The Rev. Neale L. Miller

Sermon for December 24, 2006

Texts: Micah 5:2-5a/Matthew 2:1-6

Title: “No Forgetting Today”

              The wise men from the East saw a star, but not just any star.  This star was unique for the good gentlemen were informed by an angel that the star would lead them to the newly born king of the Jews.  Their errand in setting out on their journey to Jerusalem was to pay homage to the newborn. 

              Jerusalem, however, was unprepared to receive the three, Matthew reporting that when the Jewish king Herod and the citizens of Jerusalem learned of the wise men’s arrival and the nature of their quest, they were frightened.  Merely a birth announcement, and the good king and his subjects were frightened.

The news the wise men brought should have been joyously received. A king after all is not born everyday. But the significance of the birth was not lost on Herod and Jerusalemites in high places.  How many kings, after all, could Jerusalem accommodate? It turned out that two kings were too many, that reality informing much of the next thirty odd years of Jewish history.

              Conflict is an inescapable part of the nativity story.  Though the pastoral scene in which the gospels set Jesus’ birth evokes images of peace and calm, the world into which Jesus was introduced was, like the world in which we live today, anything but peaceful and calm. Roman still yielded power in Israel.  Religious factions within the Jewish community were at each other’s throats.

              The wise men’s announcement that the king of the Jews was born, disturbed whatever residual peace and calm might have surrounded Jerusalem and her king Herod.  How curious. Wasn’t the Messiah exactly the one whom the Jews for centuries had been preparing themselves to greet?      

              Micah, whom we heard from earlier, was just one of several prophets God sent to announce that good news was on the horizon.  Yet Micah, a prophet of the eighth century BC, was not given to know how far that horizon extended. The information to which he could lay claim was undated.  The one who “is to rule Israel,” he announced, will hail from Bethlehem, and will be the guarantor of “peace to the very ends of the earth.”  News couldn’t get much better than that, even without a specific date specified.  

              Micah earnestly believed what he reported.  He trusted God that much. While you and I may not maintain our faith with the same ardor that Micah did, his faith and our faith is established on the same bases. The same expectations of what God can do lodge within our hearts just as they lodged in Micah’s heart, but with a significant difference.  We celebrate a birth, a hope actualized, a vision Micah could only gaze upon from afar. The “one of peace” to whom he pointed, bears a name for us, and his name is Jesus.

              We Christians believe that God’s plan for humanity was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. But to more fully grasp the significance of that claim we must reach back all the way to Abraham, the father of the Jews. Recall that God from all the people living at that time called Abraham to a special vocation.  Well situated among his kin, as comfortable as a person in the ancient world could be, God came on the scene instructing Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great.” Befitting a man of that great stature, God furthermore covenanted with Abraham that his heirs would be as numerous as the stars.

              Prolific.  Many heirs.  Everything sounded great.  But even as he blessed Abraham, God declared that his offspring would be “aliens in a land that is not theirs.”  Not good.  Furthermore, they were to live in that status for no less than four hundred years. Pretty dreadful, anyone would agree, yet that was not to be the end of the story.  There was a silver lining. When their servitude ended, God declared, they would return in grand style with great possessions.

              The history that gave us Jesus began with Abraham, the father of the Jews. Fact is, you can’t get to Jesus without Abraham. The people multiplied under Abraham, that was the good news.  But so too did the suspicions of her neighbors, that was the bad news.  The Egyptians among whom the Jews lived, took note of how prolific the Jews were becoming, and decided to clamp down.  The Jews soon found themselves in servitude to the Egyptians, conditions worsening to the point that the people believed God had forgotten them.  It got to be so bad that God felt compelled to step in to rescue his people. 

              Among the Jews was a man named Moses whose life was spared as a child when pharaoh ordered all the male children of the Jews to be killed.  The infant Moses, you know the story, showed up in the reed basket to be retrieved from the river where pharaoh’s daughter happened to be bathing.

              Who knows what might have become of the Jews had not God intervened.  But God did intervene, appointing Moses to care for his people. It was an enormous task, one for which Moses initially felt completely ill-equipped.  But Moses pulled it off.  He led the people to the Promised Land, but only after they had suffered for forty years in the desert, punishment for their disobedience. 

              Moses is one important guy in the history of Israel.  In fact, you can’t get to Jesus without Moses.  If Abraham demonstrates God’s commitment to create a nation, than Moses demonstrates God’s commitment to sustain that nation.       

              The road to the Bethlehem manger leads through Abraham and Moses, God insuring that the Jews would be prolific and would be cared for. But along the way the road took a decisive turn. At the insistence of the people God gave the Jews a king, something he was firmly opposed to doing until they wore down his resistance.

                  On the first try things didn’t work out too well, but after old Saul fell, things got back on track when David was elevated from the sheep herd to the royal palace. Things really got rolling when David was anointed king.  While his son Solomon amassed an extraordinary fortune, David truly had the Midas touch.  It was David who consolidated the various tribes of Israel into one.  It was David who established Jerusalem to be his capital city.  It was David who put down Israel’s enemies. David, more than any other figure in Jewish history, succeeded in putting Israel on the map. No, you can’t get to Jesus without David.

                While Abraham founded a nation, and Moses sustained it, David saw that it was firmly established.  Never did a king rise to the throne of Israel who was a match for David. So prominent did David’s legend become in the history of the Jews that centuries after his passing the Jews were looking for his rightful heir to reoccupy the throne, and put back all the things history had taken away.

                Now scholars debate how the whole messiah thing got started, but we do know that God put it in the heart of the prophets to begin announcing that an heir to David would come.  Way back in the eighth century Micah, for whom we earlier heard, was joined by Isaiah, if not the greatest of all prophets, certainly a worthy claimant to the title.  Isaiah was blessed with special insights into God’s ways, declaring in words the occupy a special place in the history of God’s people: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness---on them light has shined…For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Messiah.

               “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” The darkness in which the Jews of Isaiah’s day walked was a different darkness than the darkness in which we find ourselves today. The circumstances out of which Isaiah wrote fully eight centuries before Christ’s birth are quite different from the circumstances in which we living today find ourselves two thousand years after Christ’s birth. Yet the great prophet lived, and the church today lives, under one sovereign and eternal God.

                 Israel for centuries has been waiting for centuries for messiah to come and restore her to the glories she enjoyed under David, while we Christians believe messiah has already come, and his name is Jesus.  Differences separate us from our Jewish friends, but we share Abraham, Moses, and David.

                The wise men came to Jerusalem announcing that they had seen the natal star directing them to the place where the king of the Jews was born. Matthew, who reports their errand, informs us that Herod, the king, and Jerusalem with him, were frightened, and well they should have been, for the newborn would grow up to issue fundamental challenges to their way of doing business.

             Messiah was born, and they missed him, would have missed his birth entirely had the wise men not tipped them off. Messiah still tends to get lost when people, for whatever reason, forget he is around. Aware of that some folks in Greater New Orleans were on the job in the days leading up to today.  They placed signs reading, “Keep Christ in Christmas” in conspicuous places---I saw them on Veteran’s Boulevard in Metairie.    

             It is easy to forget Christ is around even at this time of year with the music, the crèches, and all the rest.  Actually it may well serve our purposes to forget Christ is around, because then we can go about our business without dealing with the business that so preoccupies him, things like social justice, and the status of the poor and marginalized. It may serve our purposes to forget Christ is around so we don’t have to deal with the inconvenient truths he taught pertaining to status, you know, “first shall be last, and the last first, the inconvenient truths he taught regarding what it takes to be a disciple, you know, “sell all you have and give to the poor, and then come and follow me.” A different kind of king, he came not to accumulate power, but to diffuse it, giving it to the very people who pass in and out of our lives unnoticed today. 

              Today, no, today we don’t want to forget that Christ is around, because the Christmas story, the music, and the display, the tree, the banners, the candles, are all so important to us.  After all, we have the whole rest of the year to forget that Christ is around. 

                The longstanding promise of scripture, datable all the way back to Abraham, through Moses, and through David, was a legacy the Jews were eager to tap.  Messiah would come, and what a glorious day it would be. Messiah did come, and Herod and the people of Jerusalem were frightened. The Messiah the people got was in nobody’s plans.  Unfortunately, in their plans or not, it was impossible for Herod and the religious leaders of the day to forget about Jesus.  Jesus was so “out there,” getting in people’s hair, stirring up trouble, that the only way they could forget about Jesus was to kill him, and we know that that really didn’t work.  

             Conflict is an unavoidable part of the nativity story, and it must be, for what Jesus brought with him to this world was a philosophy of life that turns the reigning preoccupations of the world, power, status, and material wealth, on their heads. Conflict is inevitable any time Jesus is on the scene, because being on the right side of Jesus so often means being on the wrong side of the things the world really cares about, and invests its resources in.

            But today is not a day to be talking about right side or wrong side, after all today we celebrate a birth.  It is such a pity though that the child we fawn over today grew up so fast, and so unpredictably. AMEN.

PRAYER

              O Christ, the carols we sing today in celebrating your birth and paying you homage have special meaning for us, our singing is full-throated and robust.  Yet even as our songs rise to your ear, we know that tributes we offer to you in song seldom linger long in our hearts, and are seldom expressed in our actions. The good tidings are too soon forgotten, as our time and energy are committed to other agendas. O Jesus, bringer of light into our world, we would dwell in your light, but the same light that illumines the world illumines the darkness in us. Even as we celebrate your birth, O Savior, may new life be born in us, and through us disclose new possibilities to our neighbor and world.

              We pray, O Christ, for the church you founded.  On this very special day energy levels are high.  Today we are not fulfilling Sunday obligation, but we earnestly wanted to be here.  Our being here is prompted in part by nostalgia, remembrances of Christmases past and the people we shared them with.  We love the music. We love the festive air of the sanctuary.  No longer children ourselves, we vicariously relive the excitement the children of the congregation bring to this place. No, O God, today we not fulfilling Sunday obligation.  We earnestly wanted to be here. For the gift of this day, the friends and family with whom we are worshiping, for remembrances of Christmases past, but most of all for your Son, our Savior, we give you thanks and praise.

              Victims of a great natural disaster, the city and its citizens continue to reel from the blow the storm delivered. Many of our citizens are not home, a FEMA trailer, a partially restored house, an apartment in another neighborhood, the “make do” arrangements many have been forced to make. Abide with those who are struggling with the taxing responsibilities that come with rebuilding, particularly with those who lack the sophistication required to handle their affairs.  Frustrated with bureaucratic doubletalk and misinformation, many no longer see a future.  In your mercy brace the weary and encourage the depressed.

              Lord of life, the sanctuary is daily being transformed before our eyes, and we are grateful for the great strides that have been made. We thank you, O God, for all those whose commitment and leadership have been so prominent in the rebuilding process, acknowledging the diligence and particular skills of those for whom this sanctuary has been a worksite since the storm.      

              We pray your blessing, O Lord, on our nation as our future in Iraq remains unresolved. Tested severely by the demands the war there is making on our nation, we pray for a breakthrough that will see us withdraw, and the citizens of Iraq assume responsibility for the future of their nation.

              Even as the war in Iraq continues, our commitments elsewhere in the world continue exert demands upon our resources. May this new year see a breakthrough by which war materiel is not this nation’s primary source of aid, but that swords may be replaced by plowshares, military advisors replaced by agronomists, engineers, and doctors.

              Lord Christ, in whose name we gather, bless all who have come here this morning. Varied in age, background, and experience, the personal circumstances in which we find ourselves expose our great diversity, yet we are one, to pray for and with each other, to serve together in the up building of your kingdom on earth. Support us each one, particularly those who mourn, those who are ill, or confused, or depressed. Fill our Spirits, O Christ, with your Holy Spirit.

              For this special day and the special meeting attached to it, we give you thanks and praise, O Christ, praying the prayer you taught us…