December 25: Augustus

[Read Luke 2:1-7]

The classic story of Christmas is told to us in Luke: the traveling couple, expecting a child, stayed in a manger because there was no room in the inn, and there he was born – laid in a manger, wrapped in bands of cloth.

We were asked to consider each passage through the lens of kings and kingship: I think about Augustus declaring a decree that all should be registered… Could you imagine if a politician today demanded that everyone travel back to their hometown to be counted?? I mean… I can already hear the outcry. How can they demand that I travel there now? I can’t go now, I have too much to do! Who is going to pay for the travel expenses??

Whether or not we would go on such a journey, or grumble about it, really isn’t the point. True kingship is.

True kingship is not really about a census, or who is going to pay for it, or anything like that. It is not about our governance or our policies… Or our resistance to them.

It is about recognizing the one true King.

The true King was the one born in that lowly manger. The true King is the one who was a gift to the world, to save us from ourselves.

The true King is the only one we need to follow.

And in following the one true King, we know that the things of this world are passing… but what is not passing is the everlasting salvation given us by Christ.

I pray you have a very merry Christmas.

Pastor Peter Mannoja
Tanum Forest Lutheran – Sturgeon Bay



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