I love the fact that we keep saying Merry Christmas well into January! Yes, it’s true that H-E-B has its Valentine’s Day stuff already, but we celebrate the full twelve days of Christmas!
Today is the second Sunday of Christmas, and the eleventh day of Christmas.(That’s eleven pipers piping, in case you were wondering).
There are two options for a Second Sunday after Christmas Gospel lesson: there is the great story of Jesus as a 12 year old, who gets left behind in Jerusalem. His parents frantically return to the huge city in a state of panic and don’t find the tween until after three days. And when they find him, he is, oblivious to their distress, discussing, debating, and even teaching in the Great Temple among the adults. That’s Luke story though, and since it is Lectionary Year A, the year we hear mostly from Matthew, it makes sense to choose the other option that comes from Matthew’s Gospel.
As I said in my Trinity Tidings piece, we don’t always get a “Second Sunday after Christmas”, as the day of the week of 25th varies from year to year. We will be celebrating the Feast of Epiphany on its actual day, January 6th, which is Tuesday with a 9am Eucharist. We will hear then what we always hear on Epiphany: Matthew’s classic story of Wise Men, or Magi, journeying from the East.
So by using the Matthew Gospel for the 2nd Sunday after Christmas, we actually hear what comes AFTER that story. The Magi were warned in a dream to not return to Herod and the palace in Jerusalem, returning to their home country by another road.
Joseph has another dream, this time an angel warning him of the need to flee with his family and escape to Egypt. And Joseph, as he has done with every dream, responds immediately and the family escape.
It is important to realize that Jesus is escaping from Bethlehem, the town where he was born and now lives in a house in relative obscurity. Remember that only Luke has the census story, where the family is forced to journey from where they live, in Nazareth, to Bethlehem where there is no room for the inn. This is Luke’s way of addressing the obvious late first century question: how is it possible that Jesus of NAZARETH was born in Bethlehem (which was required, according to some prophesies, in order for him to be the true descendent to David’s throne.) Since Matthew does not have this story, this escaping is the way he explains that Jesus, was indeed, born in Bethlehem, and yet is known to the world as a Nazarean, when Joseph returns the family to the region but a different town to keep them safe.
What comes next is traditionally omitted from our Sunday Gospel. The text tells us that Herod is enraged by being “tricked” by the Magi, but what has really happened is that his plans to make sure that the child would never see the throne have been thwarted. Herod devises a more drastic and straight forward plan to ensure the death of the child by slaughtering all children within the likely age range. It is a horrible story for Christmas, so bad that the suggested text actually skips this part. But like it or not, it is an essential part of Matthew’s Christmas story. The powers-that-be commit atrocities to hold on to their power and thwart the hope that has brought into the world.
And yet, despite Herod’s evil action, despite the harm he afflicted on so many, he cannot stop what is coming.
I would argue that this is the most important part of Matthew’s story in our present age, and sets up the rest of his Gospel. People in power sometimes commit awful acts to hold onto their power. A true leader of people, what we see in Jesus, always points to God and does what is best for the people as a whole.
The Jesus story constantly returns to this idea. Jesus is both faithful to his Jewish faith and committed to its spirit, not just the letter of the law. Jesus is one who serves the people. Jesus is one who does what is right even when not popular, paying special attention to those at the margins of society. Blessed are the poor, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers, are not just soundbites or ideals: they are actionable rather than purely inspirational.
Christmas is the insistence that God has been and remains active in the world, in ways that transcend our full understanding. In the tradition of the Christmas story, God is working with people throughout the world right now...readying them to make their offering of hope to the world.
In fact, God is looking working through you. I believe that God is calling you to witness to what God is doing. When you see the Spirit at work, say something. When you hear the love of God proclaimed, rejoice in it. When you see Jesus’ love for neighbors lived out, give thanks to those doing so.
We can choose to live out the Christmas spirit even in the complicated times that we find ourselves in. Not in anger, not with veiled threats to get in line and comply, but with patient, gracious words and actions about God’s love for the world and the need to love neighbors as self. Our lives can, to the best of our ability, reflect that love to others. That, is Christmas hope.
Thanks be to God.
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