|
Christmas Day has come and gone! We are filled with
both a sense of sadness and relief. We have spent the
last month or so scurrying around, sending Christmas
cards, buying gifts, attending holiday parties and
concerts, baking cookies and much more. Some people
have taken down their decorations signifying the desire
for life to return to normal. It’s always sad to see
Christmas trees out on the curb waiting for pick up,
especially on December 26th.
It almost seems odd to be singing
Christmas carols on this the second to last day of the
year. Having removed all the distractions, now we can
really celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ anew into our
lives. The miracle of Christmas came at the hand of God
who sent Jesus into our world as an infant. It was
God’s initiative. Joy to the world! God chose Mary to
be the mother of Jesus. It was Joseph who obeyed the
words of the angel and allowed God to use him in this
divine drama. Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem.
That night the only persons, other than Mary and Joseph,
privileged to know the true identity and see the baby
Jesus were lowly shepherds. An angel appeared
proclaiming the good news of Jesus’ birth. The
shepherds were touched by the divine and had to see for
themselves, so they raced into Bethlehem. Meanwhile
those in power had no clue of the significance of Jesus’
birth. King Herod was in his palace. And the religious
leaders in Jerusalem were totally in the dark that
night.
Some time had passed, several
months to maybe as long as a year. Like every new
parent Mary and Joseph were doing their best to raise
their child. I wonder did Mary sing to Jesus, and did
Joseph tell him bedtime stories? I would think knowing
what they knew about the identity of Jesus might have
made them apprehensive. The child they were to take
care of and raise was none other than God in the flesh.
News of Jesus’ birth had reached
the palace through foreign Wise Men. The Magi followed
the star stopping in Jerusalem. King Herod did not take
the news too well that a new king had been born. You
cannot have two kings in one country, even if one is
only a baby. Herod had a reputation of being brutal and
would plot to have the rival king killed. King Herod
ordered the death of all male babies two years old and
under in Bethlehem. This is the darker side of
Christmas that continues to make us feel uneasy and ask
the question “why did this have to happen?”
As we discovered last Sunday,
Joseph was a righteous man. He was attuned to following
God’s will. While he was debating whether or not to
marry Mary an angel appeared to him in a dream. Joseph
was obedient to God. He did exactly what God required
of him, he would marry Mary and name the baby Jesus.
Joseph would take good care of his family.
One night Joseph had another
dream. This time the angel warned him, “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.” Once again Joseph was
obedient, and immediately packed and set out for Egypt
that very night. Joseph does as he is instructed
without question and without any reservation. The holy
family would be safe in Egypt. Evil Herod could not harm
the Christ child in Egypt.
The gospel writer Matthew
repeatedly highlights Jesus as the new Moses. Just as
Moses led the people to the Promised Land, Jesus would
lead people to a new relationship with God. The
unexpected trip to Egypt fulfilled scripture, “Out of
Egypt I have called my son.”
Once safely in Egypt, Mary and
Joseph continue to care for their son. Scholars debate
exactly how long the holy family remained in Egypt.
Some suggest it was a year, while others claim it might
have been as long as six or seven years. Besides being
safe from the tyrant Herod, it provided the family time
away from the limelight. During this time Jesus grew as
any other baby, to a toddler and young boy. It is
important for us to understand that Jesus experienced
everything that is associated with human development.
Imagine the proud parents as Jesus sat up or rolled over
for the first time. Mary and Joseph watching as Jesus
stood and later took his first steps. With such
experiences Jesus knows everything that we have gone
through. Jesus is able to closely identify with us
having had such experiences. And we are able to identify
with Jesus precisely because he has experienced
everything associated with human development. During
this time I picture Mary, Joseph and Jesus as a typical,
happy family.
One night Joseph again heard an
angel speak to him in a dream, “Get 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.” And once
again Joseph did exactly as he was instructed. He was
obedient. They packed up and headed for home. Jesus
would be safe, it was time to go back home to Israel.
On their way home Joseph heard news
about Herod’s son who was now king that frightened him.
Joseph was warned in another dream instructing him to go
to Galilee, “a town called Nazareth.” Once again Joseph
obeyed and did exactly as he had been instructed. And
again this move is in fulfillment of scripture, “He will
be called a Nazorean.” Joseph, Mary and Jesus made
Nazareth their home. Joseph practiced his trade as a
carpenter and continued to provide for his family.
Jesus continued to grow and mature under the loving care
of his mother and father.
God blesses us when we live our
lives in faithful obedience. We continue to celebrate
the birth of Jesus and his call upon our lives.
One Christmas when Maureen Dowd was
a little girl she received a wooden horse that bounced
on springs. She loved her horse and rode him every day.
She named her rocking horse, “Trigger.” One morning
she discovered that her favorite possession was gone,
taken off their porch. Her mother explained that a poor
woman and her son had walked by, and the little boy had
stopped and stared longingly at the horse. Much to her
dismay her mother gave away her wooden horse.
That act of charity revealed much
about her mother whose world had been turned upside down
when her father died. Her mother was twelve years old
at the time. As a result she had a soft spot in her
heart for hurting children. She always had a few
dollars to help children. She would always respond when
she heard of children who were hungry or in need.
“When she told me that she had
given my horse to another child—a stranger—I was
crushed,” Maureen admits. For the next dozen years
whenever she had a disagreement with her mother she
would always bring up her beloved rocking horse—that her
mother gave away.
It
took Maureen a long time to understand why her mother
gave away her horse. One of her mother’s favorite
sayings was, “Don’t cry over things that can’t cry over
you.” The life lesson she learned from her mother, was
that materialism can only smother life—and Christmas—if
you let them. (1)
Henry van Dyke writes: “are you
willing…to own, that probably the only good reason for
your existence is not what you are going to get out of
life, but what you are going to give to life.”
While we may desire that life
return back to normal, after our encounter with Jesus we
realized that we can never go back to the way it was.
We are changed as a result of meeting Jesus. May we
continue to faithfully serve him into the new year. And
may 2008 be our best year ever!
Amen.
1. “A Tale of
Trigger” Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, December 26,
2007
|
