In our world, there are those who have power, and those who don’t—and one of the surest ways of telling the difference is that when those in power speak, those not in power scurry to obey. When the commander in chief speaks, for example, entire military divisions begin to mobilize and deploy. When the school board speaks, teachers and students alike adjust to the new policy. When the alumni speak, the football coach suddenly finds himself looking for a different job.

That’s just the way things are, and from what I can tell, they have been like that for a while. So when Caesar Augustus issued his imperial decree that all the world should be registered, poor Mary and Joseph had no choice but to make the difficult journey to Bethlehem. It didn’t matter that she was nine months pregnant, or that every hotel in town was already booked. The emperor had spoken … and when the powerful command, the powerless comply!

But I think one of the reasons that Luke begins the Christmas story with Augustus is because he is inviting us to consider that, with the birth of Jesus Christ, a new kind of power was entering into the world. By choosing to become an infant—vulnerable, dependent, and seemingly without any power at all—God was signaling to the world that something revolutionary was taking place.

Granted, there are times when it still appears as if Augustus is calling all the shots. The strong still rule the weak … the “haves” still lord it over the “have nots” … the powerful still command, and the powerless still comply.

But consider this … the name of Caesar Augustus—at one time, the most famous and powerful name in all the world—would like be forgotten today, if it were not for the fact that, during his reign, a baby was born in the little town of Bethlehem!