Sermon for the First Sunday of Christmas
The Rest of the Story
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
If you are over the age of 50 or so, you may remember Paul Harvey, the conservative radio newsman who was heard across the USA on ABC radio from the 1970’s until his death in 2009. Harvey had a distinctive voice and a number of famous catchphrases, “Hello, America, this is Paul Harvey, stand by for the news” was how he always began his newscasts. And, he also ended with his distinctively stated, “good day!”
But it is another of Harvey’s famous phrases that came to mind to me this week as I read today’s Gospel lesson, the story of Herod’s massacre of children in Bethlehem and the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt. This is the other Christmas story, or, as Paul Harvey might have said, this is “the rest of” the Christmas story.
And, it is a very dark story indeed. And that got me thinking about other stories of darkness.
When God creates the heavens and the earth, the earth is a formless void, and darkness covers the face of the deep.
Jacob wrestles with a mysterious man in the darkness until daybreak.
Jonah learns his lesson in the dark belly of a whale.
Jesus is born in the middle of the night. The time comes for Mary to deliver her child, and she gives birth to her firstborn son and warps him in bands of cloth and lays him in a manger. The shepherds also hear about Jesus’ birth from the angels in the middle of the night. When the Magi go searching for the baby Jesus, they travel long after the sun had set, following the star they had seen at its rising, the star that would lead them to the newborn king.
This continues throughout Jesus' life. Nicodemus comes to him by night, hiding from the authorities but desperate to ask his questions. And when they crucify Jesus, they do so at 9 in the morning, but at noon, darkness comes over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
Even Easter begins in the dark. Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene encounters an empty tomb.
Some of our most sacred stories begin in the dark.
And today’s part of the Christmas story begins in the dark as well.
Jesus is born, and all manner of people and animals come to see what all the fuss is about. Everything seems to be as it ought to be until Joseph falls asleep. In the midst of the night an angel warns the proud new papa to run away, to flee immediately, to save the life of his brand-new infant son. Joseph wakes his family and, in the middle of the night, they escape to Egypt, the very picture of desperate refugees.
Dawn begins to break, but in this instance, the darkness only grows deeper. Herod had always been referred to as king. Now Herold hears about people worshipping a newborn little baby. All of this makes Herod feel threatened – there is now another king besides him? So, Herod decides to eliminate his competition and orders all of the children in and around Bethlehem two years of age and younger killed.
Pastor Jenny McDevitt writes that she wondered how, in light of today’s text, how we could sing Christmas carols this Sunday.
Yes, it is the First Sunday of Christmas, but the text is so full of darkness – the massacre of innocent children and Jesus’ family fleeing for their very lives.
Then Pastor McDevitt spoke to a friend and he reminded her that is it even more important to sing Christmas songs today because this story is about God drawing near to us, no matter what the circumstance.
What Pastor McDevitt’s friend was saying is that this is not a distasteful epilogue to the Christmas story – this is the rest of the Christmas story and a central part of the Christmas story.
Sadly, the slaughter of the innocents has never been limited to this Bible story. Especially in recent years, it has seemingly become part of our daily lives.
How many school shootings have there been? Hundreds? How many innocent children have been killed in gang and drug-related shootings? Thousands? And what about innocent immigrant children put in cages? Or, what has happened to too many young black men?
Innocent children and youth murdered, slaughtered, for no reason, just like the young boys in Bethlehem killed by King Herod 2,000 years ago. It is just too much a part of our daily lives.
There are countless other instances in which children – countless other instances in which God’s children, young and old alike, are hurting, or hungry, or homeless. There are endless other examples in which the children of God are riddled with disease or overtaken by loneliness, are grieving the loss of a spouse or the loss of a job or are otherwise consumed by the stuff of nightmares.
But this is the very reason we need the Christmas story the way Matthew insists upon telling it. This story assures us that God comes into the world as it actually is, not as we wish it would be. Because we live in the actual world, and God’s love will be found wherever we are.
Jesus is, quite literally, God-with-us, God’s love wrapped up in flesh and bone.
Here is the good news of the gospel to be found in this terrible, tragic story: We are not alone. We are never alone. Do you remember where Jesus is born? Jesus is born in a manger. Jesus is born right into one mess, and Jesus is not about to abandon us in the midst of any of our messes.
This is the good news of the gospel I cling to with every fiber of my being: There is always joy to be found. Because Jesus Christ is Lord of heaven and earth. Because Jesus Christ shows up in the good and the bad, in the beautiful and the horrific. Because Jesus Christ is born, today and every day, and the incarnation is Jesus choosing to join with our sorrow now and forevermore.
Remember all those other stories that begin in the dark? The earth is a formless void, and darkness covers the face of the earth. But then God says, “Let there be light.” And there is light.
Jacob wrestles with a mysterious man until daybreak, but in the end, he receives a blessing and a limp to help him remember that blessings can be worth fighting for.
Jonah wallows in the deep dark of a whale, but the whale spits him back out, and he becomes an effective prophet.
Nicodemus comes to Jesus fearful and under cloak of night, but he hears the story of love everlasting and life eternal, and resurfaces at the last, to help prepare Jesus’ body for burial with tenderness and care.
And Easter resurrection does its work in the dark, but it is in the bright light of day that Mary sees Jesus again and understands that death, the final enemy, has been defeated.
So many of our best stories begin in the dark, but the truth of Christmas is this and always this: The true light has come into the world, the light no darkness can destroy, the light that is the strongest and sturdiest thing we know, the light that promises a new day is dawning, the light that reminds us how, even when it seems the least likely, joy comes in the morning. Because not one day, not one moment of our lives is ever lived outside the presence of God.
That is the rest of the story. And that is why, even now, the angels still sing.
Amen.
(Adapted from a sermon by the Rev. Jenny McDevitt on the “Day1” radio preaching ministry).
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
December 28 & 29, 2019
