Sermon Tone Analysis
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Lord, may our hearts be open to hear your voice and obedient to follow where you may lead us, in our hearts, words and actions - in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - Amen
We are only on the second day of the 12 days of Christmas, yet our reading from the Gospel has - the song of the angels is stilled
- the star in the sky is gone
- the shepherds are back with their flock
- the wise-men returned homeward
…and as you will see - the work of Christmas has just begun
the "glory days" of gold and frankincense and myrrh did not last for long
There is a warm glow of the nativity scene that many cherish in our hearts each year, this glow touches us often for only a /very/ brief moment
For many, Christmas is a busy time of running around visiting and traveling or hosting guests in our home
And then there is Boxing Day…
This year with Boxing day, today, landing on a Sunday, the warm glow of Christmas might be extended if only briefly this morning
Some might view the commercialization and materialism of Boxing Day as an intrusion on the sacredness of the Christmas season …. and it is
…But maybe appropriately
our reading today starts out with “/when they had gone´/ (meaning the wise-men) Joseph; Jesus’ Earthly Adopted Father was woken in a Dream and given a vision with a message to flee –
That Herod will be after his miracle child
Joseph woke Mary and they fled in the night
…The glow of nativity scene shattered
The intrusion of the world around them breaks into the story
As it also quickly intrudes our Christmas season each year
Why?
Why would an all-powerful God that came to Virgin Mary - betrothed to Joseph, a righteous man
Why would God, which provided for so many details of prophecy to be fulfilled:
like the messiah born to the family of David and in the city of David, Bethlehem, moved there by the greed of Emperor Augustus.
Why would God allow this to happen - to his one and only Son…
…this fragile baby
Why?
Because God is the true parent - the truest form of a *complete* parent
And God’s ways are not are worldly ways
Our ways would have had Jesus be born to a rich family, better still a rich, royal ruling family, with good looks and athelitic ability - with servants available for His every need, and scholars for teachers
Yet, God calls us to a higher standard of trust
God shows us a better way than making his Son’s existence merely a smooth uneventful story
*God truly shows us that He is - Emmanuel - God with us*
This a distinctive of Christianity - over all the other faith traditions of the world
We have Jesus the Christ - the incarnate one - God in flesh
Our story of the greatest joy, in which we celebrate as Christ Mass, includes the deepest of tragedies?
We live in a world, yes where there is the incredible power and glory and majesty of God’s creation all around - but we also have evil
Where a man of power in an attempt to eliminate any challengers to his power would cast a wide net and order the death of all the children under the age of 2
(statistical analysis done by some scholars suggest that given the population of the area at the time and the birth and infant mortality rates of the period, the slaughter was probably less than twenty children
Never-the-less a brutal cowardly act
We live in a world that has fallen short from God’s vision
For me, part of the answer as to *why God* would interrupt the glow of the nativity scene lies in knowing that God works in the real world, where tragedy is a constant.
Herod is not unique,
His jealous and fearful attempts at ridding the world of a up-and-coming leader that might stand in his way, happen in our own time
Consider Saddam Hussein, where some believe that he arranged the death of his two sons-in-law and possibly his own first son car crash
then there are the 68 reported traitors within the Ba’ath party as Saddam claimed to have found a fifth column, conspirators within the inner core – 22 later executed and the situation help secure his position as president
Like Herod, Saddam’s focus was on power for him alone, and completely disregarded all the lives around him
Herod, like the tragedies in Iraq graphically illustrate an African proverb “that when elephants fight the grass gets trampled.”
There have always been tyrants and murderers and always will be.
God works in *that* kind of world
in all our failings - God comes to us
comes to us… Vulnerable… as a little baby
In the need of parents’ protection
We all have the duty to nurture… protect… ‘and declare to others’ the fragile way that God offers Himself into the world
But more than that… more than being adopted into God’s family
And as our reading from Hebrews puts it:
/Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters/
Not ashamed to take on humanly flesh and form
Matthew in his account of the early years of Jesus is trying to tell us many things
He is writing firstly as a Jew to Jewish Christians
He starts off with a genealogy - emphasizing the fulfillment of Jesus as the coming Messiah and a rightful heir in the line of King David
Then he tells of the miraculous birth arrangements of Jesus and how this will fulfill the scriptures “/Behold the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”/
Then the visit of the magi - the wise-men - first to Herod in Jerusalem - then to the city of Bethlehem - to follow the star and visit the one in whom it is written /“who will shepherd my people Israel”/
Then the flight to Egypt, and fulfilling the word of the Lord spoken by the prophet Hosea /“Out of Egypt I called my Son”/
Then the explanation of even Herod’s murderous acts as a fulfillment of the prophet Jeremiah where /Rachel weeping for her children”/
Finally the return to Nazareth to fulfill the prophets: “/He shall be called a Nazarene”/
Matthew is leaving nothing to chance
Matthew is putting layer upon layer of proof that a Jewish audience would understand and maybe need to hear
More then that …More then mere proof to a Jewish audience, but also to all who follow afterwards are given a message by the example of Joseph that: We are also called to listen to God
In fact ‘protecting God’ in our hearts and minds is a call to listening and following God’s lead
Joseph was meet three times in the passage for today with a message in his dreams - instructing him to “get up and go - take the child and his mother” – Joseph was called to listen
And Joseph was obedient to the messages in his dreams
The word /obedience/ comes from a Latin word meaning, "to listen."
Listening is more then mere hearing - As any parent can tell you
…Well, at least as I can tell you from my kids…
The model that Joseph provides for us is of one - that is spiritual aware and obedient
Most of us are unlikely to ever have such a dramatic and directive message from God
But we can ‘take home’ ‘the principal of listening’ to God and being obedient….
For most of us: this will come by ‘God’s revelation’ in His holy word - the Bible
And through prayer
We can learn to hear what some call ‘the still small voice’
And finally - above all *rejoice…* in the greatest gift the world has ever been given
As the warm glow of Christmas… as the glory of Christmas quickly fades and passes away – remember God choose to be in a world where the hard boot of reality is all around
What sets us apart from all other traditions – is …God incarnate – Emmanuel
Given into this hostile fallen world - as a fragile baby
Where there is manifest evil and yet… also where there are whose called to listen
Nurture… parent… and-by-so be adopted - grafted into God’s family
Of which God, Himself was not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters
Alleluia …Thanks be to God ….
Amen
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