Sermon-First Sunday of Christmas

Edgebrook Lutheran Church

First Sunday of Christmas

Matthew 2:13-23

¹³Now 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." ¹⁴Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, ¹⁵and 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."
¹⁶When 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. ¹⁷Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
¹⁸"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."
¹⁹When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ²⁰Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead. ²¹Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. ²³There 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."

Be Not Afraid

The midnight flight to Egypt.

Matthew does a superb job at crafting a story that will require telling. In the first two chapters of his Gospel message there are angels, an illegitimate birth, visions, and now violence.

Joseph, having been warned in a dream, takes flight to Egypt with Mary and his newborn son.

Herod, having been told by the Magi about the birth of what he believes to be a rival king, makes a violent raid on Bethlehem, killing any male two years or younger in the attempts at preventing this king prodigy from ever growing to take his place.

And what is Joseph’s motivation for his saving act? Trust. Trust in the God that desires to save.

And what is Herod’s motivation for his bloody act? Fear. Fear that someone will take his political status. Fear that someone will unseat him. Fear that he will lose power.

Joseph trusts; Herod fears.

And Herod’s fear has bloody consequences. This text is known as the “slaughter of the innocents.” It is the text that clearly shows what happens when fear and power collide. It is the text that shows what happens when those in power make decisions out of fear, instead of trust.

Innocent people die. In this case, in many cases around the world, those innocents are children.

I’m thinking of Uganda, where children are kidnapped at night and drafted into the guerrilla army because the guerrilla’s fear that they will not be able to continue fighting if they don’t have a young, ready crop of children who know how to shoot a gun.

I’m thinking of those haunting scenes in the movie Schindler’s List, where the children are hiding in pianos, under mattresses, and in outhouses to keep from being sent to the work camps.

I’m thinking of the children in this country who die of hunger. Yes, in America, children die of hunger. 1 in 28 people in America don’t have enough food for the day. And why? Because our politicians are on the stumps trying to scare up our votes by mentioning 9/11, Islamic extremism, and other bogeymen instead of addressing hunger and poverty.

Yes, when people are trying to get into power, when people are afraid of losing power, they act out of fear and often times there are bloody consequences, and we have a similar reaction to Rachel in today’s reading: we cry over those lost.

You know, this section on Rachel is an interesting one, and often overlooked. Look back at it with me now. It says:

"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."

This text is from Jeremiah 31. It was originally written in Jeremiah as a response to the people of Israel being destroyed by Babylon, and many Israelites were taken from their homes, including many children, and made to work as slaves in Babylon. Because of this, Jeremiah says that Rachel weeps for her children because they were destroyed by Babylon, who feared that Israel would align itself with other nations and destroy Babylon.

The Jewish tradition has an interesting take on this verse. The Jewish tradition has stories known as the Midrash. The Midrash are really stories about stories. In this instance, God allows Babylon to take over Israel because Israel was led by kings who didn’t do God’s work. But God is none-the-less sad about it. So God goes to Abraham and says, “Come weep with me over the loss of Israel.” But Abraham refuses, saying that he’s already done what God has asked of him, and so God should have mercy on Israel for Abraham’s sake. So God asks Isaac to come and weep with him, but Isaac refuses, saying that God should have compassion on God’s people for his sake because he was almost killed for God. So God turns to Moses, and says, “Moses, will you weep with me for Israel?” But Moses also refuses, reminding God of how faithful he had been in leading people through the desert. And so he encourages God to be merciful to Israel for all the good that Moses has done.

But God is silent in responding to all of them. So finally, God goes to Rachel. Rachel, who had to give her husband to her sister. Rachel, who has not held a grudge against her sister because she trusted God’s plan. Rachel, who had to live her life as second best for what seemed to be God’s plan, will come and weep with God, but asks God to love God’s people as he promised, giving up his pride as Rachel gave up her pride. You see, Rachel will come and weep with God because Rachel knows that God is not going to let Israel alone. Even when it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, God is still working to save humanity because God does not work out of fear, God does not work out of pride.

And so Rachel, in this Midrash, reminds God of who God is. God is trustworthy. God is a savior. God is greater than those tears and so, yes, Rachel and God cry over Israel as Babylon takes over, but those tears are muffled by another crying. It is the crying that was heard that Christmas morning as the Christ, God’s response to Rachel, is heard in the night.

You see, there are those in this world who combine power with fear and expect us to do the same. There are those in this world who would want to control us, our children, the poor, the marginalized with fear because they are afraid, like Herod was afraid. And so they use power and intimidation to do awful things that result in children suffering in Uganda, people dying in the Holocaust, or children dying of malnutrition and treatable disease in our own country because our dollars are going to fight fears instead of fight hunger and poverty.

But then there are those like Rachel, those like Joseph. Those who know that God is working behind the scenes, and therefore is working to bring about God’s saving work in this world. You see, the good news of God this Christmas is that Rachel’s tears and Herod’s fears are not the end of the story. The Christ-child is. The child who fought power by being powerless. The child that fought fear by being the God who does not fear. The child that would save us from Sin and death so that we can bring life to those in Uganda, on our streets, or anywhere in this world because we know that God does not operate out of fear, but out of love and trust.

If you want to see contrasting examples of kingship, just look at the Christ child and Herod. Herod looks powerful, but is powerless to his own fear. He acts out of it and blood is the result. The Christ child looks powerless, but is powerful in love. He acts out of that love, and our salvation is the result.

In this New Year, people of God, there may be times when we cry like Rachel because of the Herod’s of this world. But God is working, and so we trust like Rachel, we trust like Joseph, and we spread the good news that God is not working in fear, but is working in love to bring salvation again this New Year.