"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed." So begin most Christmas pageants, but from there the story narrows. We meet the characters that we care about: Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. Yet if we would be like Mary, pondering the Christmas story in our hearts, we should take some time to consider the census that took Joseph and his wife (great with child) to Bethlehem.
No one likes to be taxed. It is a necessary evil that we bear because we assume that it will come back to us in some beneficial form: education, military protection, paved roads, etc. Those who are under the control of a foreign power especially hate taxes because they have no choice in how they are spent and rarely receive the benefit. "No taxation without representation," was the grievance cry of American colonists when they revolted against England, tired of funding King George III's wars. And if residents of Boston and Philadelphia found colonial life under the British Empire a hardship, they likely would have found living as a people conquered by the Roman Empire even less to their taste.
So Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem, the town of Joseph's ancestors, knowing that what little money they had saved might now be used to gild a sundial in a garden in Rome. The Hebrew people were no longer making bricks for the Egyptians, but the sweat of their backs was funding the marble edifices of Rome, and they felt the need for a deliverer.
Little did they know that the census ordered by Caesar was actually part of God's plan for deliverance (though not exactly the deliverance they had in mind). God's ways are not our ways.
"The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary... The Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back" (Isaiah 50:4-5).
The text of Isaiah 50 is full of intense language of compassion and obedience, suffering and humility. It is a confronting passage of Scripture that is hard to take in and harder to ignore. How do we respond to the descriptive words of servant-like humility that note, "I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting" (Isaiah 50:6). What are we to do with this Suffering Servant?
No doubt Isaiah was equipped and willing to do the work of a prophet, and God was undoubtedly with him. His words were political, poetic, and prophetic, enduring well beyond his life. But as it is with all God calls us to do and do whole-heartedly, it is God's voice that reverberates in creative ways unknown even to the one He has called, at times beyond our understanding, beyond our lives. In this chapter, Isaiah gives us the song of the Servant. He speaks of intense faithfulness in the midst of unjust opposition, and steadfast obedience to the sovereign Lord in the midst of extreme suffering. Isaiah speaks words abundantly verified in Jesus Christ. Almost 700 years after Isaiah's words were uttered, Jesus came with a message to sustain the weary, teaching as one with an instructed tongue, speaking as one with authority, indeed, living as one who had set his face "like a flint" upon the will of the sovereign Lord (Luke 4:31-36, Isaiah 50:5,7).
We must decide what we will do with this Suffering Servant.
In the Gospel of Luke there is described a time when Jesus and the disciples went about the land teaching and preaching yet avoiding Jerusalem because of those who were plotting to kill him. And then Luke recalls a deliberate change in direction. He writes that Jesus "steadfastly and determinedly set his face to go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51). Knowing what waited for him there, seeing the cross in the horizon, Jesus set his face as a flint upon the work of God before him. Exactly as was prophesied 700 years earlier, Jesus voluntarily and determinedly gave his back to those who would beat him, his face to those who would spit and mock, and his life to accomplish the will of the Father.
Can we still think that God does not care for us? Can we still think that the heart of the matter is what you and I will do with Him? Perhaps in the light of God's Servant, the question becomes not "What will I do with Jesus Christ?" but "What will he do with me?"
Jesus once said, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:28-29). The one who came as a servant, came that we might come unto Him, and died that we might enter into the life-changing, life-giving presence of God. Jesus takes us as we are--broken lives, clouded visions, weary hearts--and invites us to abide in all that he is, all that is true, all that is enduring, all that is himself. And we are undone.
Jill Carattini is senior associate writer at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
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1) For ALL (Americans, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhist, Asians, Presbyterians, Europeans, Baptist, Brazilians, Mormons, Methodist, French, etc.) have sinned & fall short of the glory of God.
2) For the wages of above (see #1) are DEATH (Hell, eternal separation from God, & damnation) but the Gift (free & at no charge to you) of God (Creator, Jehovah, & Trinity) is Eternal Life (Heaven) through (in union with) Jesus Christ (God, Lord, 2nd Person of The Trinity, Messiah, Prince of Peace & Savior of the World).
3) For God so greatly loved & dearly prized the world (Americans, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhist, Asians, Presbyterians, Europeans, Baptist, Brazilians, Mormons, Methodist, French, etc.) that He even gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, that whosoever (anyone, anywhere, anytime - while still living) believes (trust in, relies on, clings to, depends completely on) Him shall have eternal (everlasting) life (heaven).
4) Jesus said: "I am THE WAY, THE TRUTH, & THE LIFE. No one (male/female - American, Muslim, Jew, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist, Asian, Presbyterian, European, Baptist, Brazilian, Mormons, Methodist, French, etc. ) comes (arrives) to the Father (with GOD in Heaven) EXCEPT BY (through) ME (no other name).
This wonderful loving GOD gives you the choice - - - (Rev. 3:20)
{Please note that church membership, baptism, doing good things, etc. are not requirements for becoming a Christian - however they are great afterwards!!!} Ref: http://www.gty.org/IssuesandAnswers/archive/baptism.htm
Jesus said, "Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction (Hell, damnation, eternal punishment), and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life (Heaven, eternal happiness, forever with God), and only a few find it. --Matthew 7:13-14