Jesus in the Real World (First Sunday of Christmas)
Sermons on YouTube…
Like most people, I hope to have a little “down time” in these days between Christmas and New Year’s. And while this doesn’t always happen, it’s usually at least possible to have a more relaxed routine. After all, even if you’re not on vacation, so many people are that nobody really expects much to get done. So you can get a little bit of a break.
After all, the hustle and stress of getting ready for Christmas is over. But the decorations are still up, sometimes the music is still playing in the background, and there’s still the sense that things should be peaceful and calm. So maybe now, after all the stress of getting ready, maybe you can get a little “peaceful and calm”!
Maybe! But to be proactive in trying to feel like I’m getting a little bit of a break (at this time or any other time of year), I really try not to spend much time looking at my news feeds! I know that lots of bad and difficult stuff is happening around me and in my world, and that it doesn’t stop for Christmas. It’s not that I don’t care. And it’s not that I don’t think it’s important to be informed.
It’s just that every once in a while, I need a break from it. At least for a few days, I don’t want to get all wrapped up in:
- The drama of Impeachment, Brexit or whatever other political intrigue is going on at the moment…
- The latest moral outrage or miscarriage of justice …
- All the horror stories of people who died tragic and cruel deaths in these days that are supposed to be filled with life and light …
During these days between Christmas and New Years, I’d like to avoid these things as much as possible. But Matthew’s story of Christmas won’t let me, even if I turn off my newsfeed.
Today’s Gospel is the final piece to Matthew’s birth narrative. In fact, Matthew doesn’t really narrate the birth of Jesus. He tells us that after Jesus was born, Joseph named him Jesus according to the instruction from the angel. Then Magi appeared (maybe up to two years later), after having seen a star that indicated to them that a king had been born.
And so they arrived in Jerusalem and asked King Herod where they should look for this newborn king. And that’s where the story takes a decidedly dark turn.
The rest of the story is full of the all the familiar stuff that I want to take a break from. The story includes:
- Political intrigue – as Herod plots with political and religious leaders to figure out where the messiah is to be born, so that he can snuff out the latest perceived rival to his power…
- The horrible murder of children – as the Magi, warned in a dream, fail to return, and Herod decides it’s better to kill everyone than take a chance…
- Mary, Joseph and Jesus having to flee (twice!) for their lives – not unlike the refugee stories that I’d have to read if I opened my newsfeed…
That’s the Christmas story as told by Matthew. No wonder we prefer Luke! And yet, as much as I viscerally don’t like it, there is something powerfully important about Matthew presenting Jesus as God with us, who comes into our real world, with its real problems and real evil.
Matthew makes it clear that God shares with us the real lives we live, and the real situations we face. In Jesus, God becomes one of us, and walks with us through it all.
But this story is about more than that. If God was simply concerned about walking with us through political intrigue, murder and injustice then the “good news” would simply be that misery loves company.
But this story is more than that, because Matthew’s Christmas story is just the beginning of the story. And indeed, the political intrigue, murder and injustice in this story foreshadow more to come in Jesus’ life. But as the story ends, these things don’t have the final word.
By the end of Matthew’s Gospel narrative, Jesus is God with us who has been:
- The victim of political and religious intrigue and collusion, but now has “all authority” given to him by God; and although it doesn’t seem like anything has changed in the world at the moment, Jesus’ Resurrection is the sign that the powers of evil and darkness don’t get the last word…
- Murdered, but has Risen from the dead. Even murder and death don’t get the last word. Life wins for Jesus, and through him, life is promised to all of us…
- Cast out, but who now sends the disciples out to make disciples of all nations – that is, everybody now gets invited into God’s kingdom, and in the fulness of God’s kingdom, nobody has to run away ever again…
It doesn’t seem like God is going to win from the beginning of the story. And sometimes, in the world around us, it doesn’t seem like God is winning now. But those who experienced Jesus experienced God with us. Those who experienced Jesus experienced the power of the reality of the resurrection. Those who experienced Jesus saw the coming reign and victory of God’s kingdom, in spite of the political intrigue, death and injustice that still surrounded them.
That’s the perspective of faith that Matthew’s Gospel shares with us right from the very beginning. And Matthew’s story continues to invite us into that perspective of faith by inviting us to experience Jesus more deeply through word and sacrament. Matthew’s story continues to invite us into that perspective of faith by inviting us to experience Jesus more deeply through being part of the community of disciples Jesus has called together. And Matthew’s story continues to invite us into that perspective of faith not by turning off our news feeds, but rather by seeing God at work in our lives and in the world around us, even in the midst of the darkness and chaos that often seems to surround us.
Amen.