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December
26, 2004
(Jimmie Johnson) Old Testament Lesson Isaiah 63:7-9 I will recount the gracious deeds of the LORD, the praiseworthy acts of the LORD, because of all that the LORD has done for us, and the great favor to the house of Isreal that he has shown them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he said, "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely"; and he became their savior in all their distress. It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gospel Lesson Matthew 2: 13-23 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son." When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more." When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Isreal, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Isreal. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his fathe,r Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be called a Nazorean." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ On this first Sunday of Christmas, I am reminded of the many faces of Advent: John the Baptist, his mouth flinging bug bits; Vic Ward, our choir, their mouths singing words of beauty of serenity, helping my tone deaf soul to sing to the hope of the ages. And in a picture I snapped in my camera and burned upon my mind, I see our Christmas pageant and Steven Holze holding tiny baby Andrew, high and close, gently tight upon his chest. Not being a father, I cannot find words to describe how I felt seeing something familiar, seeing something full of the holy, the sacred, the selfless, something in the face of Stephen gazing upon the face of his tiny newborn child. It is like a proclamation, the way I imagine Joseph gazed at the baby Jesus. I would like to imagine that this is the way God gazes upon us. So I find myself here the day after Christmas, feeling pretty good, feeling at peace, hope shining in the crisp Texas air. The packages are opened. The tree is emptied. Molly the dog is worn out from a Christmas day of play and running. Both of our bellies are full. The holiday stress level isstarting to decline. Travel stress is in denial. The Magi have made their appearance The Christ child has come. But here in the midst of my post-Christmas reverie comes yet another unsettling story, “a shadow under threat” (Tolkien). Into the midst of Christmas comfort, appears the face of Herod. In the midst of my safe and quiet Christmas, I am thrust into a story of genocide, infanticide, and ethnic cleansing. For a long time these verses of murder and death were left out of the lectionary reading. Perhaps it was felt to be in bad taste during this great season of celebration. And honestly, I don’t want to linger upon the face of Herod, to be reminded of what his presence in the Christmas story brings. For what I see in Herod’s face that causes me to shutter the most is not his plotting, the insanity, or even the inhumanity. What my eyes long to leave is the familiarity of his face. The news is filled with his face. The past century finds his features everywhere. Our history as humans, even as Christians, knows that face too well. In words like crusade, Bosnia, Inquisition, Pol Pot, Jonestown, the features of Herod’s face are known to us. In his eyes we see images of violence bringing the deaths of Bethlehem’s children. On his lips we see words spreading fear and terror, we see the madness of inhumanity, bringing a moral death to his solders and minions. But before we become locked in the gaze of such familiarity, let us remember that this is the first Sunday of Christmas, Christ’s mass, the Festival of Christ. Let us take comfort that Herod’s face, while familiar, is not the only face in this text and, perhaps, is the least important face. In God’s grace, let us cast our gaze upon the face of Mary, magnifying the hope and love of God, shining with care and faith for the venerable Christ-child in her arms. Let us cast our gaze upon the face of Joseph, honest, caring and faithful in the mystery of God’s movement in Jesus The faces of Mary and Joseph draw us to the face of this small child, for it is in this child’s face where the miracle and mystery of the Good News of the fullness of God dwells. The baby’s face shines in opposition to all that Herod is. The baby’s eyes will shine a light that proclaims death to be finite and love to infinite and brings creation from chaos. The baby’s lips will bring living words of hope and life to the voiceless, to those dead in spirit. The baby’s brow will be creased not with madness of moral bankruptcy but in grace-filled proclamation of justice and mercy, bringing a new life and new possibility to those dead in heart and will. Sisters, Brothers, let us gaze upon this face, the face of Christ, a face reflected in the proclaiming face of John the Baptist, in the singing face of Vic Ward, in the wondrous face of paternal love, gazing upon the fragile grace of a child. Friends, on this first Sunday of Christmas, this Lord’s day, let us not linger upon the face of Herod but beyond to the very face of Christ, the face of hope giving life that we meet in the baby Jesus, the face reflected in each of you gathered here. The good news of Christmas, of the Gospel of grace and hope and new life, is that we seek to gaze not upon the face of death of Herod but upon the face of life, of God shining in the face of Christ and in our own faces. And, Friends, on this journey from Christmas to Easter, this journey of life, if and when the darkness seems to hem us in and we cannot see at all, Friends, let us pray that we might be the eyes for one another. And now to the one who gives light and life in more abundance than we can imagine, whose face shines upon us even when we cannot see, to that one, be all honor and glory forever. Amen. |
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