Preached by Rev. Erik Kindem.
Scripture: Luke 2:1-20
Summary
Our world is preoccupied with numbers: Economic numbers; Polling numbers; Sales numbers; Population numbers. Our world is obsessed with numbers—and for good reason. For numbers—data—can tell us a lot about the state of the world in which we live. Every government, business, and educational institution; every for-profit and non-profit entity uses numbers to break down, comprehend and communicate its story.
In the world of Empire, people are numbers to be managed. Empires make decrees calling for data, because you can only manage what you can quantify. Therefore—order a census; count the bodies; mandate the taxes; exert control.
This, curiously enough, is where Luke begins his story of Jesus…with numbers. But it doesn't end there. Beneath the surface of the Empire’s dominant version of reality another version emerges—unrehearsed, surprising, bold—a SUB-VERSION—that tells a different story.