"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. 3 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." Luke 2:1-4 ESV
In the New
Testament, dates were not given as calendar years, but by the dates kings or
governors of the province. They knew the
date of the census, and there the date of the birth of Jesus, by the name of the Roman governor-- who happened to be
Quirinius. Later, Luke will record the
beginning of Jesus' ministry by mentioning the dates of six different leaders--"The fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius
Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of
Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and
Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of
Annas and Caiaphas." (Luke 3:1-2)
Why are the dates of Jesus' life important?
While the specific dates are not
important, the times are very important. It was important that Jesus came to Israel
under Roman occupation in the First Century, AD. It is important that we remember this, too.
Jesus happened in time and space.
The dates of Mohammad's life are disputed in Islam, and regarded as unimportant. Buddhists
to not care when Buddha lived. It makes no difference. Shakespeare's plays
would still be important if they were written in ancient Rome or Victorian
England. No one cares when Little Red
Riding Hood happened, because it is a fairy tale. Whoever tells the story is
free to set it whenever he or she wishes.
But Jesus' story is tied to history. Jesus came into the real world, and His presence is vital to the Christian message.
It matters to us
whether or not Jesus was born of a virgin, died on the cross, and rose from the
dead. These are not just stories, but real events. Jesus' words are important but His work or
redemption is vital to us. Our faith is first of all in what Jesus did. If we
think it is just another story, then how
do we know it can be real in our lives?
On my first trip to
Israel, we got off the plane in Tel
Aviv, and took a night bus to Tiberius on the sea of Galilee. It was a cold, rainy night, and our bus's windshield wipers broke on the way. What should have taken ninety minutes took
hours. I had been up for thirty-six
hours already and everyone was getting cranky.
Then I saw something
that gave me a thrill. It was a road sign which simply said "Nazareth, 3
km. I was only two miles from Jesus' home town!
For twenty years I had studied these places, preached about Jesus, and based my life on the truth of these
stories. But I had never seen the places. Here before me was a visual
confirmation that what I had studied actually existed.
The fact that Christ existed in Israel in the First Century
means that God really entered our world. If He was not born, He could not die.
If He did not resurrect after He died, then neither will we. His actual presence in the world made it
possible for us to live after our deaths as well.
"Thank you, Father, that you entered time and space, enduring all that the world could throw at You, to purchase my salvation. Thank you that you entered this world for me, a citizen of this world. Help me to remember that You are real, and that Your promises are real as well. In Jesus' name, Amen."
