‘While Quirinius was governor of Syria …’ Luke deliberately situates the drama that he is about to describe of the birth of Jesus in the political reality of his time. The land in which Jesus was born, grew, worked, suffered and died was part of the Roman province of Syria. The experience of Jesus of welcome in the beginning and final rejection in the end has been mirrored countless times in the story of individuals and nations.
‘While Quirinius was governor of Syria …’ The story that Luke tells us is one of hope. Things can be different. People can learn to be brothers and sisters. They can ‘break down the barrier’ (Eph 2:14) between ‘them’ and ‘us’. We are entering Holy Week, the most charged week of the year, when the great drama of God’s definitive intervention in human history reaches its climax. Stat crux dum volvitur orbis, “The cross stands still while the world whirls around” – the motto of Carthusian monks and nuns, a community more than 900 years old, says it all. It expresses the eternal commitment of our loving God to his floundering sons and daughters.
The agony of Syria is unbelievable in our modern age. For more than two years there has been shooting in the streets, bombing of houses from the air, destruction of schools and hospitals, roaring inflation, shortages, danger on every side and constant fear. Over one million people have fled, often in the dead of winter, to neighbouring countries where they live in tents. No one seems able to solve the problem. Meanwhile 70,000 have died. They have their Friday. Can we call it ‘Good’? Looking into the face of that little girl gives me at least a crumb of hope that the Lord will Easter there too, where Quirinius was once governor.