[1] Ephesians 1:16-19
January 2, 2005; The Second Sunday after Christmas, Year A
The Rev. Harold "Skip" Comer, Rector
Ten years ago, about this time of the year we had a chimney fire in the house where we lived in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. It happened late one night after Molly and I had gone to bed. One of the boys had stayed up and was still burning a fire in the fireplace. A couple of hours later he came upstairs and told us that there was a roaring noise coming from the chimney. In the moments that followed there was a panic in the house as we first tried to determine what was going on then calling the fire department and getting everyone out of the house. Fortunately, the fire was contained to the chimney and there was no damage to the house.
Incidents like this make you stop and think about what is important in your life. No one wants to lose their home or possessions, but in the end what is most important are the lives of those we love.
It wasn’t a fire that caused panic in the lives of Mary and Joseph, but a dream, that Herod was about to search for the baby Jesus so that he could kill this threat to his throne and authority in Israel. It is a strange and a sad story. Herod had been told by the wise men about the birth of the king of the Jews. He did not rejoice over the news, but shuttered at the possibility that someone was going to take away all that he had. He devised a plan to do away with this threat; he would order the slaughter of all newborn males in and around Bethlehem.
In this event the difference between two men, two fathers emerge. Herod, the ruler, really the puppet king of Jerusalem under the control of the Roman Empire, listened to himself. He only saw this birth as a threat to the status quo. A new king would mean his demise and all that he held near and dear – power and money – would be taken from him. Joseph, on the other hand did not have much. His vision of the future had already been turned upside down with the birth of a child that was not even his own. In his struggle of what to do he had heard another voice and decided to raise the child as his own. And now, now that the child was born, he had been told in a dream to take Mary and the baby Jesus, and flee for their lives to Egypt.
Matthew, the Gospel writer, attributes this journey to Egypt and the subsequent journey to Nazareth as fulfillment of prophecies. Matthew goes to great lengths in his gospel to connect the prophecies about the Messiah with Jesus. For him it is the proof beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the Messiah. This connection is important, but there is another element to the story of the flight into Egypt by Joseph, Mary, and the infant Jesus. This other element is divine intervention by God to protect his son.
Usually when we think of divine intervention, we tend to think of God acting in such a way as to dramatically change the course of events so that his “will,” will be done. Maybe something like the parting of the Red Sea to allow the Hebrew people to flee to safety while the Egyptians drown as the waters envelope them. Yet in Matthew’s story that we have heard this morning it is not the mighty arm of God that sweeps down on Herod and destroys him. Rather, the Holy Family is told to run away while Herod slaughters more than one hundred infant boys in an attempt to kill the newborn king. You would have thought that God would have protected more than just his son. The story certainly raises more questions than answers.
How does God act in the world that he created? We would like to believe that he can intervene whenever and however he pleases. Yet history reveals that the mighty arm of God does not come down and sweep away evil. Has he left us to fend for ourselves, like he did Joseph and Mary as they ran away from Bethlehem to Egypt?
It would be easy to say yes and leave it at that. But God has acted and is continuing to act in the world today. The paradox of the Gospel story that we have just heard is that Jesus does die at the hands of the Jewish and Roman authorities some thirty years later. God saved him only to die on the cross. Yet it is that thirty some, or rather the last three years, of Jesus’ life that have made all the difference in the world.
Rather than an army of God marching around the globe to enforce righteousness, we have the words of Jesus which call us to faith, a faith of loving God and loving our neighbor. There is no sword of righteousness that will slay the wicked. There are only the words of God which speak of love, compassion, and mercy. But when God speaks, not everyone listens. Some are like Herod, who listen to themselves and others like them, who are consumed with the attainment of power and wealth. They make this world a trying place to live as their greed consumes others and their thirst for power slays the powerless. These people make the world a nasty place to live. They corrupt and destroy God’s creation.
But for those who do listen, whether it be as God speaks to them in dreams, through the Bible, or through other people; God is with them. This is the army of God, armed with love and wisdom, to make this world a better place to live. They follow the path of the Son, Jesus the Christ. They have come to know true happiness and peace. They don’t have to steal it from others because it is a gift from God, a gift that is free to all who want it. They, we, are not out to corrupt and destroy God’s creation, rather we try to make the world a better place to live. We do this because we are not threatened by the man born to be our king. We are not threatened because this king is different than all others. He does not come to manipulate and dominate, but to share and give all that he has received. This is what we have come to value the most, a relationship with the one that loves us so much that he allowed his Son to be crucified for our salvation.
I join St. Paul and “ remember you in my prayers … praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ … may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him … what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe.”[1]
[1] Ephesians 1:16-19