B + C = S There is little reason to ponder the tiny community of Bethlehem, especially in New Testament times. It was a stopping place on the way to Jerusalem or Hebron, depending on whether you were headed north or south. Its location is pristine, surrounded by beautiful hills dotted with glimmering limestone. You could grow wheat or barely in the valleys or you could tend sheep in the hills, other than that, not too much was spectacular about this little town. Oh yes, Jesse raised a rather notable family there. Ruth met her second husband there. So there is a bit of historical significance to the town. But it wasn’t until Caesar decided that he wanted another poll tax that Bethlehem really took on significance. Because of a Roman emperor’s decision, a non-descript family from Nazareth spent a little bit of time there welcoming their new born son. This birth wouldn’t have made the local papers or the evening news, but it would get the attention of heaven sent angels and a few shepherds. And if you’re the Heavenly Father, that’s the kind of birth announcement that you send to those you love.

B + C = S Up the road about eight miles from Bethlehem is a city of great significance. It has been occupied, razed and rebuilt to various extents in its history about two dozen times. It has been the capitol for Canaanite, Roman and Jewish occupation throughout the centuries. It is a city with massive walls and at least a half dozen gates at any one time in its historical development. It has gone by various names: Jebus, Moriah, Aelia Capitolina, El Quds, Zion, Ariel and Jerusalem. But it’s what’s outside the city that is our focus. It’s a little hill, with a graphic limestone face that many believe is shaped in the form of a skull. It has come to be known to us as Calvary. It was the place along the northern roadway entrance into the city that the Romans would use to display their gruesome form of punishment upon criminal victims. Crucifixion was not an unusual practice for the Romans, but one of its victims was. The same son born about 33 years previous in Bethlehem to Mary and Joseph was impaled upon a Roman cross.

And thus we have our equation: B + C = S Bethlehem plus Calvary equals Salvation. It’s more than connecting geographical dots; it’s the divine roadmap that connects the incarnation with the crucifixion. Without it, we are of all men most miserable.