Texts: Isaiah 60:1-6 Ephesians 3:1-12 (Series A, Epiphany of Our Lord) Ps. 72:1-7, 10-14 Matthew 2:1-12
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). And it is so. It is so despite the fact that all things are not good and it is so despite the fact the all things will not be good until the Day of Judgement. " Yet God is good in all situations".
We have heard the Christmas Story several times over the last three weeks. The Sunday School did a version of it. Christmas Eve, and again Last Sunday parts of it - or almost all of it - was read and sung about.
It is a marvellous story - the story of the conception and birth of Jesus but it is a story in which certain characters are most often forgotten - and their actions and the meaning of those actions not thought about.
Today I want to do a Paul Harvey on you and tell you the rest of the story, the story that comes to us in part because of the visit of the wise men to see the infant Jesus - the one whom they describe to King Herod in today's gospel reading as "the one born King of the Jews".
It doesn't matter how you tell the Christmas story, no one loves King Herod.
And there is a good reason for that. Herod wasn't a nice man. Even by the standards of his day, he was a ruthless, conniving, backstabbing ruler.
People had a reason to dislike him for what he did. To make matters worse, the people of Israel had a reason for disliking him for what he was. Herod, who was king of the Jews, wasn't a Jew. Herod was an Idumean.
Israel had conquered the neighbouring country of Idumea about one hundred and fifty years before this. The Idumeans were forced to convert to the Jewish faith, but they were treated as second class Jews.
Herod's father had been a general, who served the last Jewish king. Over time Herod rose through the ranks and became a king. He controlled everything in Israel, including who ran the religious institutions. In fact several times Herod made a handsome profit from selling the position of High Priest to the highest bidder.
Our reading today - says when the wise men come to the city and started asking "Where is the one who has been born of the Jews?" and claiming that they had seen "his star in the east and have come to worship him" that Herod was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him."
Herod had every reason to be anxious. Every reason to be concerned. A true Jew, born to the old line of kings, would have a lot more political support among the people than Herod ever would.
A real king, born to David's lineage, would have more religious support than Herod could ever dream of. And so the part of the story we are most familiar with continues on by telling us that after the chief priests and teachers of the law tell Herod that the Christ - the anointed one promised of old - was to be born in Bethlehem.
Herod calls the wise men to him in secret chambers - and then instructs the wise men to go to Bethlehem, locate the child, and then immediately report back to him so that he too may go and worship him." Well! we know the wise men don't do that. They are warned in a dream not to return to Jerusalem, and they depart for home by a different rout than they had arrived.
Here is what happens next:
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.
"Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod.
And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet:
"Out of Egypt I called my son." When is the last time you ever thought of Mary and Joseph - and the infant Jesus - as poor refugees?
Mary, Joseph and Jesus were put in a situation similar to that of the people of Afghanistan, or Darfur during the last few years. A situation like that suffered by the people of the Iraq and of Palestine and so many others nations over the last few decades.
Yet, in these awful circumstances in which Mary and Jesus and Joseph found themselves the scripture is fulfilled that says "Out of Egypt I have called my son", and through those terrible circumstances the life of Jesus is saved. This is something for us to think about isn’t it? In all things God works for the good of those who love him....
Anyway - the rest of the Christmas story continues this way:
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Wise men, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Wise men.
Is it any wonder we don't want this part of the tale to be a part of our Christmas story? Is it any wonder why it is not made part of the pageant?
Quite naturally we want to avoid pain and suffering, right! And equally naturally, especially when we are celebrating, we don't want to admit – or think about the fact - that we live in a world where innocents are slaughtered for no good reason.
The sad truth is that we do we live in a world where innocents are slaughtered for no good reason. We live in a world where terrorists can hijack planes and kill thousands of people. We live in a world where unspeakable horrors can happen in the blink of an eye -for no good reason.
There is a reason why no one loved Herod. To Herod - killing a few score children from a small village was no big deal, especially if it would help ensure that he would remain in power. Herod was not only capable of such an act, he caused it to happen. And the people wept.
The story as told by Matthew says it this way: Thus what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." Rachel was a mother of Israel, a mother figure for the nation. She knew all too well the pain of losing a child. Rachel died after giving birth to her son Benjamin - whose name means "A son of my sorrow".
For Matthew to quote Jeremiah's prophecy and say Rachel is weeping is a way of saying the whole nation wept at the loss of these children, much as we weep at the terrible things that happen in our world today.
It is also a way of pointing out to us our hope a hope also proclaimed by Jeremiah - where we find these words: 'Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears for your work will be rewarded', declares the Lord. They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your future', declares the Lord. 'Your children will return to their own land.' There is a promise here - but the grief - such a grief is a hard one to bear - even in the midst of hope... The story of Herod and of the infant Jesus - the refugee Jesus - and his family ends this way: After Herod died, an angel of the Lord 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 trying to take the child's life are dead." As Paul Harvey might say - "And that is the rest of the story".
Scores of innocent children have been slaughtered. Herod has died - and someone not much better is on the throne in his place. And Mary and Joseph and Jesus - while no longer refugees in a foreign land, are labouring and living in a town of Israel that is not their own.
The rest of the story does not tell a wonderful tale - all things were not good; but it is a part of the story that is important to know and to understand because it points out to us how God is good in all things.
It is important to know and understand the rest of the story because it gives meaning to the first part of the story and transforms it from a cute tale about a special child being born in a special way, to the story of how God meets us in the midst of every situation and transforms that which is meant for evil into something that works for the good.
We live in a world of death, violence, hatred, tensions, and if I dare say it, sin.
And as the old Christmas carol says, "Jesus Christ was born for this". We celebrate Christmas because we live in a world full of death - and one has come who gives life.
We celebrate Christmas, not to escape the hard realities of the times, but because one has come who has overcome the hardest of hard times, and who offers freely to all who seek him a lasting victory over sin and death, and a way to live now in the world that makes true the words "Bars and locks do not a prison make."
We celebrate Christmas because even the bad news is news that God can use and does use to fulfill his purpose. God's purpose is not thwarted by evil designs. That old Christmas Carol: "Good Christian friends rejoice with heart and soul and voice!
Now you need not fear the grave. Peace. Peace. Jesus Christ was born to save."
This applies every year, but is particularly apt when you consider how in this world the innocents continue to be slaughtered from the unborn to the elderly. To skip over or ignore the harsh reality of our world is to say our faith has nothing to say to it.
But it is to these situations that the faith most strongly speaks, reminding us that even though we are put to death - and even though the innocent are slaughtered - we will not die - the innocent will not be lost forever - nor will what is good be extinguished - candles of hope and peace and joy and love will burn to remind us.
And most of all - Christ the true light, the truth that is known by all who have encountered Christ and worshipped him with the Shepherds and the Wise Men... the truth that indeed in all situations God works for the good for those who love him, the truth that I proclaimed at the start of the sermon today when I said "God is good in all situations".
The fury of Herod finds tragic expression. He decides on a "permanent solution" to ensure that a messiah is not born in Bethlehem. Instead Matthew uses the tragic story to illustrate how not even evil in its most catastrophic form can thwart God's determination to save. God is good in all situations". Hallelujah.
Today we go into the world as the people of God, the body of Christ. We go to fulfill our calling knowing that nothing in this world can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord and knowing that as we love one another and love our world as did Christ that God’s kingdom draws closer, the kingdom in which we and all the innocent are blest forevermore.
Amen. Amen.
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
January 6, 2008