Sermon for December 29, 2017
Epiphany Sunday is a date recognized by many churches and denominations to celebrate the Wise Men’s visit to Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus. But the story really doesn’t end there. You see from our reading today that something else happens after the Magi leave. It is the Bethlehem massacre.
It is not a pleasant part of the story. That may be why we often leave it out. We have experienced the familiar nativity story with fond, comfortable memories and feelings. Yes, it was difficult for Mary & Joseph but despite the hardships, baby Jesus was born, angels sang, shepherds and Wise Men visited. All was good. The warm glow from the stable is so cozy. All is well, we think. It is the end of the Christmas story, we think. All ends happily, we think.
Except that we have forgotten Herod the Great. The most ruthless King of Judea. He is enraged when the wise men don’t return to Jerusalem to tell him exactly where this newborn babe is to be found, this King of the Jews as they called him. They take a different route from Belthlehem back to their countries of origin, far away from Judea. Far away from the grasp of the fury and rage and cruelty of King Herod. But King Herod knows this – this baby was born in Bethlehem. To eliminate any future competition of kingship, Herod gives orders for his soldiers to kill all the boys two years old and younger who live in or near Bethlehem. It is a horrific act we think, but not for Herod.
Herod was a master in the art of assassination. He had an elaborate network of spies, and he often executed people for real, or imagined, conspiracies against his throne. He was neurotic and obsessed with the idea that others were plotting to usurp his throne. He had no sooner come to power in Judea by the Roman Empire than he began by annihilating the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of the Jews. Later he slaughtered three hundred court officers out of hand. He murdered his wife Mariamne, and her mother Alexandra, his eldest son Antipater, and two other sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, because Herod thought, they were plotting to take over his throne. Josephus the historian even talks about Herod’s plan, fortunately never carried out, to have all the Jewish nobility slaughtered at the time of his own death to ensure that everyone would be mourning his death. King Herod of Jesus’ time was a mad man.
So, you can understand that with the surprise visit from the wise men, King Herod does not calmly accept the news that a child has been born who is going to be king. He carefully enquired of the wise men when they had seen the star. Even then he was craftily working out the age of the child so that he might take steps towards murder, and now he puts his plans into swift and savage action.
There are two things which we must note about the Bethlehem massacre. First of all, Bethlehem was not a large town in Jesus’ day, estimated to be around 300 people, and the number of boy babies two years and younger would have been small. We must not think in terms of hundreds. But this does not make Herod’s crime any less terrible. To Bethlehem as a community, to the families and friends of the bereaved parents, this was an unthinkable horror.
Joseph has a dream after the Wise Men leave. Thankfully, Joseph pays attention to the angel message he receives. He gets up right away in the middle of the night and leaves Bethlehem immediately. Fortunately, the Wise Men had gifted the Christ with gold, frankincense, and myrrh which Joseph and Mary may have sold to aid in their flight to Egypt. The holy family gets out of Bethlehem in time before Herod’s soldiers arrive, and with hurried or perhaps no preparation, Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus flee Bethlehem and embark on a lengthy journey to the far-off land of Egypt.
Refugees, fleeing from cruel oppression. Does this sound familiar? According to current facts, there are 65.6 million “displaced” refugees in the world, and out of this number, 22.5 million refugees have fled to another country. Once again we are reminded that Jesus has experienced everything we may live through. When God became human, there was no holding back. All the woe and misery of the world was a part of his reality.
The holy family travels far from the lands under Herod’s rule to Egypt. It is a strange land to Joseph, Mary and Jesus as people in those days did not travel very far from their homes under normal circumstances.
Herod is believed to have died at his Winter Palace in Jericho, not very long (perhaps a year or two) after Joseph and Mary fled with Jesus into Egypt. After a while, Joseph has another angelic dream and he is told that Herod is dead and it is safe to return to Israel. He follows the angel’s instructions and the family makes the return trip only to find that Herod’s son, Archelaus, is now reigning over Judea. Archelaus certainly learned from his father. He is such a violent and aggressive king that in year 6 A.D. he is deposed by the Romans in response to complaints from the population!
So the holy family avoids Judea and moves north instead to a small town called Nazareth in Galilee. Galilee is ruled by a much calmer king, Herod Antipas, and has become a refuge for those fleeing the iron rule of Archelaus. This was the town where Joseph, Mary and the young Jesus went to live, a safe and secluded place, and they settled down in peace, raising Jesus where he grew up and stayed until he began his earthly ministry.
Now there are three things I would like to point out in this post Christmas passage.
1. Jesus and his family lived through the despair and helplessness that even today afflict over 65 million fellow human beings in our world. As Canadians we should be proud our country has welcomed 320,000 refugees into our safe and beautiful country. As we reflect on this, and on our own ministry in God’s world, the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:35, come to mind: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” I am sure Joseph and Mary were very different from the Egyptians in their customs, language, clothing, and religion. I am quite sure they did not come with a portable pension plan or comprehensive health care plan recognized by the Egyptian hospitals. I am sure they would rather have stayed in Israel with all that was familiar, but they found themselves in the same desperate situation as today’s refugees. They were fleeing from very real danger posed by a ruthless despot.
2. I have never really given much thought to the Bethlehem massacre. The angel speaks to Joseph in a dream and warns him to flee before King Herod massacres all the male children below the age of two. Why didn’t every other father of male babies receive a similar warning? A couple weeks ago, I was chatting with Bob Berikoff about this question. He said, “Maybe they were given a similar warning.” Were their lives of no value. I was reminded of a story I found in a book on grieving. A pastor and his wife were traveling to their suburban home when they were sideswiped by another car. The pastor and his wife escaped the collision with only minor bruises. The congregation rejoiced because their lives were spared and many surmised that their lives were spared because they had God’s work to complete in their community church or maybe it was because they were under God’s protection because of their faithfulness or the fervent prayers of their congregation. A mere two weeks later, a car carrying 5 teenagers were sideswiped at an intersection near the scene of the pastor’s car accident. All 5 teens were killed. Were their lives less valuable? The pastor prayed and anguished over this conundrum. The best he could conclude was: there are some things that happen in life that are unexplainable. The best that he could offer was: God is love. God loved those 5 teenagers just as much as He loved the pastor and his wife. There was no answer to the hard question of Why did this happen? It’s unanswerable. All we can do is support one another and surround families who experience tragedy with love and comfort. Do not try to answer the unanswerable. I remember a sincere Christian gentleman who came to me after Judy died and said, “ I am not sure why God took Judy when He did. I am sure he had a purpose.” I know he was trying to be helpful and supportive, but I reacted strongly with: Judy had cancer cells that developed in her body. She did not get cancer because she led an unhealthy lifestyle or because she couldn’t handle her stress. God was not trying to teach her a lesson because she had sin in her life. God was not teaching the girls a lesson. He was not trying to teach me a lesson. Life just happens. The good and the bad. The best we can do in times of tragedy and loss is to be instruments of God’s love in the midst of suffering and despair. Trying to speak for God and expostulate on God’s design is not usually helpful. God really doesn’t need us as apologists for things we cannot explain. The last time I preached from this pulpit, I talked about how the opposite of faith is not doubt…the opposite of doubt is certitude. When you have faith, you won’t have all the answers, but you will be able to embrace the mystery. Bad things happen. Life happens. We can only control our response to these happenings. Which leads me to my final point.
3. Joseph responded to the dream. It seems that God spoke to Joseph via an angel that came to him in dreams many times. Now personally, I can’t say an angel has spoken to me in a dream nor have I met anyone who has had an angelic messenger, but I do believe that God speaks to me. And it’s usually in this way. A situation arises. I assess the situation and then I meditate on the situation waiting until I hear that still small voice that guides me into action. When I was a school administrator, we would come up with action plans following the Here’s What, So What, Now What model. And for Joseph, the Here’s What was: he was the earthly father to the Son of God and he was given guidance to get out of Bethlehem. So What? Well, the kingdom was governed by a homicidal tyrant who had a history of brutal murders. Now What? Flee to a place of safety beyond the reach of King Herod. I am sure Joseph weighed his options and we know he didn’t dither. He took his little family to Egypt. Joseph did the best he had with what he had. A popular phrase that has come into overuse over the last few years is the expression, “It is what it is.” I prefer to use the phrase. “Accept the isness of the situation”. We suffer greatly and flounder at times because we do not accept the isness of our situation. We are paralyzed in our circumstances and wish I lives away waiting for the perfect alignment of the stars to occur. We freeze. We dither. We make excuses for inaction. We think we will only be happy a certain set of conditions finally arrives. If we always wait for conditions to be perfect, we will never act because things are never perfect. Not long ago, I watched a movie titled, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. The movie is the true story of a family in Malawi, if I recall correctly. The family lives in a village where corn is the staple food. There is a period of drought and scarcity. The father prays for rain to water the crops. Corn is planted in the parched, dusty soil. They hope and pray for rain, but rain doesn’t come. The son, William, has been to school. He has a keen interest in using wind to create electricity. He is a tinkerer and inventor. The boy scrounges through a land fill for a discarded water pump and a battery from an old car. He tries to convince his father that he can use wind generated electricity to draw water from a deep well to irrigate the land. The father rejects the boy’s plan choosing to wait for the return of rain. Another reason the father resists is: the plan would require using the family’s bicycle as part of the necessary equipment for an improvised wind powered generator. The father eventually relents and buys into the boy’s plan. The generator worked, water was pumped from the well onto the fields, crops grew, bellies were fed. I had a eureka moment when I considered this event. James 2:14-26 says:
Faith Without Works Is Dead
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[a] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
Faith without action is dead. Hope is a cruel errand. We must people who are realistic about our situation and we will be defined by the actions we take.
A popular phrase that has come into overuse in the last few years is the expression: It is what it is. As trite as the expression is, there is some wisdom in the expression. You have to be realistic about the isness of your situation. Don’t bury your head in the sand or wish it away or hope it away. Take action. The good news is: you can live victoriously in this world. You weren’t promised a smooth ride, but you were promised a guide who would show you the way. In this world you will have tribulation. You will face your Herods. But be of good cheer, because the comforter is always available in every way…in every situation. He may not speak to you in a dream or provide gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but He will guide you and show you the way. In closing, I want to sing a song aptly titled, “Joseph’s Song”. Joseph was in a desperate situation. Like any parent bringing a child into the world, he had worries and doubts…he had been living a simple life as a carpenter when his whole world was changed in a big way. Most notable, he had the task of being father to the Son of God. Those of you who are parents can certainly relate. Although you are not facing the imminent threat of having your child murdered, you do wonder how you will protect your child from harm, provide for them, raise them to be good people and to take on all the other responsibilities of the hardest job in the world. But Joseph did the right thing. He asked for God’s guidance and he acted on the guidance he was given. I pray you will do the same.
Joseph's Song
Michael Card
[Verse]
C G
How could it be this baby in my arms
Em Am
Sleeping now, so peacefully
F G C G
The Son of God, the angel said, how could it be
C G
Lord I know He's not my own
Em Am
Not of my flesh, not of my bone
F G
Still Father let this baby be
C E
Son of my love
[Chorus]
Am F
Father show me where I fit into this plan of yours
G C E
How can a man be father to the Son of God
Am F
Lord for all my life I've been a simple carpenter
G F G
How can I raise a king, How can I raise a king
[Verse]
C G
He looks so small, His face and hands so fair
Em Am
And when He cries the sun just seems to disappear
F G
But when He laughs it shines again
C E
How could it be
[Chorus]
Am F
Father show me where I fit into this plan of yours
G C E
How can a man be father to the Son of God
Am F
Lord for all my life I've been a simple carpenter
G F G
How can I raise a king, How can I raise a king
C G
How could it be this baby in my arms
Em Am
Sleeping now, so peacefully
F G C
The Son of God, the angel said, how could it be
X
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