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Luke
2:1-20
 | Reading the Text:
|
| Historical References, Commentary and
Comparative Texts:
 | The
Five Gospels Parallels, John W. Marshall, University of Toronto. |
| Comparative World Scriptures from United Communities of
Spirit:
|
|
"Of
David's Lineage," The Jesus Database, an online annotated inventory of
the traditions concerning the life and teachings of Jesus. Dr. Gregory C.
Jenks, FaithFutures Foundation. |
|
Census
Edict for Roman Egypt at K.C. Hanson's website. Includes study questions and a
bibliography. |
| The Census of Quirinius:
New Testament Parallels to the Works of Josephus. From G.J. Goldberg's Flavius Josephus Home Page. (Some of
these "parallels" are speculative.) |
|
III.X.3,
IV.VII.1, Adversus
Haereses,
Irenaeus of Lyons.
(c. 180) |
|
Chapter IX,
Adversus Judaeos,
Tertullian (c.
198) |
|
Exegetical
Fragments,
Hippolytus of Rome
(c 210). |
|
Chapter II, On
the Flesh of Christ,
Tertullian (c.
211) |
|
Book I,
Chapter 5, Ecclesiastical History,
Eusebius of Caesarea, (c. 320). |
|
Sermon XXI,
Sermon XXII, Sermon XXIII,
Sermon XXIV,
Sermon XXVI,
Sermon XXVII, and
Sermon XXVIII on the
Nativity of the Lord, by
Leo
the Great (400-461). |
| Commentary on a Harmony of the
Evangelists, John Calvin:
Luke 2:1-7,
Luke 2:8-14,
Luke 2:15-21, 1558. |
| From the Geneva Notes.
 | "Whole armies of
angels, who compass the majesty of God round about, just as soldiers, as
it were." |
|
| From
Matthew
Henry's Commentary (c. 1700).
| "Peace is here put for
all that good which flows to us from Christ's taking our nature upon
him." |
|
| From
Wesley's
Notes.
John Wesley
(1703-1791).
| "Mary seems not to have
known that the child must have been born in Bethlehem, agreeably to the
prophecy. But the providence of God took care for it." |
|
| "The
First Christmas Carol," Luke 2:14, Charles H. Spurgeon, 1858.
| "Although it would be a
high sin, and an act of misdemeanor against the Sovereign Court of
Heaven to pay the slightest adoration to the mightiest angel, yet it
would be unkind and unseemly, if we did not give to holy angels a place
in our heart's warmest love." |
|
| From the
Commentary on the Whole Bible
(Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, 1871).
| "first . . .
when Cyrenius, &c.--a very perplexing verse, inasmuch as
Cyrenius, or Quirinus, appears not to have been governor of Syria for
about ten years after the birth of Christ, and the "taxing"
under his administration was what led to the insurrection mentioned in Ac
5:37. That there was a taxing, however, of the whole Roman Empire
under Augustus, is now admitted by all...Many superior scholars would
render the words thus, "This registration was previous to
Cyrenius being governor of Syria"--as the word "first" is
rendered in Joh
1:15; 15:18...But it is perhaps better to suppose, with others, that
the registration may have been ordered with a view to the taxation,
about the time of our Lord's birth, though the taxing itself--an
obnoxious measure in Palestine--was not carried out till the time of
Quirinus." |
|
| From The
People's New Testament, B.W. Johnson, 1891.
| "When the Lord stooped
from Divine glory to take upon him humanity, he stooped to its most
lowly estate. An Oriental inn is thus described: 'The khan
is usually much on the model of the Eastern house, but of much larger
extent. Four rows of apartments are so constructed as to enclose a large
yard with a well in the center where the cattle may be kept. The outer
wall is usually of brick upon a stone basement. The apartments are
entered by the guests from the yard, and are elevated two or three feet
above the level of the yard. Below and behind the row of the travelers'
apartments was often the row or the long room of stables, into which the
floors of the apartments being a little extended, formed a platform upon
which the camels could eat.'" |
|
|
| Contemporary Commentary, Studies, and Exegesis:
|
Luke 2:(1-7), 8-20, Christmas,
Comments
(commentary) and
Clippings
(technical notes for in-depth study), Chris Haslam, Anglican
Diocese of Montreal. |
|
Luke 2:1-7, (8-20), Christmas,
Comments
(commentary) and
Clippings
(technical notes for in-depth study), Chris Haslam, Anglican
Diocese of Montreal. |
|
"The Time of No
Room," Thomas Merton.
| "Into this world, this demented inn, in
which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come
uninvited. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this
world." |
|
|
"First
Thoughts on Year A Gospel Passages in the Lectionary,"
Christmas Day,
William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.
| Celebration! Tell
the story. Its simplicity invites drama, poetry, pageant." |
|
|
"Christmas," Gospel Analysis, Sermons from
Seattle,
Pastor Edward F. Markquart, Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle,
Washington. Detailed background and exegesis. |
|
"Time,"
Listening to the Text, Engaging the Text, and Preaching the Text, Dr.
Dwight Gunter, Preacher's Magazine, 2007.
| "This passage sets itself up to address the
conflicts that arise in people’s lives as they try to make sense of
events over which they have no control." |
|
|
"Joy,"
Listening to the Text, Engaging the Text, and Preaching the Text, Dr.
Dwight Gunter, Preacher's Magazine, 2007.
| "We, too, must take a risk and experience the
birth of Jesus in us. This occurs not only on an individual level,
but also on a corporate level." |
|
|
"Afterword: The Lucan Texts for the Christmas Season," The Birth of
Jesus Never Saved Anyone: The Lucan Advent Texts, Marc Kolden,
Word & World: Theology for
Christian Ministry, Luther Northwestern Theological School, 1991. |
|
"Event, Revelation, Reaction," Larry Broding's
Word-Sunday.Com: A Catholic
Resource for This Sunday's Gospel. Adult Study, Children's Story, Family
Activity, Support Materials.
|
"Is Christmas day a time of rejoicing (the Christ is born
to us)? Or a time of relief (Christmas is finally over)?" |
|
|
Marginally Mark, by Brian McGowan, Anglican priest in Western
Australia.
| "...how can Christmas as a Celebration of Disruption
get through our celebration of cosiness? Ponder all these things in our
hearts? What cycles of ours does God want to break into, break us out
of, so that we bring to birth whatever it is God needs in our case?" |
|
|
"The
Incredible News of Great Joy,"
Jerry Goebel, One
Family Outreach. "Focus on scripture from a justice perspective." Exegesis, study, and teen study
and activities.
| "Still, the words of the angels
resound: The Gospel isn’t the Gospel if it is not shared with the world
and Great Joy is not Great Joy until it is shared with the world. Has
the Gospel become the Gospel in my life? Am I taking it where it has
never been taken before? Is my Great Joy made complete by sharing it in
the deserts that are void of hope around me?" |
|
|
"Today
the Savior Is Born,"
"Fear
Not,"
Rev. Bryan Findlayson, Lectionary Bible
Studies and Sermons, Pumpkin Cottage Ministry Resources. Includes detailed
textual notes. |
| "Exegetical
Notes on Christmas Texts," Judith Hoch Wray at The Living
Pulpit. |
| "Extraordinary
News to Ordinary People: Verse Commentary on Luke 2:8-20,"
Jirair Tashjian, at The Christian Resource Institute.
| "Luke is fond of the
word today and uses it repeatedly to mean the present period of
salvation brought about by Jesus (4:21; 5:26). Salvation is not
something to be expected only in the future at the second coming of
Jesus or in heaven after death. It can be experienced here and now.
"Today salvation has come to this house," says Jesus to
Zacchaeus (Luke 19:9)." |
|
|
"I
Bring You Good News of Great Joy,"
Jerry Goebel, One
Family Outreach. "Focus on scripture from a justice perspective." Exegesis, study, and teen study
and activities.
| "How ironic that those least
likely to be welcomed in worship would be the first to hear the
great news from God’s own heralds." |
|
|
"Go
Out in Joy," Rosalind Brown. Commentary from The Christian
Century, December, 1998. At Religion Online.
| "The angels provoke fear.
Jesus was just about the only person to be comforted by an angel.
Everyone else is confronted by God and usually called to some action
when an angel shows up." |
|
| "Acclamations
of the Birth of Christ: Luke 2:1-20," J. Hampton Keathley III, Biblical Studies Foundation.
| "The shepherds went
back to their sheep, to their occupations, and undoubtedly also to their
families, but they went back changed men." |
|
| Environmental &
earth-centered reflection, Rev
John Gibbs, from the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota Environmental
Stewardship Commission.
| "Worship embraces world." |
|
| "Christmas
and Luke's Theology of Hope," Vernard Eller, The Christian
Century, December 18, 1968.
| "The ultimate promise
(better, the promise of the ultimate) is eschatological in
the strict sense of that term; it is the promise of that which is final
(in that there is nothing greater that could be promised) and universal
(extending to all men and even to the rest of creation). It is the
promise of the Kingdom of God, of making man, true and all things new,
of God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven." |
|
| "Pax
Romana, Pax Christi," James T. Dennison, Jr., in Kerux: The
Online Journal of Biblical Theology (Reformed)
| "Octavian
ushered in the Pax Romana, but the cost of this peace was the surrender
of the human liberties of the republic. Roman citizenship became little
more than political and social slavery. For Caesar--Caesar Augustus--was
supreme despot, chief dictator, totalitarian lord of all he surveyed." |
|
|
"Gospel
for Christmas Eve: Luke 2:1-20," from Exegesis for the Christian Year,
Henry Gustafson, 1998. At Religion Online.
| "For Luke’s readers, past and present that sign has been
enriched." |
|
|
"In the Midst
of the Ordinary," Robin Morgan, Sabbatheology.
| "We can live our lives looking
through the lens of our crucified and risen Messiah, the One born in
the midst of the ordinary so that we might be made extraordinary for
all eternity." |
|
|
Luke 2:1-7, Saint Mary the Virgin,
Comments
(commentary) and
Clippings
(technical notes for in-depth study), Chris Haslam, Anglican
Diocese of Montreal. |
|
"First
Thoughts on Year C Gospel Passages in the Lectionary," Christmas
Day,
William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.
| "Faithfulness to the tradition
entails ensuring its marking stones are not displaced and clearing
the space for what is profound ceremony." |
|
|
"First
Thoughts on Year B Gospel Passages from the Lectionary," Christmas
Day,
William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.
| "In moments of our own deeper truth we
can also find ourselves facing our raw humanity, facing our own poverty,
stripped of our shining garments and clad in just the basics. Then the
angels are there for us." |
|
|
| Articles & Background:
|
"Census of
Quirinius,"
"Nativity of Jesus,"
"Adoration
of the Shepherds," wikipedia. |
|
"Living in the Shadow of the Manger," Margaret Eletta Guider, O.S.F.,
(other resources at)
"Children," Christian Reflection, The Center for Christian
Ethics at Baylor University, 2003.
| "When the shadow of the Manger falls across our
lives with a power similar to the shadow of the Cross, we will
commit ourselves to respond to the particular needs and suffering of
children." |
|
| "God
as Suffering Parent," Fredrica Mathewes-Green.
beliefnet.
| "If there was once grand
mystery around the Incarnation, it has long since dispersed. Three
jolly bears now convey everything we know or expect to know. It is a
scene is plump with stupidity. Jesus as a cookie. God as a pet." |
|
|
"Bethlehem:
Jesus' Birth," Terry C. Hulbert, Walking in their Sandals.
| "Jesus was not born in a
manger or a stable, as we know it, but in the home of a member of
the family of Joseph and Mary who lived in Bethlehem. Common
misconceptions of the circumstances of His birth result from a
mistranslation of kataluma which means "guest room," not
"inn," and from a Western rather than a Middle Eastern
understanding of the cultural factors involved." |
|
| Virgin Birth: Child of the
Holy Ghost, from And Adam Knew Eve: A Dictionary of
Sex in the Bible, by Ronald L. Ecker. |
|
| Articles in
ATLAS Journals. (Direct link when you are
subscribed and logged in to
ATLASerials online collection of Religion and Theology Journals.):
| Borg, Marcus,
"When Heaven and Earth Meet," The Living Pulpit, 1996.
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| Brindle, Wayne,
"The Census and Quirinius: Luke 2:2," Journal of the Evangelical
Theological Society, 1984.
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PDF |
| Brown, Rosalind, "Go Out in Joy,"
The Christian Century, 1998.
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PDF |
| Burchard, Christoph, "A Note on
RHMA in Josas 17:1f; Luke 2:15, 17; Acts 10:37," Novum
Testamentum, 1985.
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PDF |
| Burghardt, William, S.J.,
"Gospel Joy, Christian Joy," The Living Pulpit, 1996.
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PDF |
| Carl, William J., Jr.,
"Reflections on Joy," The Living Pulpit, 1996.
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| Conrad, Edgar W.,
"The Annunciation of Birth and the Birth of the Messiah," The
Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1985.
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PDF |
| Derrett, J. Duncan M.,
"Further Light on the Narratives of the Nativity," Novum Testamentum,
1975.
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PDF |
| Gaventa, Beverly R. and John Dominic Crossan,
"The Challenge of Christmas: Two Views," The Christian Century,
1993.
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PDF |
| Giblin, Charles H., S.J.,
"Reflections on the Sign of the Manger," The Catholic Biblical
Quarterly, 1967.
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PDF |
| Globe, Alexander,
"Some Doctrinal Variants in Matthew 1 and Luke 2, and the Authority of the
Neutral Text," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1980.
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PDF |
| Green, Joel B.,
"Good News of Great Joy - But for Whom?" The Living Pulpit, 2002.
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PDF |
| Jegen, Carol Frances,
"Rejoicing in God," The Living Pulpit, 1996.
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PDF |
|
Joy issue focus of The Living Pulpit 5.4, 1996. |
| Kolden, Marc, "The Birth of Jesus
Never Saved Anyone: The Lucan Advent Texts," Word & World, 1991.
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PDF |
| Meyer, Ben F., S.J.,
"'But Mary Kept All These Things...' (Luke 2:19, 51)," The Catholic
Biblical Quarterly, 1964.
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| Meyer, Paul,
"Free Flowing Reflections on Luke 2:1-20 from a First Century Perspective,"
Currents in Theology and Mission, 1980.
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PDF |
| Moore-Keish, Martha L.,
"Between Text & Sermon: Luke 2:1-14," Martha L., Moore-Keish,
Interpretation, 2006.
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PDF |
| Myers, Ched,
"As a Child: Jesus' Solidarity with the Least of the Least," The
Living Pulpit, 2003.
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PDF |
| Norris, Kathleen,
"Zealous Hopes," The Christian Century, 2005.
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PDF |
| Pearson, Brook W.R.,
"The Lucan Censuses, Revisited," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly,
1999.
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|
"Quotations on the Many Views of Joy," The Living Pulpit, 1996.
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PDF |
| Read, David H.C.,
"Communicating Joy," The Living Pulpit, 1996.
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PDF |
| Ruddick, C.T., Jr.,
"Birth Narratives in Genesis and Luke," Novum Testamentum, 1970.
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| Schmemann, Fr Alexander,
"The Proclamation of Joy: An Orthodox View," The Living Pulpit,
1996.
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| Silberman, Lou H.,
"A Model for the Lukan Infancy Narratives?" Journal of Biblical
Literature, 1994.
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| Smith, Mark D.,
"Of Jesus and Quirinius," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2000.
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PDF |
| Smith, Robert,
"Caesar's Decree (Luke 2:1-2): Puzzle or Key?" Currents in Theology
and Mission, 1980.
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PDF |
| Tyson, Joseph B.,
"The Birth Narratives and the Beginning of Luke's Gospel," Semeia,
1991.
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PDF |
| Wegener, Mark I.,
"Between Text and Sermon: Luke 2:1-20," Interpretation, 1994.
Image Browse -
PDF |
|
| Reviews:
| Jung, Chang-Wook, The Original
Language of the Lukan Infancy Narrative. T&T Clark, 2004.
Review
by Gert Steyn, Review of Biblical Literature, 2006. |
|
| Sermons:
|
"Time,"
Dr. Dwight Gunter, Preacher's Magazine, 2007. |
|
"Joy,"
Dr. Dwight Gunter, Preacher's Magazine, 2007. |
|
"Extravagant
Joy!" Joh Killinger, 30 Good Minutes, Chicago Sunday Evening
Club, 2007. |
|
"Raining Joy,"
Grace Imathiue, Day 1, 2007. |
| "Jesus, Our Hope," Darrik Acre,
Preacher's Magazine, 2005. |
|
"Don't Be
Afraid," Dr. Ian Chapman, President of Northern Baptist Theological
Seminary. 30 Good Minutes, Chicago Sunday Evening Club, 1992. |
|
"Gloria!" Pastor Edward F. Markquart, Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle,
Washington. |
|
"Celebrating,"
John Jewell, 1999. |
|
Father Andrew M. Greeley,
"Priest, Author, Sociologist". Commentary and Homily
|
|
| With Children:
|
"Jesus'
Birth,"
"The Shepherds Worship Jesus," Illustrating the Story (lessons,
children's sermons), coloring pages, activity sheets, crafts, children's
songs. MSSS Crafts. |
|
"Sweet Christmas!"
Talks to Children, Rev. Donald
McCorkindale, Dalgety Parish Church, Fife, Scotland. |
|
"Paul Looks at the Stars," children's story by Larry Broding, word-sunday.com. |
|
"A Child Is
Born," Jim Kerlin, childrensermons.com. |
|
"Happy Birthday," Lois Parker Edstrom, Lectionary.org. |
|
"The Birth of
Jesus,"
"Angels Appear to Shepherds,"
children's study, puzzles, coloring sheet, etc. Higher Praise Christian
Center. |
|
Luke 1 & 2 Word
Search Don Crownover's Bible Puzzles. |
|
"Chosen One," Judy
Grubb, sermons4kids.com. |
|
"The Birth of Jesus," online
computer java-based coloring pages from Grace Baptist Church of Feeding
Hill. |
|
"Figures of Faith: A Series of Children's Messages for Advent," Laura
Venhuizen, Reformed Worship. |
|
The Christmas Story Crossword Puzzle, downloadable and interactive
online, based on the NRSV Christmas stories from Matthew and Luke. Bruce
Gillette, Limestone Presbyterian Church, Wilmington, DE. |
|
| Drama:
|
| Graphics & Bulletin Materials: | |
