During this Advent season, we've been asking: why did Father God choose Bethlehem as the birthplace of his son, Jesus?
Herod the Great chose a hill opposite Bethlehem to build a giant fortress-palace (plus pleasure city) as an overstated monument of his victory against a bitter foe. And of course, to promote his own greatness. This stands in stark contrast to how God announces Jesus' birth to simple shepherds tending their flocks in the shadow of this magnificent building, and to a group of foreign astronomers from the East who possibly didn’t even speak his parent’s language.
Bethlehem itself was a farming town, whose name means "house of bread." It's a suitably poetic location for someone who would later say he was bread sent by God to give life to the world (see John 6:35).
It also helps that King David was born in Bethlehem, too. This links Jesus' birth with the prophesied ruler who was to come from David's royal line and usher in everlasting peace. David brought peace through war, but Jesus will bring peace through self-sacrifice and nonviolence.
In this final article before Christmas, we unite all these ideas under a one-word banner that sums up God's choice of Bethlehem: Humility.
