An Inconvenient Census
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And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
For the messages leading up to Christmas this year, I want to examine the narrative of Jesus’ birth from the first seven verses of Luke 2. Today we’ll look at the census in verses 1 through 3. Next week we’ll look at verses 4 and 5, which tell us a little bit about Joseph and Mary’s response to the census. And the last Sunday before Christmas we’ll study our Savior’s birth from the last two verses.
So, today’s question is this: What does a census that took place over two thousand years ago have to do with your salvation? How does it inform your faith or affect how you live?
The Historical Problem
The Historical Problem
First, let’s make sure we understand exactly what our text says. When Jesus was born, Augustus was the Caesar in charge of the Roman Empire. The governor of Syria — the region just north of Galilee — was a man named Cyrenius. This man was responsible for carrying out Caesar’s decree. And what was Caesar’s decree? It was that all the world should be taxed. However, it isn’t clear whether there was actually a taxation. The original text says that everyone went to his hometown to be registered (ἀπογράφεσθαι). In other words, this was a census taken probably in anticipation of a tax. Augustus wanted to know how many people were under his authority to predict revenue, to gauge military potential, and so forth.
So far, there’s nothing particularly unusual about any of this. Censuses occur all the time. Moses took two censuses — one the second year after he led the Israelites out of Egypt, and another in the fortieth year just before entering the Promised Land. In fact, we could argue that censuses and taxation are necessary. Why? According to Romans 13, God gave the magistrate the power of the sword, which includes the authority to muster an army from among able and available men, which would be determined by a census. And since an army needs supplies and salary, the civil government also has the power to tax. Paul wrote,
For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
The fact that God judged David harshly for taking a census doesn’t mean that the idea of a census is in and of itself wrong. It only means that David did something wrong. Most commentators believe that his sin was pride and self-glorification Having unified Israel and taken possession of all the land that God promised Abraham, he counted the people to congratulate himself, as if he had done it all solely by his own wisdom and skill. And in the end it cost the lives of seventy thousand men. The Lord reduced David’s military power to remind him that victory is not in numbers.
So, why is Caesar’s census so important? First, because it grounds our salvation in real historical events, not myths. The Lord Jesus Christ came into a world of space and time, flesh and blood, nations and kingdoms. Its kingdoms had rulers, and the ruler of the Roman Empire required his citizens to be registered. And Jesus himself was a real person — a human being who was born just like everyone else, except that he was conceived by the supernatural act of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary. Without history there is no gospel. Christianity is an historical faith.
Too often, people dismiss history as unimportant or irrelevant. They say that it doesn’t matter whether Jesus was really born of a virgin or walked along the Sea of Galilee or died on the cross as long as you believe that he did. But the same people never explain how something false offers us any hope. It can’t. The apostle Paul wrote,
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
Christianity is not a vain religion. It’s not a pie-in-sky dream. The second person of the Trinity became flesh and dwelt among us to reveal the glory of God in the salvation of sinners. He came to give his life a ransom for ours.
Luke understood this and was therefore extremely careful to record events as they actually happened. Let me give you just one example of his historical accuracy. Verse 2, as I’ve already mentioned, says that Cyrenius governed Syria when Jesus was born. For a long time, the only available evidence indicated that Cyrenius wasn’t governor until AD 6. That’s far too late. Jesus had to be born at least ten years earlier. We know this because Herod the Great was king when he was born, and Herod died of a painful bowel disease in 4 BC. So, unbelievers assume that Luke made a mistake. A Wikipedia article on this topic says, “Most scholars have therefore concluded that Luke's account is an error.”
But are unbelievers right about this? The answer is no. A twentieth-century archaeologist named William Ramsey, himself once a scoffer, trusted neither Luke’s gospel nor the book of Acts. In fact, he set out to prove their untrustworthiness by retracing Paul’s missionary journeys. He thought this would show that Paul couldn’t possibly have done what Acts says he did. But he found not only that Paul could have done what Acts says, but that in many cases he had no other choice. Concerning Cyrenius, Ramsey’s research also uncovered an inscription in Antioch that shows that Cyrenius actually held two posts in Syria. His became high commissioner sometime before 4 BC — a position that lasted approximately three years. Then he became governor in AD 6. The Greek word translated governor (ἡγεμονεύοντος) in verse 2 could easily be applied to either of these positions.
The fact that Cyrenius served in two distinct senior-level command positions fits perfectly with what Luke actually wrote. According to verse 2, the census that took place when Jesus was born was Cyrenius’ first census. Why would Luke mention a first census if there wasn’t also a second census? He wouldn’t. It’s a well established fact that Cyrenius oversaw another census in AD 6. His second census was much bigger problem for the Jews for several reasons:
First, it included an actual taxation. The tax was a 5 percent inheritance tax to make up a military deficit.
Second, the Roman army actually collected the money.
And third, it was the first tax that took place after Samaria and Judea came under the direct administration of Rome following the exile of Herod Archelaus.
Acts 5:37 gives us a glimpse of how Jewish zealots responded to this second census and taxation. It says,
After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.
Cyrenius’ second census is therefore the one that got all the press in the ancient world. By contrast, the first census was probably not much more than an enrollment of land and counting of persons. It was otherwise unremarkable, except for the fact that it required Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem, where the baby Jesus was born.
The census reminds us how carefully Luke narrated the events of Jesus’ birth so that you and I can have complete confidence in the Word of God. But it also assures us that Jesus came into this world — the world in which we live — to be the Savior of real men, women and children. He came to save you and me if we believe.
Augustus and Cyrenius
Augustus and Cyrenius
There’s another reason why Luke recorded all of these details for us. He wanted us to understand what the world was like when Jesus was born. Paul wrote,
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
But what kind of world did he have in mind?
Luke says that the world of Jesus’ nativity was ruled by Caesar Augustus, the grandnephew of Julius Caesar. Augustus, of course, wasn’t actually his name; it was a title that the Roman senate conferred on him after he defeated Mark Antony in 27 BC. It means ‘the revered one.’
There are a lot of things we can say about August. First, he was a shrewd military leader, who carefully chose his generals and won significant victories. This was in spite of the fact that he his reduced his army by approximately 300,000 soldiers. He also encouraged the arts, cleaned up literature and even passed a series of laws criminalizing adultery. Because he generally kept his nose out of the customs and religions of subjugated nations, some have called him “a benevolent ruler.” Others have designated him “the father of his country.” But more than anything else, he’s credited with inaugurating a lengthy period of peace known as the pax Romano or Roman peace, which continued for almost two hundred years after his death.
However, none of this means that Augustus was a good man. Although he criminalized adultery, he himself was an adulterer. He generally discouraged people from honoring him as a god, but this was mostly because there had been a strong reaction to Julius Caesar, who insisted on his own deity. Still, coins and other official documents identified him as Dominus (‘Lord’) or Divi filius (‘Son of God’). He also built numerous temples in honor of “Rome and Augustus” and accepted the title Pontifex Maximus or the Highest Priest. As such, he was the head of all Roman religious worship.
The other civil magistrate mentioned in our text is Cyrenius, an ambitious man from an obscure family and best known for his military campaign against a mountainous people known as Homanades (Homonadenses). The latter eventually led him into the world of Roman politics. Cyrenius was married and divorced twice. But his importance for the gospel is that he was a close friend and ally of Caesar, who carried out Caesar’s will.
As you can see, there’s a lot of historical background assumed in this morning’s text. Understanding that history helps us fill in the details of Jesus’ birth. But is this its only value? Not at all. It also testifies to our Savior’s humiliation. Jesus was born into a world that was governed by a power-hungry adulterer with a god-complex. He was subject to the laws of a despot, as they were carried out by his friends. Humanly speaking, he was born in Bethlehem because Augustus and Cyrenius required Joseph and Mary to go there to register.
This shows how much Jesus humbled himself to save us from our sins. He didn’t just wave his hand and wipe away our sins. But from the beginning of his life to the end, he submitted to sinful men in our place. And nowhere do we see this more clearly than in Pilate’s judgment against him. Our catechism reminds us that Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, another officer of the Roman government, that “he, being innocent, might be condemned by the temporal judge, and thereby deliver us from the severe judgment of God, to which we were exposed” (HC 38). But remember that Jesus gave authority to Pilate precisely so that he could execute this cruel injustice and tyranny against him. He said to Pilate, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above (John 19:11). He might have been a Roman official, but his authority came from God.
Furthermore, Jesus’ humiliation teaches us to humble ourselves. Paul wrote about this in the second chapter of Philippians:
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
But Jesus’ work for us didn’t end with his humiliation. After he suffered and died, he was also exalted and glorified. The passage in Philippians continues:
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And the fact that Jesus was glorified through his submission and suffering means that you will also be glorified through the same suffering. Hebrews 2:10 says,
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Our text today tells us about an inconvenient census. I suppose there’s a sense in which every census is inconvenient: it takes time from other things and requires us to provide information that we might not want to give, mostly because we know how it’ll be used.
But the census in our text was more than that. It was a complete interruption of people’s lives. They had to leave their homes and travel to wherever their families had settled, assess their net worth, and stay as long as necessary. And it was especially inconvenient to Jesus’ family. Joseph probably didn’t have much, but he still had to report. Mary was great with child, but that didn’t matter either. All kinds of things could have happened to her along the way. But she still went.
Why did Jesus’ family endure the inconvenience of laws that could have been less restrictive, kinder, and more considerate? It was for our salvation. Being fully human, Jesus had to subject himself to the same laws that regulate our lives, so that his perfect obedience could be credited to us in place of our disobedience. Had he not done so, we would still be in our sins. But now we have forgiveness and peace with God and the hope of everlasting life. We have a complete salvation that no one can ever take away. Amen.