JESUS OF NAZARETH: IN “THE FULLNESS OF TIME”

There are two Greek words for time. One is khronos, which denotes linear time, from which we get the word “chronology.” The other is kairos, which denotes the “right time” or “perfect time.” Jesus came in kairos time - “in the fullness of time” (Gal. 4:4) - which made it possible for the Gospel to spread throughout the Roman Empire.

• There was universal peace, prosperity and stability in the world - the Pax Romana (“Peace of Rome”) - which began with the reign of Augustus in 27 B.C.

• There was a lingua franca or common universal language, Greek, made it possible for the Gospel to be preached everywhere in the Greco-Roman world, and a road system and safe sea routes, which allowed Paul, Barnabas and others easy access to important cities in the Mediterranean world.

• There was a spiritual hunger for something other than Roman mythology and emperor worship. People wanted a faith that could give meaning and hope in life.

• There was a growing, widespread belief in one God, partly as a result of the Diaspora, the dispersion of Jews who left Palestine following the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Wherever the Jews settled - more than one hundred fifty cities in the Roman Empire are known to have had synagogues in the first century - they witnessed to their faith in a single, supreme, sovereign God.

In the “fullness of time” - a one hundred-year window between the beginning of Augustus’s reign in 27 B.C. and the final mopping-up operation at Masada in 73 at the end of the First Jewish War - the “Word became flesh” and entered human history in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

THE BIRTH OF JESUS

The four gospels deal with Jesus’ public life from his baptism by John in the Jordan River to his death and resurrection in Jerusalem. To their gospels, Matthew and Luke added birth (or nativity) narratives. These are several possible reasons for their doing so. First, it is reasonable to assume that there was an interest in Jesus’s origins. Second, Jesus’ legal or earthly father, Joseph, was from the line of David, which was important to establish because the Messiah was to be a “Son of David” (2 Sam. 7:12-16). Third, it was important to show that Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem fulfilled the prophecy in Micah 5:2 regarding the Messiah’s birthplace. Last, Matthew and Luke wanted to begin their gospels with Jesus’ conception to show that he was, from the very first moment, divine.

JOSEPH AND MARY

Joseph and Mary were the “parents” of Jesus. Joseph was his legal father and Mary his natural mother. We know very little about Joseph, other than that his ancestors were from the tribe of Judah (Matt. 1:1-2; Luke 3;33-34). He drops out of the picture after the story of Jesus in the temple where Jesus was twelve years old (Luke 2:41-52). Most scholars believe that Joseph died while Jesus was still in Nazareth. We also are not told much about Mary, other than that she was young, a virgin, the cousin of Elizabeth and that she found favor with God (Luke 1:28). By all accounts, she must have been a remarkable woman and mother. According to Roman Catholic teaching, Mary “was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin by the grace of God.” The doctrine of Immaculate Conception - which refers to Mary’s conception, not that of Jesus - is an attempt to explain how Jesus was born of a human without the taint of original sin.

To understand the birth narratives and the possible disgrace that Joseph and Mary faced as a result of Mary’s pregnancy, one needs to know something about marriage relationships in first-century Israel.

Betrothal. In ancient times, couples would enter into betrothals at very young ages because life-spans were short. Mary was probably thirteen or fourteen when she was betrothed to Joseph, much younger that the mature, matronly Mary we are used to seeing in Renaissance Christian art. The betrothal or engagement was entered into before witnesses and, for all intents and purposes, the betrothed couple was married. If one party died, the other one was deemed a legal widow or widower. Until formally married, however, the bride and groom continued to live with their respective parents.

Marriage. After a period of betrothal, usually one year, the couple would be married, sometimes in a lavish ceremony, like the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11). After the wedding, the bride left her parents and her husband assumed responsibility for her support.

Between betrothal and marriage, an angel came to Joseph in a dream in Matthew’s gospel, and to Mary in person in Luke’s gospel, to announce that Mary would conceive a son through the power of the Holy Spirit and that they were to “name him Jesus” (Matt. 1:21; Luke 1:31), meaning “God Saves” (us from our sins).

THE BIRTH NARRATIVES

Matthew’s birth narrative (1:18 - 2:18) is told from Joseph’s perspective. It contains the account of the “wise men from the East” who, led by the star of Bethlehem, come to pay homage to Jesus, after which the holy family takes refuge in Egypt. Luke’s narrative (1:26-38; 2:1-20) is told from Mary’s perspective. It contains the account of Augustus’s decree that those living in Roman provinces “should be registered,” which sends Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem (a five-day journey) where Jesus is born in a stable and is visited by shepherds.

Although the two accounts are different, it is not difficult to harmonize them. Take, for instance, the Annunciation (“announcement”) that Mary was to conceive a child through the agency of the Holy Spirit. The announcement comes to Mary in Luke’s gospel and to Joseph in Matthew’s gospel. Why two separate and different revelations? one explanation is that Mary did not want to tell Joseph of her pregnancy because they were not yet married. When Joseph found out, he made plans to break the engagement (see Matt. 1:19), but an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him that the child in Mary’s womb was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

The most striking thing about the two narratives is not their differences but their complete agreement on all essential points: the principal characters are Joseph and Mary; the revelations are made by an angel; conception takes place between betrothal and marriage (Mary’s virginity is emphasized in both accounts) and occurs through the agency of the Holy Spirit; the child’s name is to be Jesus; the birth takes place in Bethlehem during the latter years of the reign of Herod the Great; and the family settles in Nazareth. It is hard to imagine how these two accounts of Jesus’ conception and birth, with such important similarities, might have arisen if they were not true. The important of the birth narratives, though, is not the details of Jesus’ birth but the in-breaking of God into human history.

Where did the material in the birth narratives come from? According to tradition, Mary, the mother of Jesus, died in the early 60s. If so, Luke, who tells us that he “investigated everything carefully” (Luke 1:3), would have had ample time to visit with Mary while he was in Caesarea during Paul’s imprisonment (c. 59-60).

WHEN WAS JESUS BORN? 

We think of Jesus being born at the zero hour between B.C. and A.D. His birth, though, was much earlier, because he was born during the reign of  Herod the Great, who died in 4 B.C. and had earlier ordered all of the children in Bethlehem up to two years of age be killed when he learned that Jesus had been born there. Most scholars believe that Jesus was born in 6 or 5 B.C. If so, Jesus lived approximately thirty five years, because most scholars believe that he died in A.D. 30. The person responsible for the error in Jesus’ birth was a sixth-century monk named Dionysius. He updated the calendar in 533 to shift the center of history from the founding of Rome in 753 B.C. to the birth of Christ. Unfortunately, he made a calculation error. Today, in many parts of the world, the terms B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini: “In the year of our Lord”) are being replaced by B.C.E. (Before the common Era) and C.E. (Common Era).

As for the celebration of Christmas, many suppose that Jesus’ birth may have been in the spring (shepherds and sheep in the fields, the wise men traveling to Jerusalem) rather than winter. Christians have been celebrating Christmas (“Christ Mass”) on December 25 since the year 336, when the Emperor Constantine combined Christ’s birth with the celebration of the winter solstice, the day on which the sun is “reborn,” because Jesus was “the light of the world” (John 8:12). Epiphany from a Greek word meaning “manifestation,” celebrates the presentation of Jesus to the wise men ( or “magi”) who came to Bethlehem. Epiphany occurs twelve days after Christmas on January 6.

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