Year A
Matthew 2: 13-15, 16-23
The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn
Emmanuel is Our Hope
Most of us are familiar with the Dr. Seuss story of the green, wrinkled-up little creature who lived on a mountain above Whoville and had a terrible disposition. He despised the Whoville’s happiness and celebrations. One year he decided to stop their celebration of Christmas. To do this he snuck down the mountain and stole all the Christmas gifts, the Christmas trees and food; ornaments and lights; he wiped out all signs of Christmas! But he failed to stop the little people from celebrating. They sang anyway. There have always been those who hated Christmas: the Grinches and the Ebenezer Scrouges. But the original Grinch, who lived in the day of the Lord Jesus, was King Herod. He really tried to get rid of Christmas!
Our text today takes us to Bethlehem following the visit from the wise men of the East. Most likely, Herod, who was not a Jew, and was appointed by the Romans, had been informed by his own astrologers of the astral phenomenon of a star passing across the sky. They knew something of significance was about to occur. There had been rumors for many years in and among the Jewish communities that the savior was coming, that the savior would be more powerful than any political ruler to date, that the savior would make all things new and turn around oppression. Herod heard these rumors and feared that the savior would take away his position and authority as king. He had to protect himself from any political threats.
He consulted with the chief priests and scribes and was told that the messiah was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea. So he put on the mask of friendship and assigned the wise men the task of seeking out the child for him so that he also could pay homage. What Herod really wants is to eliminate the treat as quickly as possible so he sends soldiers to Bethlehem to kill Jesus before he has a chance to grow up. As we heard read, after the wise men departed, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and urged him to get out of Bethlehem as quickly as possible because the paranoia of King Herod would lead him to try to destroy the holy family. Herod has the soldiers kill “all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under.”
Terrorism is nothing new. Herod joins a long line of brutal political leaders in scripture. Pharaoh, many, many years earlier just after Moses was born, was motivated by a similar fear: fear not so much that his throne would be usurped, as in Herod’s case, but that little Jewish boys would grow into big Jewish men who might lead their brother and sisters into warfare and insurrection against their Egyptian masters. He sets out to kill all the male Hebrew children. You know the story. Moses’ mother saves him in a bold act. She places him in a basket on the river and hopes for the best. In sweet irony, Pharaoh’s own daughter finds Moses and defies her father’s order, much like the Wise Men defy Herod’s orders.
Both Pharaoh’s and King Herod’s fears were real but misplaced. They did not take seriously the power and wisdom of the Jewish God, Yahweh. Some months later God communicated to Joseph in a dream and informed him that Herod had died and that the time had come for the holy family to return to Israel, where Joseph would be able to raise the child Jesus in safety. The family traveled to the district of Galilee and made their home in the town of Nazareth. Even when Joseph and his family are able to come back to Israel, fear drives them to a different region than their original home. Today, we call them refugees; people who flee their homes because of violence.
The Holy Family were themselves, refugees in a foreign land. The infant Jesus has nowhere to lay his head from the day he is born. The people of God are often in exile. Many times before the Holy Family, God’s people were refugees, sustained by manna from heaven and dwelling in places beyond the borders of the Promised Land. In our global world, there are many who have fled their homeland because of violence. They are often feared and resented but this gospel shows us that God identifies with the pain and rejection of the refugee. The text also shows us God’s protective care and power in uncertain times. Mary and Joseph were faithful and trusted in God, and they received God’s care and protection as God continues to do for all God’s people today.
We are not promised an end to violence or an answer to the why of suffering. Matthew offers us something else. Jesus’ title according to the angel in one of Joseph’s dreams is to be Emmanuel, God with us. When we hear of terrible violence, of unspeakable suffering, we might be led to think God is not at work. Yet, even in the deepest of tragedies like the killing of all those innocent children, even when evil seems to win the day, God’s plan for salvation for the whole creation cannot be derailed. What Pharaoh and Herod intended for evil, God turned around and made into good, demonstrating one again who was in control. God is in the midst of the suffering, bringing strength, comfort and healing. Whatever happens, God is with us.
Matthew therefore calls for all who observe Jesus’ birth to renew our hope. Even if there are no apparent reasons to believe in a protective and loving God, the birth and infancy, life and preaching, death and resurrection of Jesus are signs enough. The violent forces at his birth foreshadow the violence that will eventually lead to his crucifixion. Nevertheless, Jesus is protected and delivered from Herod’s murderous intent, just as the people of God were delivered from Pharaoh and Jesus will eventually be delivered from death itself to save us from death to eternal life. Matthew dares to see things as they are and still affirm that God is working, even in the worst that we can do.
The real joy of Christmas is that nothing can defeat God’s promise of Emmanuel, God with us; God loving us enough to become one of us. We need to hear that once again because the evil of the world keeps right on going. Yet, God’s ultimate joy and victory cannot be derailed because the good news is; God is in control and speaks into our world not only with ideas and warnings but also with companionship and protection. The message we hear over and over again in the scriptures is always one of hope and love. That love is the source of our praise.