A Meditation on Luke 2

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem…
 
I ran across the phrase scandal of particularity in a systematic theology textbook in 2012, and still wrestle with the concept from time to time.  The idea is that God chose a particular woman to bear Jesus Christ, which is a scandal (from a human perspective), because saying “yes” to Mary necessarily means saying “no” to many other equally worthy young Jewish women.  The concept goes further than just Mary, though.  By saying “yes” to the Eternal Son of God becoming incarnate as a Jew, God said “no” to the Greeks, Romans, and Celts.  By saying “yes” to the era of Rome, he said “no” to the era of the United Kingdom or America.  This particularity is scandalous to us because it doesn’t seem fair that God should choose Abraham and not Laban (or George Washington), Isaac and not Ishmael (or Abraham Lincoln), Jacob and not Esau (or Ronald Reagan).  Why does Mary get chosen to bear the Christ and not Judith, the great Jewish heroine of an earlier century? 
 
Luke seems to love the concept of scandal of particularity—after all, he is perpetually pointing out the exact time and person involved at every moment in the story.  The unique historicity of the story seems to thrill the doctor-turned-biographer/apologist.  A decree from Caesar Augustus (not Tiberius!) when Quirinius (not Northam!) was governor.  Joseph and Mary left Nazareth (not Capernaum!) to go to Bethlehem (not Bethphage!).
 
Sometimes we wonder whether things would be better (for us) if God has chosen a different time and place to do what he has done.  Wouldn’t things be easier if we were alive to see Jesus in his ministry on earth?  Surely it would be easier to believe if we saw a miracle or two!  Perhaps more mundanely, wouldn’t life be better if we could go back 50 years to a simpler moment in American history?  But the reality is that God has chosen the seasons and places of our life (and all of human history!) to do particular things, many of which cannot be repeated.  To wish for a different time is to miss what particular thing he might be doing now.  This is obvious when we think about the birth of Christ, but it is still true when we think of our own life.  God has chosen us for this particular season, for the particular family in which he has placed us, and for the particular tasks that lie before us.  To long for the past or the future, to long for different circumstances or settings, to long for different giftings or abilities is to miss what he wants to do now, with us, in this particular moment.
 
As you celebrate the birth of Christ this year, don’t be afraid to ask God, “What do you have for me in this season?  What am I called to do?  Whom have you equipped me to love?”  He is not done choosing particular people, at particular moments in history, to do particular things.  In other words, expect that he will answer your prayer!
 
Steven+