Second Sunday after Christmas |
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All Years
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After the wise men had left, an angel of the
Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and
his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is
about to search for the child, to destroy him." Then Joseph got up, took
the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until
the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord
through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son."
When Herod died, an angel of the Lord
suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take
the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were
seeking the child's life are dead." Then Joseph got up, took the child and
his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus
was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.
And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee.
There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken
through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be called a
Nazorean."
Merry
Christmas! Today is the 10th
day in our Christmas Season and the second Sunday of Christmas. You will by now have noticed that we are
still singing Christmas carols and hymns even when our secular society has
moved on – and as a comic strip I read in yesterdays paper reminded me that the
next big shopping season is already on us – Valentines day. But we are still remembering the birth of God
as a small baby. We are still reveling
in the incarnation. My Christmas decorations
are still up at my house and will stay up until we celebrate the feast of the
Epiphany – the coming of the wise men on January 6th.
And
in the midst of it we have this strange Gospel reading!
What
is this doing here? We hear about God
warning Joseph in a dream – not once but twice.
Once to flee and again when it was safe – well sort of safe – to go back
to Israel. I struggled about how to
preach on this lesson. What is the good
news? Because frankly this reading
contains a lot of danger and bad news – but you did not hear the bad news when
I read the Gospel. The assigned reading
leaves out the worst part – it leaves out the slaughtering of all male children
under the age of two in and around Bethlehem by the order of King Herod. It leaves put the reason for the warning.
There
was a real danger and Joseph was warned that King Herod was so weak and unsure
of holding on to his kingship that he was willing to slaughter all the male
children of a certain age after the wise men – also having been warned in a
dream – did not go back and tell him where they can find the infant king. The coming of Jesus into the world was
turning society on its head.
There
is a lot of danger here. But the danger
is not from God. It is from power-crazed
humans. God intervenes by sending an
Angel to Joseph in a dream to get up and flee Bethlehem. Flee Israel.
Go to Egypt. So the Holy Family
are once again refugees. A difficult
journey back into the land that their ancestors escaped from slavery many years
before.
Unfortunately
not a lot has changed in 2000 years in people’s hearts. We still have power hungry groups willing to
slaughter innocents to gain control.
There are stories after stories of Syrian’s fleeing the multiple civil
wars that are going on in their country.
We read of Isis fighting to create a caliphate – a holy state – warring
against everyone in Syria. We read of
awful killings by awful means of people caught by Isis who do not fit their
brand of religion. We have rebels – not
affiliated with Isis trying to overthrow the president of Syria. Because of
this violence thousands – perhaps millions – are
fleeing Syria.
Like
the Holy Family over two thousand years ago they are fleeing the violence. They are trying to find peace. But they are not finding much peace. The open borders in Europe – where until very
recently one could travel between European countries without border controls – are
starting to close. Germany is being
criticized for it’s welcoming of refugees.
There is fear that some of these refugees might be terrorists. There is fear of the stranger.
Closer
to home there is another influx of unaccompanied children and mothers with
children crossing our southern borders.
Children fleeing the violence in South and Central America. Young people fleeing the violence that the
drug lords are inflicting in trying to control and take power. Killing anyone who gets in their way and
putting young people to work. And we too are worried that some of the people
crossing our borders might cause violence.
That they too might be terrorists.
So some in our country want to
fortify our borders and to send any one who crosses back to their own countries
– no matter the violence and possible death that might wait for them.
And
for some of us the Christmas season might not be all that joy filled. It can be a reminder that we are not all able
to have a feast. We are not all able to
afford the kind of Christmas that we see on TV or in advertisements. We might be refugees in our own homes. We might be feeling the loss of loved ones
due to death or estrangements. There is
not always joy in our own lives.
But
there is good news in this reading. This
season is not about the feast. This
season is not about how many parties we attend.
This season is about Incarnation.
The coming of God into our world.
The coming of God into a real world.
A world that is fraught with hunger, violence, fear and death. And while God does not cause the violence the
promise of the Incarnation is that God is with us when we are hurt. God is with us when we are refugees. As the trite saying goes – God has “been
there and done that”.
One
of the preachers I follow said this about our readings today: “So while the
story Matthew tells may be dark and difficult, it isn’t even a little bit
far-fetched.
Which
is why, of course, he tells it. To let us know that in Jesus, Emmanuel, God did
indeed draw near to us, took on our lot and our life, and experienced and
endured all that we did -- disappointment, fear, violence, even death. All so
that we would know that we are not alone -- that we do not suffer alone, fear
alone, live and die alone. ”[1]
And
our call as followers of an incarnate God is to be there too. We are called to accompany each other on our
paths through life. We are called to be
there in the good times and to celebrate the joys that come into each of our
lives. But perhaps more importantly we
are called to accompany people during the difficult times of life. To be there with them when it is not easy.
One
of the requirements for ordination is to do a unit of Clinical Pastoral
Education. I did my unit as a Hospice
Chaplain. Many of my friends and
relatives said that it must be hard accompanying people on their last stages on
earth. To know that most of the people I
was serving would likely be dead in six months or less. But while there were
sad moments and moments that I was in tears there was also joy.
Joy
that I was able to reach people who had advanced dementia or Alzheimer’s
disease through prayer and hymns. There
was joy in hearing a woman speak who had not spoken more than a word or two of
gibberish for months. There was joy in working with a family to plan a
celebration of life for their mother. To
hear the pain and disconnections that were being healed in a difficult
time. To hear of siblings that had been
disconnected for years starting to be reconnected.
That
is our call. That is the promise of
incarnation. To remember that God was
willing to come into a violent world not to bring more violence but to bring
peace. To behave not as the people
expected the messiah to act but to turn those expectations on their heads. To remember that this baby grows up to
challenge conventional wisdom.
David
Lose from Luther seminary sums it up beautifully: “The Christmas story begins
with the birth of a child. But it doesn’t end until this child has grown up,
preached God’s mercy, been crucified and died and then raised again. Actually,
it doesn’t end until Jesus draws all of us into that same story, raising us up
to new life even amid the very real challenges that face each of us here and
now.
This
story matters because it tells us the truth: the sometimes difficult truth of
unjust rulers and violence and private grief and personal pain and all the
rest. But also the always hopeful truth that God has not stood back at a
distance, but in Jesus has joined God’s own self to our story and is working --
even now, even here -- to grant us new life that we may not just endure but
flourish, experiencing resurrection joy and courage in our daily lives and
sharing our hope with others.”[2]
That
is our call. That is the promise of
incarnation. To remember that God was
willing to come into a violent world not to bring more violence but to bring
peace. To behave not as the people
expected the messiah to act but to turn those expectations on their heads.
On
this second Sunday of Christmas I give thanks for all of you who live out the
incarnation. I see the good people of
St. Matthew’s walk with each other and walk with the community that surrounds
them. To be God’s hands, feet and heart
in our world. Even as the discernment on
what form the ministry to the community at St.Matthews is going to look like
going forward is moving too slowly you reach out. You are opening the campus for winter
sanctuary this week. A week that promises to be wet and cold. You, in the midst of uncertainty, are living
the incarnation! I give thanks for that
in each and every one of you.
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