Christmas

Simeon is a righteous and devout man who has been looking for the ‘consolation’ or ‘comforting’ (parakl?sis) of Israel. The phrase is an unmistakable reference to the theme of the ‘comforting’ of Israel and Zion that is found widely in Isaiah 40-66. The most interesting passage is Isaiah 52:7-10:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” The voice of your watchmen - they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Here we have an announcement of ‘good news’ that YHWH is returning to Zion following Israel’s protracted exile; he will defeat Israel’s enemies and reign as king. This is what Jesus will enact prophetically when he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people of Israel will be comforted, forgiven; her judgment will be brought to an end (cf. Isaiah 40:1-2). Moreover, Isaiah’s statement ‘he has redeemed Jerusalem’ is picked up by Luke in his account of the prophetess Anna, who spoke of Jesus ‘to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem’ (Lk. 2:38).

When Isaiah says that ‘all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God’, he does not mean that all the ends of the earth will be saved or that they will hear the gospel. He means that the nations will see what God has done for his people. Arguably, Simeon makes the same limited point when he speaks of a salvation that has been ‘prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles’ (Luke 2:30-31). The salvation of this oppressed people in the midst of the powerful and hostile nations of the world will reveal to the world the true nature of YHWH, especially his faithfulness towards the people of his promise.

Psalm 98:1-3 speaks of the salvation of Israel that God has ‘made known’; his righteousness has been ‘revealed… in the sight of the nations’. ‘All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.’ In Isaiah the servant of the Lord will bring about the restoration of Israel and in the process will be ‘a light for the nations’ (Is. 49:6; cf. 42:6). He will release the prisoners from darkness (Is. 49:6; cf. 42:7; 61:1), he will open the eyes of the blind (42:7); he will ‘bring back the preserved of Israel’ (49:6). But this salvation will have an impact on the nations: they will see what God has done for his people (52:10), they will see the character of his righteousness and justice, they will acknowledge his power and glory (49:7), they will be instrumental in bringing back the scattered Jews to Zion (49:22; 60:4), they will travel to see the ‘light’ of Israel, bringing tribute and praise (60:1-14), they will recognize the people of Israel as ‘priests of the Lord… ministers of our God’ (61:6), they will see the righteousness and glory of Israel (62:2).

The point is that what is envisaged in the birth stories is not a universal salvation but the deliverance of a people from oppression and the restoration of worship and justice. This is a localized event, but it will not go unnoticed in the world; it will have a profound impact on the nations. The journey of the magi to pay homage to the new king exemplifies this.

A narrative theology needs to respect these constraints. But a narrative theology must also, of course, ask questions about where this national salvation leads. What is the place in the world of a people that has been saved by the child who was to travel a path of suffering obedience in order to become Israel’s king?

The theme of a restricted, national salvation is evidenced in the angelic announcement to the shepherds. The child is born for their benefit (‘unto you’), because the renewal of Israel would begin at the margins, amongst the poor, disreputable, and even the villainous. The news will be a source of great joy not to the whole world but to ‘all the people’ of Israel - the same ‘people’ (laos) to which Zechariah refers when he prophesies about the redemption of Israel (1:68, 77).

The doxology of verse 14 has in view the ‘peace’ of Israel rather than of the whole world if, as is likely, the phrase ‘people of favour (eudokias)’ (‘those with whom he is pleased’ in ESV) connotes God’s elect people to whom he has extended favour at a time of crisis. The thought is found, for example, in Psalm 106, which is echoed at several points in Zechariah’s prophecy (Luke 1:68-79): ‘Remember me, O LORD, when you show favour (eudokia) to your people; help me when you save them…’ (Ps. 106:4 = 105:4 LXX).

It is likely that this announcement of good news was intended to clash with the Augustan mythology concerning the birth of one who would be a saviour, lord and bringer of the pax Romana. The famous Priene Calendar inscription reads:

Whereas the Providence which has guided our whole existence and which has shown such care and liberality, has brought our life to the peak of perfection in giving to us Augustus Caesar, whom it (Providence) filled with virtue for the welfare of mankind, and who, being sent to us and to our descendants as a Savior (sōter), has put an end to war and has set all things in order; and whereas, having become visible, Caesar has fulfilled the hopes of all earlier times… not only in surpassing all the benefactors who preceded him but also in leaving to his successors no hope of surpassing him; and whereas, finally, that the birthday of the god (i.e. Augustus) has been for the whole world the beginning of the gospel (euangelion) concerning him, therefore, let all reckon a new era beginning from the date of his birth, and let his birthday mark the beginning of the new year.

At this stage in the narrative, however, the focus is on the salvation and restoration of the people of YHWH. In the reign of Caesar Augustus, who has the power to enforce a census in remote Palestine, when Quirinius is governor of Syria, a child is born who will deliver the people from spiritual and political oppression and become king over them. The question that later arises is: What will happen when this renewed people moves out into the Greek-Roman world to bear witness to the fact that this child has been given the name which is above every name?

The Benedictus of Zechariah corresponds to Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) and echoes its central theme, which is that YHWH has acted to redeem Israel from its state of oppression for the sake of the promise to Abraham to preserve an authentic humanity, a renewed creation, in the midst of the nations of the earth. The passage is dense with allusions to the Old Testament, bringing into view a background narrative that must be allowed to guide and delimit our reading of the prophecy.

The following table lists only the more obvious points of correspondence.

The narrative that emerges from this kaleidoscope of memories is of Israel suffering the political consequences of judgment, looking to YHWH to rescue the nation from the humiliation and pain of subjugation and to restore its worship and prosperity. Psalm 106 (= Ps. 105 LXX) is especially important because it tells the story of Israel’s persistent disobedience, of how God gave them into the hands of the nations, and of his faithfulness in delivering them from oppression.

The message of the Benedictus, therefore, is that Jesus will save the people of God’s promise from a political situation that did not allow them to serve YHWH in holiness and righteousness without fear of violent repression (Luke 1:74). But this visitation of YHWH to save will also be a coming in judgment (‘But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?’) because Israel has done evil in the sight of the Lord (Mal. 2:17-3:2). Israel is currently under occupation, it faces a catastrophic ‘great and terrible day of the Lord’ in the not too distant future (Mal. 4:5), but God has acted to preserve the ‘remnant of his inheritance’ (Micah 7:18).

This thoroughly political narrative does not need to be spiritualized or universalized in order to be meaningful for us. It is part of our story as God’s historic people of blessing, descended ultimately and definitively from Abraham. Zechariah prophesies the deliverance of a remnant from an oppression that would culminate in destruction, for the sake of the worship of YHWH in the world.

The announcement that Jesus will ‘save his people from their sins’ is followed immediately by the reference to the prophecy in Isaiah about a virgin or young woman who will bear a son whose name will be Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).

This child will not actually do anything: he does not grow up to become a saviour or king. But his birth will be a sign to king Ahaz that within a few years Judah will be overrun by the Assyrians because he was unwilling to trust God (7:10-13): ‘The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah – the king of Assyria’ (7:17). The river of the Assyrian army will flow into the land of the child Immanuel (8:8), but it will not in the end sweep away Jerusalem and the house of David. The fact that ‘God is with us’ is an assurance that when Jerusalem faces military disaster, God will not allow his people to be completely overwhelmed (8:9-10).

Matthew transfers this paradigm to the situation faced by first century Israel: the birth of Jesus is similarly a sign - by virtue of its exceptional circumstances - that when the nation faces destruction, God will nevertheless be present and will preserve those who fear him. This is what it means to ‘save his people from their sins’ (Matt. 1:21). For Matthew the birth of Jesus is eschatologically significant - it has to do with the end of the age of second temple Judaism. It is not made an argument for an incarnational understanding of the relationship between Jesus and God.

Joseph is told by the angel that the boy will be called Jesus because ‘he will save his people from their sins’. We expect the Christmas story to have universal relevance, good news for all mankind, but the message here is only that Jesus will be Israel’s saviour: he will save his people. The reference to Israel’s ‘sins’ should also be understood in a quite specific eschatological sense. These are the sins that have placed the nation under judgment, the outcome of which will be political destruction if the nation qua nation does not repent. We should hear in the background passages such as Micah 3:8-12, not least because Micah has the prophecy about a ruler who will come from Bethlehem:

But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the LORD and say, “Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.” Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

Jerusalem again faces devastation because of the corruption, injustice and hypocrisy of Israel’s leaders. Jesus is portrayed as the one who will deliver God’s people from the appalling consequences of the vitiated religious and social life of the nation.