Bethlehem

I was born in Springfield, Illinois—so was Kim. Our kids were both born in Houston. It doesn’t really mean that much about us. You can look up the meaning of the word “Houston” and find out it was originally a town in Scotland named after a man named Hugh, Hugh’s Town—that’s not very interesting. You can look up Springfield and find that it means a field near a spring. Not exactly mind-blowing. The most famous Springfield, not the place I was born, is known for its residents all having the mutation of only four fingers and strange yellow skin—probably due to a poorly managed nuclear powerplant.

The names of the places where we are born don’t really mean very much about us. But none of us got to choose where we were born. None of us had thousands of years to think about where the perfect place to be born might be. If we did, we might pick a place that means something interesting about us—like a personalized license plate.

We all know Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Do you know what the name means? 

In Hebrew, the name Bethlehem (Bet Lehem) means “house of bread.” 

In Arabic, it means “house of meat.” (Bayt Lahm)

That’s more than a little interesting. Bethlehem was a small town, probably less than a thousand people at the time. But a lot of interesting things happened in the little town of Bethlehem.

Bethlehem is where Jacob’s wife, Rachel, died giving birth to Benjamin—the last of his sons. Rachel died in childbirth on the road to Bethlehem and was buried there. Her name means “Ewe” or “female lamb.” So, Rachel was kind of a sacrificial lamb, sacrificing her own life to give birth to her son Benjamin, on the outskirts of Bethlehem.

That’s also more than a little interesting.

Bethlehem is where the love story in the Book of Ruth takes place. Where David’s great, great, great grandmother (a Moabite girl) met Boaz while harvesting grain and had babies. It’s where David was born and grew up shepherding sheep. It’s where he was anointed by Samuel to be king. That’s a lot of history for a town the size of Pattison.

Of course, it’s also where Jesus was born.

It’s interesting that Jesus wasn’t born in a house of royalty, in a palace, or a mansion, or a house of powerful people. Jesus wasn’t born in Jerusalem, or Rome, or Athens, or Alexandria. He wasn’t born in any political, commercial, cultural, educational, or socially significant city of His day.

When Micah, an Old Testament prophet, foretold the birth of the Messiah would be in Bethlehem, he pointed out its total lack of significance to the world. Listen to how many things we know about Jesus are in this passage:

Micah 5:2-4:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, (Bethlehem of Judah and the surrounding area) though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

(The ruler who is born in Bethlehem, even though He appears to be a baby, is actually from old, from ancient time—that makes sense to us because we know the eternal Son of God who existed with the Father from eternity past was born as a baby on that first Christmas. God became man. He did not begin with His birth or even with the creation of the world—when the world began to be, He already was.’ Jesus will say about Himself: ‘Before Abraham was, I am.’) Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor bears a son, (It’s going to be hundreds of years between when Micah says this and Mary will be in labor in Bethlehem giving birth to a son) and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. (There were ten tribes of Israel that were lost, assimilated by the pagans. Micah is saying somehow they will return because of the Messiah. We know this is accomplished by the Gospel going out to all the nations on earth.) He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And He will be our peace.” (Jesus, the Great Shepherd, descendant of David, the shepherd boy who became the greatest King of Israel. Jesus, the One whose birth was announced to some random shepherds by an angel of the Lord—He was born in Bethlehem. He is Christ the Lord and He will be our peace. Micah had a lot to say about where the Messiah will be born.)

This is the Scripture the Wise Men knew about that led them to Bethlehem to worship Jesus. It’s the Scripture that led Herod on a murderous rampage killing every male child two years old and younger. 

The Gospels are very clear that Jesus is the One Micah was talking about. He was the ONE- born in Bethlehem (the House of Bread) to be the Prince of Peace, the Shepherd to the lost flock, and the Bread of Life:

In John 6:28-36, 47-51 we find an interesting conversation between Jesus and some people who were trying to figure out exactly what He was up to:

Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”

Jesus replied, “This is the work of God: to believe in the One He has sent.”

So they asked Him, “What sign then will You perform, so that we may see it and believe You? What will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Sir,” they said, “give us this bread at all times.”

Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst. But as I told you, you have seen Me and still you do not believe….

…Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And this bread, which I will give for the life of the world, is My flesh.”

Interesting speech coming from the guy who was prophesied to be born in a town called the House of Bread—and later called the house of meat.

Let’s talk about bread. In the Bible, bread is life’s most common need—can’t survive without it. So Jesus was born in a common little town that’s name means “bread.” God wants us to understand that His Son is “common” in the same sense—without Him, there is no life. He is available to anyone.

Jesus said, “when you pray, pray like this: Give us this day our daily bread.”

The One who was born in the House of Bread, who said He is the Bread of Life, also told us to remember everything He did for us by eating bread.

On the night when He was handed over, He took bread, and when

He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples and said, ‘Take and eat. This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ 

Do this in my remembrance. In this sacramental meal, we remember that God remembers us—and when God remembers us, He acts, He forgives us and saves us.

It’s also interesting that the House of Bread, Bethlehem, later became the House of Meat. This is my body. “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And this bread, which I will give for the life of the world, is My flesh.”

In the same way, after supper, He took the cup. And when He had given thanks, He gave it to them saying, ‘Take and drink. This cup is the new covenant of my blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.’” 

There are mysteries here. Is this bread and wine? Yes. Is it truly Christ’s body and blood? Yes, it is. Every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the mystery: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

O little town of Bethlehem, Jesus the Bread of Life was born in the House of Bread.

Jesus, the sacrificial Passover Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world was born where Rachel the ewe lamb died in sacrifice to give life to her child.

Jesus, the Bridegroom of the church, was born in the location of the great love story of His ancestral grandparents Ruth and Boaz.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, was born where David, son of Jesse, tended sheep.

Jesus the King of kings was born in the City of David, the place where he was anointed by Samuel to be Israel’s greatest king—the one whose descendant would sit on the throne forever.

Jesus the everlasting Light of the World was born under the Star of Bethlehem.

On the first Christmas, The Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world was born where the sheep are kept. The Man of God who would have nowhere to lay his head would be placed as a newborn baby in a feeding trough—a little container to hold food for animals. Don’t miss this: Jesus said, “unless you eat my body and drink my blood you have no life in you.” He said, “Take, eat, this bread is my body…” It’s worth noticing the first place He sleeps is where the sheep would find their food. 

May we always feed on Christ the living Bread when we come to this altar! May we all be nourished not only by natural bread but “by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”! May we devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” AMEN