In the weeks leading up to Christmas, the Advent season, our lives were filled not just with
anticipation, but also with activity. It was the season of shopping, trimming, cooking, and entertaining. The day
itself, Christmas, was over almost before it began, and whether the occasion was large or small in terms of the
number of people gathered around your table, the "aftermath of Christmas" looks very different than the
Norman Rockwell images we all tried so hard to create before.
In the "aftermath of Christmas," the paper is torn, the boxes have piled up, the decorations are hanging
askew, some are broken, and a few have already been taken down. The tree may be leaning, or dropping needles, and
several of the lights are out. There is the occasional missing fork or spoon, a stain on the carpet, and a growing
desire to get back to normal. The only anticipation ahead at this point is the arrival of the mail containing the
incoming bills related to the cost of pulling it all off.
Scripture too takes a seemingly strange turn just after the babe is born in the manger. The star seems to disappear
almost as quickly as it arrived, and in its place are troubling dreams, a hasty departure to Egypt, and the slaughter
of the "innocents, something that smacks of a less than gracious God.
Many clergy will choose to avoid this passage today in favor of something that seems more "seasonal."
They will express concerns over upsetting the children, of diverting their attention from those violent video games
and DVD's they received as gifts, or from the pretty horrific images in the vastly popular "The Lord of the
Rings," or even "Harry Potter."
Some will say "this seems so out of character for God, we would do best not to mention it." But those
who know their Bible will have to admit this was not the first or the last of the pogroms and injustices to be
inflicted on the chosen people. There always seem to be innocent individuals caught up in the violence of the world.
It's one of the first troubling issues in the Bible that God spares Noah and his family, but what about all those
other innocent babies and children carried away in the flood? When Moses was born in Egypt, midwives had been instructed
to leave the Hebrew babies unattended, and when that didn't work they were being thrown into the Nile. When the
angel of death passed over killing all the firstborn don't we wonder about those whose parents didn't know enough
to paint the blood over the doorposts? All of those who left with Moses to wander in the wilderness were destroyed
along with their deliverer. Subsequent invasions of the promised land stressed the random destruction of all residents,
men, women and children as part of the "will of God," and the great Exile which shaped so much of the
Old Testament literature is filled with images of seemingly random hardships and destruction.
Even the New Testament begins with the ultimate "wrongdoing" in which God's own Son becomes the victim
of grave injustice and thus identifies in a very personal way with the tendency of evil to inflict its power on
the innocent. For some, even the empty tomb seems little comfort to a life of injustice.
The early church put great emphasis on these events. You see them depicted with great frequency in stained glass
and altar paintings from the 1200's on. Perhaps the people of those times lived closer to the day to day hardships
of life, and such empathy with the suffering of their Biblical counterparts, in what may seem to us a strange way,
made them feel closer to God. Even the Christmas story, as wondrous as it was and is, was seen more in light of
the hardships and poverty it brought with it than the glamorized nativities we tend to present today. Think of
it in terms of our expectations for a "Hallmark greeting card family," our image of the perfect "holy
family" verses the actual Biblical picture of a family unit plagued with very contemporary problems: pregnant
out of wedlock, threat of divorce, homelessness, political violence, fear and running away in the middle of the
night.
It was as if the event was meant to be a reminder that just because there is a moment of peaceful bliss doesn't
mean it's going to last forever. For reasons unknown to most of the population Herod sends his army into Bethlehem,
killing many innocent children in search of one "enemy" whom he never finds. How man innocent are lost
in the process? Sound uncomfortably familiar?
The Advent Wreath is supposed to be present in the sanctuary until Epiphany Sunday, which is next week, when according
to the UMC Book of Worship it should be replaced with the Nativity Scene. The pink and purple candles are supposed
to be gone now, for our time of waiting is over. The Christ Candle alone remains as a reminder that in good times
and bad it is God who makes the difference.
This "solstice festival" differs from others in that it is not intended to be a break from reality as
we are sometimes guilty of trying to make it. If our faith is to be real, critical and connected with the world
in which we live it has to deal with the real issues of the world in which we live. Matthew's gospel is, after
all, not just telling us about the baby and not just later telling us about the past history of the adult Jesus,
but it is also reflecting on the pain which his own community has faced. This pain belongs in the Christmas season
if Christ is not to be trivialized.
We, as a church, need to address and not deny these images are real lest we lose all credibility as proclaimers
of "the truth". This text is difficult, and part of what makes it difficult is that it forces us to deal
with the concept of evil.
In our time, just as in their time, we must never forget that Herod did not act alone. He had many hired men (and
women?) to do his dirty work-good people just trying to put food on their tables for their families-- people just
obeying the law. Once we personalize Herod things get more complex. How does Herod play out in all of us? How do
we worship the status quo? How do we "just do our job" without looking at what is happening around us?
How many "innocents" die each day for lack of food? Deaths that we could prevent if we really cared?
How many "innocents" suffer to produce for little pay the imitation high cost items we so richly desire?
Someone once said to me that they never asked God why there were so many starving people in the world because they
feared God might ask them the same question. We can not dismiss this text or make it into something more palatable.
This is the Gospel!
Good news is often hard to hear. The very things that shape us most, and transform us into more caring and compassionate
individuals are often the very hardships we would never willingly seek or choose for ourselves.
The flight to Egypt had far reaching effects on the lives of this Nazarene family. Joseph being a craftsman who
spent three years in what was then one of the most architecturally progressive cultures in the world, must have
been in great demand as the great Roman City of Sephorous was being built only 4 miles from Nazereth. In all likelihood
Jesus was exposed to all kinds of social differences and social conflicts before he was even 10 years old. What
a great preparation for the one who was to become the prince of peace.
How are the events of our lives, the tragedies like September 11th, the ongoing conflicts and hardships internationally
and internally within the walls of our own homes shaping us? Do we too have a tendency to feel when things are
going wrong that we have been abandoned simply because we are feeling what people have always felt?
Or will we also discover the deeper truth of Christmas, that God did not come to deliver us from reality, but to
open our eyes to truth, and to stand with us in the midst of anything life can throw in our direction because we
are loved, acceptable, and worthy of such devotion. The acceptance of such truth is the price we pay for Christmas,
and the way such truth then shapes our lives is the gift we receive from God.
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