The Road around Bethlehem

January 1, 2006

Cane Creek Baptist Church

For several years now it has been my privilege and challenge to fill in for Gregg on the Sunday after Christmas while he and Diane renew their acquaintance with snow. For most of these years my topics have been related to various aspects of the place where the Christmas story began – Bethlehem, in Judea. Three years ago, I talked about the road to Bethlehem: what it might have been like 2000 years ago when Mary and Joseph made the 60-mile trip from Nazareth in Galilee down to Bethlehem, and hopefully, I was able to draw some meaningful parallels to the times when each of us needs to be obedient to God’s call. Two years ago I spoke about the road from Bethlehem, a historical journey through the turbulent and tragic events that have befallen that city since Jesus’ birth, which echoes the turbulent and tragic road that led Christ from Bethlehem to Golgotha, and from there to all nations and people, even to this very altar. Last year we considered the road in Bethlehem during the 1^st week of Jesus’ life – an ordinary week when people went about the business of living, while God was doing an extraordinary thing in their midst. This year, having run out of roads, I was pretty much out of ideas until, one day when I was fooling around with something called GoogleEarth and decided to fly to Bethlehem. And therein lies the rest of the story. I found the trip so interesting that I decided I would try to set it up so that you all could come with me. It will work much better if you can see the screen, so I encourage those in the rear of the sanctuary to come to the front – you will be able to see better, and I won’t feel so alone.

For those of you not familiar with it, GoogleEarth is an internet application that creates video movies out of satellite images of the earth’s surface so that they can be displayed in an ordinary web browser – except that the video stream is created in real-time in response to the user’s instructions. Unfortunately, the detail of satellite imagery is not consistent for all parts of the earth so for example, in cities and towns its possible to see individual buildings, but in rural areas the detail is a lot less distinct. If we go to 6901 Orange Grove Road, we can recognize topography, but individual buildings don’t show up unless they have shiny roofs. But I told you I would fly you to Bethlehem. Well, the first hurdle is that GoogleEarth doesn’t list every town in the world, so we have to go to someplace it does recognize and start from there. Jerusalem is pretty close to Bethlehem, so lets go there. Here we go.

So, now we have just traveled 12000 miles and are now looking down on Jerusalem. The ancient city was a fraction of the size of modern Jerusalem, but the ancient part of the city hasn’t moved. Particularly, the wall of the temple that Jesus visited as a boy of 12, where he taught, where he cast out the money changers, and where he was, at the end, tried by the Pharisees is still there, right there. Joseph and Mary, on their way from Nazareth 60 miles to the north to Bethlehem a few miles further south would have walked right down this road here. [◙] The road leads south from Jerusalem down the ridge of this set of hills, almost certainly unchanged since antiquity. There appears to be a more natural valley route [◙], but it is a much harder traverse: a modern super-highway to the south through the valley requires two extended tunnels to avoid the hills surrounding the city.

At this point [◙]to the east we can see just one of the obstacles to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This is Har Homa, a huge Israeli settlement on the West Bank. Here is a close-up of what you see from space. Har Homa is essentially a gated and guarded Israeli city connected to Jerusalem via a secure corridor. And now just over this hill is the town of Bayt Laym, the Arabic pronunciation of the Hebrew name, Beth-Lechem – Bethlehem. We can’t see the individual houses, but we can get a pretty good idea of the population density of modern Bethlehem. Right here you just make out what is known as “Manger Square” and the Church of the Nativity [◙], by tradition, built over the shepherd’s grotto where Jesus was born. The oldest landmark in Bethlehem is right over here – Rachel’s tomb, [◙]dating from the time of the patriarchs about 3500 years ago. For most of those years, all these hills would have been populated mostly by sheep, an economy fitted to the relatively abundant water supply and the nearby markets of Jerusalem. Its no wonder that shepherds were the first to hear of Jesus’ birth – if tradition is accurate, they might have been sleeping n the next sheep-fold, but at most, they were just up these hills here[◙] when the news came.

But, that was last week’s topic. Let’s imagine that early last Sunday morning a young woman and her husband took refuge in our cemetery pavilion where she had an emergency delivery. I’m sure it would have made the evening news, and I’m equally sure that, had they needed it, by now they would have been offered a place to stay. Last Sunday, there probably would have been quite a bit of traffic to our little community, but in the week since, of all the travelers on I-40, how many do you think would have turned off at exit 263 and come over to Orange Grove this week to see the newborn baby? How many would have made the trip from Hillsborough to see him? And how many visitors would we get this week? I agree – not many. With the excitement of the new baby now over, most people are going to take the road around Orange Grove. And here, as you can see, is the main road south from Jerusalem – it goes around Bethlehem. I can’t tell you for certain that the road has always gone around Bethlehem, but I can point out that the most direct route south is this road, so it is probable that Bethlehem has always been a side-trip. Its easy to avoid it. You have to want to go to Bethlehem. Like the Wise Men, you have to want to see Jesus. If you stick with the crowd, you will probably take the easier road, around the Savior. That is a metaphor for each of us to note.

The problem, of course, is that, as appealing as the Baby in the Manger is, he did not stay a baby. If you believe that he is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior then we owe Him our lifelong devotion and worship. If not, then you had better take the road around Bethlehem. in today’s world, that’s not just a question of bypassing an exit on the Interstate. Down through the ages, men and women have tried all the alternate routes.

Destroying the road. Herod was the first, thinking that he could thwart God’s plan by erasing a generation of Bethlehem’s children. 33 years later the Pharisees and the Romans would deny its message and crucify Jesus. But three days later the Savior born at Bethlehem appeared to his disciples, filling them with such great joy, hope, and love for each other that they began to meet daily to share their experiences. One of the more zealous Pharisees, one named Paul, became so angry at their growing faith that he resolved to kill them all, but on his way north, to Damascus, Paul himself met the Christ of Bethlehem in a way he couldn’t avoid.

It doesn’t matter what road you take. In the year 373 AD, a young Italian scholar of the natural sciences named Augustine, although raised by a Christian mother, became impressed with the philosophy of Manichæism, a religion founded by the Persian Mani in the latter half of the third century. It purported to be the true synthesis of all the religious systems then known: Zoroastrian Dualism, Babylonian folklore, Buddhist ethics, and some small and superficial Christian elements. (Sound familiar?) For the next 12 years, Augustine was one of its most ardent proponents, but in the year 385 he began reading scripture, particularly Paul’s letter to the Romans, and became convinced that there was only one road to truth. We know him today as St. Augustine.

I don’t need to go myself. Many people avoid the road to Bethlehem because they don’t feel they need to make a personal journey to see the King. John Wesley was just such a person. He wrote in his autobiography:

“The next six or seven years were spent at school; where, outward restraints being removed, I was much more negligent than before, even of outward duties, and almost continually guilty of outward sins, which I knew to be such, though they were not scandalous in the eye of the world. However, I still read the Scriptures, and said my prayers, morning and evening. And what I now hoped to be saved by was,

1. Not being so bad as other people.

2. Having still a kindness for religion. And,

3. Reading the Bible, going to church, and saying my prayers. “

But then on February 6, 1736, Wesley boarded a ship in Savannah, Georgia and met Spankenberg, a Moravian pastor, whose advice he sought. The German said:

"My brother, I must first ask you one or two questions: Have you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God witness with your spirit that you are a child of God?"

Wesley knew not what to answer. The preacher, seeing his hesitation, asked:

"Do you know Jesus Christ?"

"I know," said Wesley, "he is the Saviour of the world."

"True," replied he, "but do you know he has saved you ?"

Wesley answered, " I hope he has died to save me."

Spangenberg only added, "Do you know yourself?"

Out of that conversation, came the sequence of events which led Wesley to his own personal conversion, and by his efforts, millions more have made the Bethlehem journey.

Too busy to take the road. C.S. Lewis said in The Weight of Glory:

If we consider the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased."

“What are the vanity glasses in your life? What is the one thing you must have to be happy today? Perfectly behaved children? A spotless house? An attentive husband? These desires are superficial at best. God wants to fill us with Himself, with His presence amid bickering children, dirty toilets, and overworked husbands. Like Martha, we are distracted by wanting a well-run home. In the midst of that, we ignore Jesus. Mary, in her devotion, settled for the higher human need: intimacy with the Lord. According to Jesus, she chose the good part that wouldn't fade.”

Have you ever chosen the easy road around Bethlehem? I know I have. Like John Wesley, in my early years I thought that being able to point to “worse people” and being religious was enough. In my college years, along with St. Augustine, I was attracted for a time by the idea that all religions led to the same place. Later, I was just too busy for Jesus. Or, maybe at heart I was afraid that if I made the trip all I would find would be – a story. So I took the road around Bethlehem until, in 1971, some friends gave me hope that I would find the One I always wanted to meet. What were your reasons?

Bayt Lahm Story.

This morning I want to invite anyone who has not been to see the King to come with me, with us, to Bethlehem to see the King. You aren’t dressed for it? He will give you the robe of righteousness to wear. You are ashamed of your sins? There is nothing he cannot forgive. You don’t have a gift? But you do – the only one that counts: your heart.