread.” 

Bethlehem was also the home of Ruth and Boaz. Remember, Ruth was a Moabite who traveled with Naomi to Bethlehem.  

It was there that she gleaned the fields. Boaz became her good neighbor: 

At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.” When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over.  — Ruth 2:14

In Bethlehem, Ruth gave birth to David’s grandfather Obed. Her grandson was Jesse, David’s father. It was in Bethlehem that Samuel found David and anointed him there. While watching sheep in Bethlehem’s fields he wrote songs that would become so many of the Psalms. 

SIGNIFICANCE

What does it mean to be someone. Everyone would like to feel okay about himself or herself. Mary and Joseph, though royals, may have been viewed as sinners—only their most faithful friends would have believed their story about her pregnancy. How did Joseph and Mary feel about being in Bethlehem? Certain words come to mind: exposed, embarrassed, and yes, humiliated. 

Mary certainly learned what it meant to suffer for righteousness’ sake. Were she less of a person, she may have been angry with God for her troubles. Surely, Joseph and Mary would have liked people to think of them as decent, upstanding, and moral people.  But that was their sacrifice, their cross to bear. 

They remain for us today the very picture of faithfulness—of truly trusting in God. On the surface, everything was taken away from them: the public perception of purity, the undisturbed life of everything just going pretty much okay, their privacy, and perhaps even the personal support of friends and neighbors; but as they followed and obeyed the calling of God, they enacted the highest privilege of any couple in history: the most significant human family on Earth.

And this is our story as well—yours and mine. We may like the small lives we’ve carved out for ourselves. We may be perfectly content with just keeping to ourselves and minding or own business. A quiet, humble life is just fine for us. But God speaks. God has spoken and speaks today. When God speaks, our little, well-ordered worlds are disrupted. 

You may think, “But I don’t really hear God’s voice so much. No angels have appeared to tell me what to do, so how can I know?”  Do you really think God needs words in English to speak? No. Genesis 1: when God speaks, there is light. When God speaks, worlds are born. God’s language is history happening. God speaks to us through the events of our lives. 

Because he loves us, he disrupts our comfortable, humble lives, calling us to play a part in his plans. These disruptions are things we might at first try to pray away, but they may be the very means by which God transforms our vanities into significance. 

Don’t imagine that you are ordinary, small, or insignificant. God has loved you into being and his love will not leave you to insignificance. 

[Video: Mister Rogers Academy Award]

We have been loved into being. Don’t you realize? We too are royals. We have been adopted through Christ into the royal family of Heaven. Bethlehem is our hometown as well, for we are baptized into the house and lineage of David. 

As we travel there this Christmas, let us be most mindful that the disruptions of this life may be God’s voice to us. As we walk toward Bethlehem, let us not worry about the worldly perceptions. Let us no longer be servants of ourselves and our reputations. Rather, let us embrace the calling of God, voiced through the events of our lives, taking all that comes as opportunities to display our royalty. 

May we pray everyday, in spirit and in truth, “THY name, not my name; THY will, not my will; THY kingdom, not my kingdom.”

Bethlehem is now just a few steps away. God is preparing to bring all things to fulfillment. All you and I need to do is to keep trusting, and keep walking, following that star.†