The imperial apparatus
Jock Stein
December 16, 2024
Add to Favourites
Listen to this daily worship
Luke 2: 2 (NRSVA)
2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
‘All the world’, especially the world of the Middle East, is being registered, and we are given one landmark, Syria and its governor. Think diplomat, think politician, think civil servant, all here in one man and of course in many men – no place for women in the Emperor’s apparatus, but a special place in God’s purpose for Mary as she travels with Joseph to be registered. All this we glean from the opening two verses of this chapter, though we have had centuries to place them in context.
You can imagine bureaucrats polishing up their processes till they gleamed – at least before their immediate superiors, though as we know only too well in our age they are usually dull and difficult for the end users. (Ecclesiastes 5: 8-9 says the same, but concludes that a poor process is better than no process at all – which is why we should pray for those in authority rather than curse them, though it is not wrong to ask God to remove bad rulers from power.) Certainly we can imagine Mary, the light of the world gleaming in her womb, trudging and riding and enduring her journey – as people trouble themselves today to travel to collect visas and other documents.
PRAY
Lord, we remember today those whose work is routine: civil servants, labourers of many kinds, those who serve dull call centres, demanding households, hard to please employers, desperate patients, dodgy people.
We pray for those in power here and overseas: King Charles and his family, those in Westminster and Holyrood and Councils, and for ourselves today as we exercise authority or influence in family or work or third sector service.
And we remember Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Israel and other Middle Eastern countries: their struggles, their fears, their hopes. Lord, bring justice and peace, for your name’s sake. Amen.
Login to comment.