Jesus' Birth (Luke 2:1-7)

In chapter two, we see Luke as a historian again. He couches the birth of Jesus into the world and the timeline of the secular authorities. He has clearly done some investigation to determine when Jesus’ birth occurred. And yet, he does not have a precise date to give us. “In those days.” As we look back and try to determine for ourselves when exactly Luke is referring to, we run into the frustrating problem that we do not have enough historical data ourselves to figure out exactly when Luke is dating Jesus either.

In the end, Jesus is not born in Nazareth but in Bethlehem, and that is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Micah given some 800 years prior. Jesus is different from other people, Luke will contend. He is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah. He does not mention every reference as Matthew does, but in distinguishing him from John—who is clearly a special and God-sent baby—Luke makes Jesus’ birth spectacular.

Before we come to the angelic announcement, however, Luke points out how the Messiah is also connected to the lowest levels of humanity. He does not come as the expected victor or king that the world was waiting for. He arrives in a poor family in a crowded house and is laid to rest in an animal’s feeding trough.