Nothing But Sheep Ranches

Advent – Day Two:

Micah 5.2 “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

Too little to be among the clans of Judah,

From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.

His goings forth are from long ago,

From the days of eternity.”

Bethlehem is a little old village in Judah. Originally it was called Ephrath. Benjamin, the twelfth son of Jacob, was born in the vicinity and Rachel, his mother, was buried there. Later we find that Naomi, the grandmother of Obed, the grandfather of King David, lived in Bethlehem.

 It was important that Bethlehem be named in the narrative of Scripture because Jesus was born also in Bethlehem. Micah, the prophet wrote: “From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.” That One would be Jesus. And so, from a small, obscure little village, would come not only the ruler in Israel, but also the Ruler of Heaven and Earth.

There are several retired major league baseball players that live in my town. These guys, other than their retirements, are the most down-to-earth guys you would hope to meet. No glitz, no glamor. One of them shops in the store where I work and ran a real estate business for years. Really nice, laid-back guy. He probably made more money over the years in real estate than he ever did in the Majors.

It’s interesting when you find out stuff like that and then realize they live where they live where you live: in an obscure little cow/lumber town in northeast Oregon. I suppose I over-glamorize those who participate in professional sports.

But I think the people in Jesus’ day over-glamorized their rulers and where their rulers were from. Bethlehem is humble beginnings: nothing but a bunch of sheep ranches. And Jesus didn’t come from a shepherd’s family: His dad was a carpenter. And really, Jesus grew up in Nazareth, a town famous for a Roman military garrison – hmmm, a bunch of Roman soldiers amidst a bunch of Jewish peasants… what a weird mix.

I think God likes obscurity and the weird mix. I think God likes little towns. That isn’t to puff up little towns, but I think God loves to do majestic and marvelous out of places that are off-the-map. One thing about Bethlehem, Micah said it was too small for anything great to come out of there. (Nathanel in John 2 said, Nazareth, what good can come from Nazareth?)

The answer for that question Nathanel is simply: a lot of good. God can get good out of anything…or anyone. God can get good out of any circumstance, no matter how awful we deem it to be. God can bring good out of any town or area no matter who lives there, or what industry. And it was important that Jesus came from His ancestral home because God said He should (and would); it would baffle the Jewish religious leaders who insisted Jesus was a Nazarene (from Nazareth.)

And God can bring good out of little old nobodies like us…if we’ll give Him the opportunity. That’s all He asks: Can I use you to accomplish great things for My Kingdom? All we have to do is believe.