Risking or Resisting the Reign of God

Sometimes the story of the birth of Jesus seems so perfect,

angels, dreams and visions,

more angels,

the sign of the star,

yet more dreams and

angels in dreams.

But the reading from Matthew is not all sweetness and light.

Just like life really.

We are living through a hot dangerous fire season. Fires have been burning in NSW since September.[i] There are still fires burning on the north coast, but the fire danger has been slowly moving southwards. We see people taking huge risks to save people and property.

One thing I noticed with this reading is the number of responses people had to the birth of Jesus:

Magi were curious

Herod was worried

Magi were thrilled and excited

Magi warned, in a dream

Joseph warned, in a dream

Herod was angry, furious, murderous

And that is just in Matthew’s gospel.

While the news of a child being born is often greeted with joy, sometimes ….

Sometimes:

·                     people are threatened

·                     an older sibling feels overshadowed

·                     parents worry about how to cope

·                     sometimes the birth of a child starts a chain reaction.

Matthew is pointing to Jesus as the new Moses, he is saved at birth when other male children were killed.

He goes on to save his people.

I wonder what our part in the story is.

Who do you resonate with?

Maybe

·         Mary and Joseph fleeing for your life or

·         the Magi seeking and searching or

·         the soldiers following orders or

·         the parents crying for their children or

·         Herod

I suspect none of us want to consider ourselves to be like Herod. We don’t have that level of authority that we could command and army to kill if we wanted to.

We don’t think of ourselves as evil.

Here is some of what Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote after being in a Soviet Gulag

“The line separating good and evil

passes not through states,

nor between classes,

nor between political parties either –

but right through every human heart –

and through all human hearts.

This line shifts.

Inside us, it oscillates with the years.

And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil,

one small bridgehead of good is retained.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn” in Gulag Archipelago[ii]

I suggest that within hearts overwhelmed by good, one small bridgehead of evil remains.

I wonder:

·         In what ways do we resist the reign of God amongst us?

·         In what ways do we participate in structural evil?

·         What policies of government and business do we benefit from that disadvantages others?

The Magi went back home by another road.

When we meet Jesus, are we compelled to live differently?

Just as we heard in the video from the Moderator[iii], God took a big risk coming in Jesus. Life is risky.

I know sometimes it seems like there is a lot of talk about safety processes and risk assessment in the church; and I know some people find that frustrating.

Life is inherently risky. We do what we can to alleviate risk, but the unexpected can still happen. Like when I stepped out the back door one day, as I do most days, and my ankle twisted and broke.

It is important that we have buildings that are well maintained and fit for use by a variety of people. Life is risky, so we do what we can to moderate those risks. Just as we have total fire bans on days of high fire danger.

But there is another type of risk,

risk that says I will become human

risk that says i will follow a star,

or a dream,

or the message of an angel.

Risk that says yes to God

yes to being the odd one out

yes to allowing the Holy Spirit to work in and through you.

are you willing to risk looking in the manger?

to risk going home a different way.

are you willing to risk living the way of God?

the way of peace, love, joy and hope?

Do you resist or risk the reign of God in your life and in the world?

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[i] https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-summer-from-hell-how-the-fire-season-has-unfolded-20200103-p53onh.html

[ii] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/450864-the-line-separating-good-and-evil-passes-not-through-states

[iii] https://vimeo.com/378954594

we need the whole chapter

Matthew 2

We are people of story, not for the sake of the story, or for entertainment, but because our story is bound up in God’s story. 

We have been reading about the birth of Jesus, from Matthews perspective.

What do we hear from the story today?

We often only hear about the first half of this story, the magi, coming from the east, bringing gifts, paying homage. 

How did you feel when you heard about the birth of a child, a grandchild or child of a close friend?

How did you feel when you first heard about the birth of Jesus?

For many of us, we have heard the story so often, we don’t remember the first time we heard it, and we have lost the sense of excitement or shock or emotion of first hearing about the birth of Jesus.

The wise men, or Magi or astronomers, come from the East. The East is where typically the enemies of Israel had come from: Assyria, Babylon and Persia.

And then, the Magi return by another way, and Herod was very angry.

The Greek word: ταράσσω [tarasow] translates as trouble, disturb, upset or terrify.[i]

Why would anyone be terrified at the birth of a child?

Why would anyone be disturbed by the birth of a child?

But Herod is disturbed and terrified, of this potential rival, even though he is only a young child.

And when Herod gets angry, he wreaks havoc on the local population, ordering the death of all the boys under 2 years of age.

Joseph is warned in a dream,
escapes to Egypt and saves his family.
But not everyone is so fortunate.

Notice the Old testament references here, from Hosea (11:1) and Jeremiah (31:15) [refers to an image https://www.stevethomason.net/studies/the-bible-bookshelf-archive/loj/matthew/matthew-page-2/]

There are some other connections that the first hearers of this gospel would have made.

·    The political leader, Herod, orders the death of all the children under two, which sounds like; Pharaoh ordering the male Hebrew babies to be killed. And who survives; Jesus and Moses.

·    Egypt was a place of slavery, but this was not the first time we have heard of someone going to Egypt to stay alive. Joseph was taken to Egypt, after his brothers decided not to kill him; then years later Joseph brings all the family to Egypt during a time of famine.
Now another Joseph, with Mary and Jesus travel to Egypt looking for safety.

·    Moses led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, and that is thought to be the birth of the nation; what might this coming out of Egypt bring to birth?

·    Joseph is spoken to in dreams, we have heard of another Joseph who was considered a dreamer.

Matthew is saying: look out, something amazing is about to take place. This baby is something special, even more special than Moses. God is doing something new, be prepared to be challenged, to be surprised.

I wonder if we would read this passage differently if we lived in a place where fear haunts our daily living, places like Syria and Afghanistan and the Middle east. I wonder how someone like Bana Alabed would respond to this story.

Bana was a 7-year-old when she started tweeting, with her mother’s help. She lived in Aleppo in Syria, her best friend was killed by a bomb, and she wondered if people knew what was happening to her and her family and village.

You can now read her story in this book: Dear World A Syrian Girl’s story of war and plea for justice.

At the end she writes of trying to choose one wish as she blew out the birthday candles on her eight birthday:

“I want to never have to see or hear a bomb again.

I want to be able to go home to Aleppo one day

I want a baby sister.

I want to go to school and to university.

But most of all, I want people to stop fighting with bombs and guns in Syria and all over the world.

I want there to please be peace.

I am now eight years old, and this is my wish.”[ii]

Now, as in the time when Jesus was born, life is fragile.

Unfortunately, there are still Herods in our world; people who live by fear, people who use their power to oppress, people who do not value the life of every person.

What can we do? It is such a huge issue, and there are no easy answers.

What can we do?

We can listen to the stories of people like Bana

And we can tell the stories of people like Bana, and the that are not pleasant, of violence and oppression.

We can join with people in the Thursdays in Black Campaign

A campaign was inspired by:

The Mothers of the Disappeared in Buenos Aires, Argentina who on Thursdays protested at the Plaza de Mayo, against the disappearance of their children during the violent dictatorship.

The Women in Black in Israel and Palestine, who up to now protest against war and violence.

Women in Rwanda and Bosnia who were protesting against the use of rape as a weapon of war during the genocide.[iii]

We may not be able to change their lives, but we can do something to make sure their story is heard, that they are not forgotten.

And we can refuse to participate in the oppression of others.

The story we heard this morning is about

people searching, and finding, the Christ child.

travellers following a star,

the giving of gifts

the wickedness of jealousy

the trauma of tyranny

the hope of obedience

this story tells me, that Jesus was born into a world like ours, a world where life is a mix of happiness and heartache, hope and hurt.

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[i] p 179The Greek New Testament Aland et al, United Bible Societies

[ii] Alabed, Bana; Dear World a Syrian Girl’s story of war and plea for peace, p205

[iii] https://www.oikoumene.org/en/get-involved/thursdays-in-black

What a Gift

These passages from Matthew and Luke, enlarge the story of the birth of Jesus. Matthew writes very little about the birth, but then writes about the visit from the Magi, the killing of the children, and Mary and Joseph and Jesus going to Egypt.

Luke includes the visit of Joseph and Mary and Jesus to the Temple, to make their offering for the birth of a child. Here they meet Simeon and Anna. Simeon who recognises Jesus as the Christ, Anna who praises God when she sees the child.

How did you feel when you heard about the birth of a child of a close friend, or a grandchild?

How did you feel when you first heard about the birth of Jesus?

For many of us, we have heard the story so often, we don’t remember the first time we heard it, and we have lost the sense of excitement or shock or emotion of first hearing about the birth of Jesus.

Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the Temple when they went to make their offering for the birth of their son. And they meet Simeon, we imagine him to be old, but nothing in the story suggests that.
Simeon recognises the baby as the Christ,
speaks of light and peace
the honour this child will bring to his people
and … then … the words he speaks to Mary “you, will suffer as though you had been stabbed by a dagger.”

Anna, sees the baby and sings praises to God – “She spoke about the child Jesus to everyone who hoped for Jerusalem to be set free.”

The people who travelled from the east were excited, eagerly travelling for many days, weeks or even months to see who it was who born with such a star. Those in Jerusalem were not overjoyed, they were upset and frightened.  I find both responses amazing.

I can’t imagine following a star, just because it’s a special star. These people, probably astrologers, but maybe priests,
didn’t know where the child was to be born.
Didn’t realise that his birth was not into a royal family.
They had no idea who they were looking for.
They thought it was a baby born to be king,
but for them that was born into a royal bloodline, in a palace.
Not born in a stable.
To these people, someone born with such a star to mark their birth was special,
special enough for them to pack up and to travel,
to pay their respects to such a special child.

I also find the response of Herod and Jerusalem amazing. This was a baby, how much of a threat could a baby be – Herod would be unlikely to still be in charge by the time the baby grew up. But such was the family way of handing on power that even a baby was considered a threat. Not someone to keep an eye on, and see what eventuates, but a threat to be wiped out just in case, and kill a lot of others to make sure the threat was done away with. And as we know from the end of the story, Jesus was a threat to Herod, but not in the way Herod had thought.

There were people who followed a star to see this child who had been marked by the heavens as special. Travelling far, bringing gifts with them. There were people willing to kill many children to do away with the perceived threat posed by this one child. Today around the world, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, by having Christmas, a holiday in many countries, special food and traditions, including giving gifts. But beyond the food and celebration, how do we respond to God’s gift to us, this gift of ultimate love, of God becoming human.

Star Gifts

This morning, I have a gift for you. There is some information about this on the front page of the Grapevine.

In these 2 baskets there are stars, each has a word written on it. When the baskets are passed around please take a star, turn it over and have a look at the word. Just as the magi followed a star to be close to Jesus, I pray that this word will speak to you this year, and will encourage you in your relationship with God through Jesus. If you would like to talk with me about your word, we can do that.

Hand out Star Gifts – if you received one on Wednesday please don’t take another one.

We receive gifts from God in many forms. As we think about the gift of Jesus, from birth to crucifixion and resurrection, how do you respond to that gift.

How we respond to God’s gift is up to each one of us to decide.
But if we look in the manger, be prepared to be changed.

If we hang around the stable be prepared to see the light.

If we open ourselves up to God, prepared to know we are loved,
maybe we will find ourselves loving people,
and accepting that God loves even people we disagree with.