Sermons

First Sunday of Christmas

Sunday 30th December at 10am

Lesley Ashton
Readings: Isaiah 63.7-9 Matthew 2.13-end

Where is our sense of place? Is it geographical, emotional, a position within an organisation, the place we were born, the place we now reside?

The reading this morning occurs after the visit of the magi to Jesus, three men who have left there sense of geographical place in the east, to find another place, to ask a question of the wrong person and end up in a place that must not have what they had anticipated, following a star to the place where Jesus was.

The words we have listened to this morning are some of the most difficult to hear, children being in the right place at the wrong time, for Herod orders their massacre in order to continue to secure his place of power and authority.

We are moved within a few days from the good news of Christmas to an awareness that the coming of Christ is into the real world, a place where suffering happens, where tyranny reigns, where children continue to be abused and mistreated then and still, in this time and this culture.

Matthew continues in this chapter to speak to the Jewish Christians affirming the coming of the Messiah through the continuing quotation of prophecy but also by giving his hearers more pointers that link Jesus to another time and place in their history.

The link with David is already established through the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and Joseph is told to take the child and his mother to Egypt and to dwell there for a while like the patriarchs, Abraham and Jacob and the like the people of Israel. Matthew is linking this flight not only to the prophecy in Hosea but also the central formative event of the Old Testament.
Herod's response to the birth of Jesus, the massacre of the children, links Jesus to Moses, who like him is the object of a ruler's insecurity but who escapes slaughter. As Moses is called back to Egypt so Joseph is instructed to take Jesus back, but because of the reign of Herod's son, Joseph takes Jesus to Nazareth. Matthew confirms that this is to fulfil prophecy but which we do not know and there is the suggestion from scholars that this is a pun on the word Nazareth. As we have already seen Matthew is not concerned with absolute accuracy his main aim is to connect Jesus with significant places and people in Israel's past, marking him as the fulfilment of Israel's sacred history.

In his efforts to locate Jesus in his rightful place as the promised Messiah, Matthew also places Jesus in the reality of his time. He is born into the real world where power, tyranny and prestige reign. It is a world where politics dominate decision-making and where some people safeguard their positions of authority by unjust and murderous means. In this chapter we witness the birth of one sort of king and the violent opposition of another. From the very beginning Jesus is to face political opposition to his coming amongst us and it is some preparation for our understanding that suffering is to be part of his life and his death. It is also a salutary reminder to us that when we bring the good news of God's kingdom to the world that we too might face opposition and suffering for his sake. This story also moves us away from the sentimentality of Christmas and makes us face the fact that the birth of Christ was a powerful challenge to Herod and all that he represents, the stakes are high and the response is destructive.

Perhaps the most revealing yet surprising sense of place evident in this reading is the place the Christ child in the world. Jesus, God with us, places himself in the humblest of circumstances, in these early times we find him homeless and displaced. He is an exile and a refugee. He is sought after by a violent oppressor and he takes his place amongst those whom the world continues to despise and reject, even within our own city of Leeds and also by many who call themselves Christians. In his incarnation God places himself in the most desperate of situations and if we want to seek him then we know where we shall find him, even today.

This Christmas I received greetings from the Shaftsbury Society and they quoted a poem taken from The Complex Christ by Kester Brewin. It is too long to quote but its essence is that

God in Christ, reverses the struggle we make towards power and influence and recognition. He walks away from the kingship, away from power and from wisdom and he walks towards the body of a tiny child and as he grows he still walks the other way realising that life cannot be found in the struggle for permanence but in giving it up.

The place where God calls us to be may require us to change into reverse gear, to look towards the other, to place ourselves with the marginalized. It may require us to speak out for the oppressed and not least for children whose innocence can be denied them in so many ways.

For Matthew the past was important for present understandings. The past still speaks to our present and to our future, our Christian history is the touchstone for all that is to come. God will always be present but perhaps where we least expect to find him.

Are you in the right place to meet with God and to walk forward with him into 2008?

Does God know that his place is in your life?

Is his place in your life as your Lord, your saviour & your King?

Amen

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay