Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

The little town of Bethlehem. The background for the familiar Christmas story. Its name in Hebrew means “house of bread.” These days, Bethlehem is the locale of hostilities between Jew, Christian, and Muslim, and sadly, it’s a city cut in half by an ugly wall topped with forbidding barbed wire. Long ago, it was merely a tired old village that was overrun by all the family members from its former glory days, so much so that there was no room in the inn for Joseph and Mary, about to deliver a baby. But a manger, a box of food for animals, was available. So the lowliest location in the lowliest town named for lowly bread, here lowly people who are nothing like the great kings of their ancestry, bring forth a lowly baby, who nevertheless is the majestic Son of God, Savior of the World, true Bread for all nations. This was no accident, for this Almighty God and King is pleased to dwell in lowliness, claim it as His own and He is further destined for a shameful cross.

But there’s more than that to Bethlehem. Its Biblical history goes far back, all the way to the Book of Genesis. Jacob is the third generation of patriarchs, after his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham. Near the town of Bethel, the “house of God,” Jacob meets with God (this is after his famous wrestling match that took place on the other side of the river) and he is blessed with the blessing of his forefathers and given the name Israel. He and the many people and animals in his entourage then head south on a hard journey, perhaps even using the same route that Mary and Joseph would travel many centuries after them, and tragedy strikes them in the region of Ephrathah, meaning that they’re at or near the town of Bethlehem.

The tragedy is this. Rachel, the woman whom Jacob loved and worked for 14 years to marry, is great with child, just like Mary would be at this point. Already on this journey southward, there was a death in their group, Deborah, and 180-year-old Isaac, who was blind for most of his life, is very close to breathing his last. Then right there on the journey, Rachel’s labor hits her hard, and her delivery of Benjamin sadly takes her life. A pillar is set up on the road leading to Bethlehem, a monument of Jacob’s love and sorrow, a landmark that had still survived all the way up to the time of David, and perhaps might even have been there as Mary and Joseph passed by on that same road.

After the time of Moses and Joshua and during the rule of Israel’s Judges, Bethlehem surfaces again in Old Testament history. This time, the “house of bread” has an empty breadbasket. There is famine in the land and Naomi and her husband and sons leave for a foreign country. In the land of Moab, tragedy strikes again, and Naomi is left without her husband and her sons. Nothing is left for her except to move back home to Bethlehem in sorrow and brokenness. Only Ruth, also a widow, is left with her for comfort, but how could this foreign girl last through such heartache and struggle? She’s got nothing more to gain from Naomi, even in the impossible fantasy that her mother-in-law could marry again and have another baby and Ruth would help change the diapers on her future husband.

Yet, on the road to Bethlehem, Ruth resolves to Naomi in that well-known pledge, “Where you go, I will go, where youstay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God, my God.” And it is in Bethlehem that the wonderful story of redeeming love plays out, where lowly, unlikely Ruth, marries the perfect match, Boaz (even if he’s a little older) and she becomes great-grandmother to King David, and an ancestor worthy of mention in the genealogy of Jesus Himself in the Gospel of Matthew.

It is, of course, the little town of Bethlehem to which God sends Samuel the prophet to anoint a new king to replace King Saul. Samuel makes the journey, tracing the same route of our Savior in Mary’s womb, and his expectations are disappointed. Even though he is the one called to speak for God, even he is misled by appearances and none of the strapping, noble, first seven sons of Jesse would be the choice God has made. But it is the eighth son who will be the Lord’s Anointed One, little red-headed David out there tending the sheep outside of Bethlehem, quite likely near the place where other shepherds much later would hear the Divine Song of the angels announcing Jesus’ birth. So the unlikely, lowly candidate for Israel’s great honor, would be selected king in lowly, unlikely Bethlehem, which you know from the Christmas story as the City of David.

It is to this Bethlehem, but about 200 years later, that Micah the prophet (who lived nearby in Moresheth) pronounces his unique prophecy that was read today. “Bethlehem, you are so small and insignificant that sometimes, you don’t even get counted…” You are a reminder of failed expectations, empty stomachs, grieving loved ones. But tiny, inadequate Bethlehem, with all of its history, some of it good, most of it sad, Bethlehem the house of bread will shoot forth an eternal Savior, the Son of God, yet born of a virgin in labor. To the King born in Bethlehem, the brothers and sisters of the Holy, Christian Church will return as the new Israel, as sheep to be tended by the Good Shepherd who spent at least His first night lying in a manger. His mighty Name will grant sustenance and peace to all Christians all over the world, even though the price of that peace would mean utter pain for Him in His suffering Divine punishment. That’s what awaits for you, O little, sleepy town of Bethlehem.

God our Father has a blessing also for you in Bethlehem, because there are times in your life when you can identify with the ups and downs of a village too small and insignificant to be counted. Perhaps tragedy has struck you or your family, and it seems too difficult to continue your journey. The hurt and pain stands like Jacob’s pillar as a monument that keeps the remembrance continually on your mind. Like Naomi on her homecoming, you may have had the time when you just didn’t feel like your cheerful self, yet for a while you were unaware of the true love and support that you had with you the whole time. Or like Samuel coming to Bethlehem looking for his next king, you were disappointed at something that happened because at the time things just didn’t look right. You may typically be one not to be fooled by appearances, but for a while, it just did not make sense to you, and you had to endure the consequences of your doubt. Or it is possible that, just like the modern city of Bethlehem, you are forced to acknowledge a nasty dividing wall in your life, covered with the barbed wire of hostility. You may be partly to blame for putting it up, or not at all, but it’s there all the same. As we examine ourselves and our lives according to God’s Word, we find out that, just like Bethlehem, our Savior Jesus Christ came to us even though we had nothing in us worthy of a mighty Lord and King, either.

The eternal Son of God retraced our tragic journeys through life, just like He traveled the Bethlehem road, going right by Rachel’s tomb, while in the womb of Mary. Just like Ruth promising her undying dedication to weeping Naomi, your Savior Immanuel promises never to leave you nor forsake you. He forgives your sins and shortcomings, and heals your disappointments and hurts. He does this by removing all this luggage that is too heavy to bear on your journey, and carrying it up the hill to Calvary’s cross, and there suffering and dying to make you forgiven and free. You did not have to achieve anything, you did not have to raise your lowly status on your own. Admit that you’re no different than a Bethlehem in human form, repent of who you are as a sinner, and this Christmas come to Christ your Shepherd who will be your peace, your fulfillment. As Ruth rejoiced in Boaz, her husband, so you welcome the loving voice of Christ the Church’s Bridegroom. Here in this house of bread, the Lord’s Body and Blood lie no more in a manger, but He still is found and even placed in your mouth in Bread and Wine.

As you can see, the heavenly Father had big plans for the little town of Bethlehem. After Jesus’ birth, the wise men will eventually get there to worship the King, even though, sure enough, they mistakenly stop in Jerusalem first. Micah’s recorded words will point them in the right direction just as surely as that guiding star did. Poor, neglected Bethlehem can remind us that Christ’s strength is shown in weakness. He does His mighty work here on earth through you, too. You may not realize it all that often, but your ups and downs of life’s journey are evidence of God’s gracious hand always there with you. Pay little heed to your Bethlehem-like lowliness now, for the day is coming when your Redeemer will raise you up from death, He’ll wipe away all your sorrow, and welcome you into His eternal mansions for a Christmas joy that will know no ending.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Micah 5:2–5a But you, Bethleham Ephrathah, though you are little…
Psalm 80:1–7 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel
Heb. 10:5–10 sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all
Luke 1:39–56 My soul magnifies the Lord