Stress Test Devotional May 4
May 04, 2024
Luke 2:1-4 | 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.
The irony of the Messiah’s birth in a manger in Bethlehem is not lost on Luke. His sparse telling of the story begins with the names of the powerful and famous figures of the day. Augustus is the Emperor, the most powerful person in the world, politically and militarily. He can literally change everyone’s travel plans with a single edict, because he is raising taxes for the expansion and advancement of his empire. Quirinius is a Roman official with king-like powers in Syria. These two represent every arbitrary force in our lives, remote and unchallengeable. Joseph and Mary must leave home at the worse possible time because, humanly speaking, they are pawns in someone else’s story, subjects treated as objects. Yet in raising history’s most influential person they wield a power greater than Augustus, Quirinius, or any other passing ruler.
Have you been treated arbitrarily by a ruling power in your life?
What form of power is ultimately most important?
