Address given on Sunday 29th December 2019 at St Mary's Nenagh, the 1st Sunday of Christmas.
What a horrid
story St Matthew tells us in the Gospel reading set for today (Matthew 2:13-23)!
The reading is out of order. It comes after the wise men
from the East, the Magi, have departed –
they are getting closer, but they will not arrive until Epiphany on January 6th.
The background to the reading is this. The wise men, as
we all know, had been following a star to pay homage to a child, born to be king
of the Jews. When they reached Jerusalem, King Herod directed them to search
for the child in Bethlehem, where the chief priests said the Messiah would be
born. Herod slyly asked them to bring word back to him, so that he too could
pay homage - but Herod was afraid of a rival king to his dynasty and he had
other, murderous ideas. The wise men went on to Bethlehem, where they were overwhelmed
by joy to find Jesus with Mary his mother and Joseph. They knelt down, paid
homage and presented their gifts. But they were warned in a dream not to return
to Herod.
Joseph too is a dreamer, and also a man of action,
determined to protect his family. After the wise men leave, Joseph dreams that
King Herod will seek to kill the newborn Jesus, so he takes Mary and Jesus and
they flee to Egypt as refugees. He is right to be afraid. Herod is infuriated
that the wise men had tricked him by not returning - he doesn’t know which
child the wise men came to worship, which child to murder. So he orders the
massacre of every child two years old and under in and around Bethlehem
– every one. Safe in Egypt when Herod dies, Joseph dreams again that it is safe
to return, and he does so with Mary and Jesus. But in yet another dream he
realises that Herod’s son Archelaus, who is now king of Judea, may harm them, so
he settles the family at Nazareth in Galilee.
It is a nasty tale of brutal force and the massacre of
innocent children. Why should we be asked to think about it amidst the joy of Christmas? Where is God in this?
The answer is that Christmas is not just about the joyful
birth of a child, however special.
There is more to Christmas than the baby Jesus, with his
soft skin smelling of milk, nursed by his young mother Mary, with Joseph close
at hand. More than the choirs of angels prompting rough shepherds to come to
the crib where Jesus lay and to glorify God. More than the Magi, the wise men
from the East, led by a star to give homage to Jesus and present symbolic
presents.
Christmas is about God incarnate - God made flesh in human form as Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. St John calls him the true light, the ‘Word’: ‘The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have
seen his glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth’.
But he is born of Mary into a world in which great beauty is mixed with hideous
ugliness. God’s purpose in the incarnation is to save this world, and us with
it.
The massacre of the innocents reminds us that Jesus Christ
was born into our world, a world that is horribly broken. A world where deadly
force is used to kill the innocent. A world where families are forced to flee
as refugees, where they must rely on the kindness of strangers. A world where
the greed of the rich and powerful impoverishes the poor and ravishes creation.
A world in which Christ is crucified.
Jesus Christ comes into this broken world to save it and us.
By his life and ministry, death and resurrection, he shows us how to confront
and overcome evil. He teaches us to listen to his good news. He assures us that
if we repent, if we change our bad behaviour, God will forgive us. He shows us
signs that the kingdom of God has come near.
In the kingdom of God the broken
world will be put back together to reflect the glory of the love of God. It is
not fully with us yet, but it is near - we can see signs of it if we look with
the eyes of faith, just as the shepherds and the wise men did.
Our task as Christians is to follow Jesus and work to make
God’s kingdom, Jesus’s kingdom, a reality. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will be with us to
help us and guide us. Like Joseph we must dream dreams to understand what must
be done. And like Joseph we must act on those dreams.
I shall finish in prayer with a Collect of the Word
Almighty God,
you have shed upon us the
light of your incarnate Word:
may this light, kindled
in our hearts, shine forth in our lives;
through Jesus Christ our
Lord,
who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for
ever. Amen
