governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register” Luke 2:1-3 (NIV)
When
Caesar Augustus called for a census, Joseph dropped the work that he was doing
and took his family to Bethlehem to be registered. “Registration”
was a compiling of information which later could be used by the oppressing Roman
empire for the purposes of taxing its subjects.
But
to take that step of obedience was not easy. In
Joseph’s day, the Romans controlled the country of Israel and sometimes did so
brutally. Many Jews resented the
idea of Roman control, and therefore the idea of a census. Some would simply
ignore the law, but others, the zealots, strategized to resist with violence.
The
Jewish historian Josephus tells how the Zealots (political extremists) made life
hard for the people who did go to their hometowns and register. The
Zealots often plundered their property and drove away their cattle and set fire
to their houses while they were gone.
Yet,
Joseph submitted to Caesar and went. He
simply obeyed the law. Shouldn’t
he have stood up for and with his people against injustice?
Perhaps he looked weak to his friends, co-workers, and family.
One might think that His encounter with Gabriel would have made him bold
enough to resist, concluding that God was on his side.
But he went to Bethlehem and registered.
He played the good citizen.
Apparently
Joseph had the idea that civil disobedience violence were not called for.
Could it be that he had remembered Zechariah’s plea, “not by power
nor by might but by my Spirit says the Lord” (Zech 4:6).
It occurs to me that one could say, “like father like Son”.
I find it really hard to picture Jesus sanctioning rebellion, violence
and war.
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