First Sunday of Christmas

At the very heart of the Christmas story in Matthew’s Gospel is a baby. This baby poses such a threat to King Herod, the most powerful man around and so infuriated is he at being tricked by the wise men, that he orders an entire village of approximately 30 children under two years old to be slaughtered.  He does this, simply to rid himself of any threat to the throne. If I don’t know if any of you watched the “Nativity” last week on the BBC? Well,  Herod was played quite accurately as a man obsessed by protecting his throne. And so we discover that from birth onwards, there were people who found Jesus a threat; people wanted to remove him from being a threat. This is in stark contrast to the previous verses where the wise men have come to worship Jesus, seeking to pay homage as opposed to Herod who sought Jesus to kill him. The shadow of the cross falls in our gospel reading today. Jesus has been born but a price is on his head. Plots are hatched – as the angels warn the wise men not to return to Herod – so the angels warn Joseph to escape to Egypt with the Holy Family.

You can see the Holy Family on their journey to Egypt in the stained glass window on the south wall in the Lady Chapel at St Mary’s. I encourage you to take a look at it after the service. It’s unusual to see Jesus as a toddler with both parents depicted in this way. But not unusual for Jews to flee to Egypt; which had long been a place of refuge for Jews, indeed in Alexandria there were more than a million Jews, so it was a natural place for Joseph to take the Holy Family – and besides he had been told to go there by angel!

Jesus the Messiah is born into a land full of danger, violence and fear. It’s a stark contrast to the picture of the Holy Family we’ve seen and maybe sent, on our Christmas cards. Before Jesus could walk and talk he was a homeless refugee with a price on his head. Despite this darkness, Matthew insists we see Jesus as the fulfilment of scripture. According to Matthew the Old Testament forewarned that this is how the Messiah who would come to liberate Israel. This is how God would work to set his people free, bringing justice to the whole world. It’s as if Matthew wants us to understand; there’s no point in Jesus arriving in comfort when the world is in misery. No point in Jesus having an easy life, when the world suffers violence and injustice. If Jesus is to be Emmanuel – God with us,  then Jesus must be where the pain is; right amongst it.

In the gospel reading today, we are given three quotations from the Old Testament. The first is from Hosea 11:1 in verse 15 and provides an echoes of Moses, leading God’s people out of Egypt which in turn points us forward to Jesus who leads people to the completion of Israel’s story, the cross and resurrection. The second Old Testament quote is in verse 18 from Jeremiah 31:15; it’s speaks of God renewing his covenant with his people. Jesus brings deliverance despite the bleakness that surrounds Israel; a people who have walked away from God and find themselves under Roman rule, oppressed and subject to injustices both racially, politically and socially. Finally, Matthew links the Holy Family moving and settling in Nazareth to the words of the prophet Isaiah (11:1).  A branch says Isaiah will grow out of the root of Jesse, heralding a new beginning for Israel. In Jesus, God is providing the salvation and rescue Israel has longed for and through him comes justice for the whole world. Jesus the true king of the Jews is heralded in today’s gospel as the one who brings salvation and healing to the world.

And so we learn in the gospel reading today that:

Opposition to Jesus is inevitable but it can never quench God’s mission and purposes. However frail the church – God’s hand is on it and it’s a light that will never go out. That God hasn’t given up on his people the Jews; they hold a special place in God’s heart even though they are estranged from God. And that God brings about his purposes through both surprise and continuity– Jesus is utterly compatible with stories of Old Testament but full of surprises, so utterly unlike the Messiah the Jews were longing for. So what will we take away from this passage today? Well, as I’ve been pondering these eleven verses at end of this year, waiting to move into the next. Here are some thoughts:

There are some glorious encouragements here: God has and is bringing about his purposes – despite our inability to see or our limited faith to believe! And as Jesus’ surprised those who were looking for salvation in a different way – we can rejoice in God’s continuity and seek to keep our minds and hearts open to the God of surprises, who continues to work amongst us. Am I looking to see where God is at work each day? Looking for Him in those unexpected conversations and places? Or am I shutting down the possibilities by placing my own boundaries, how I perceive that God should be met and worshipped and therefore missing out on being part of what God is already doing in our community?

Secondly, just as God doesn’t give up on the Jews; neither must I give up on people. This Advent and Christmastide we have met and welcomed so many in this place who perhaps once believed and somewhere along their journey have lost faith or who have always felt on the outside of the Christian faith. Matthew teaches us that they are precious and held in God’s heart. And so, they must are to be in mine and yours – at the end of one year and the begging of another , we can ask ourselves as a church – how are we welcoming people on the outside into the church and are we holding them in our hearts as God does? The casual visitor, the baptism or wedding party, the person in distress or sleeping rough, children, youth and older people.  Will they receive the same welcome from us as they would from Jesus?

Finally, nothing stops God’s mission and purposes. However frail the church may be or may feel; God’s hand is on his church and the true light that shines in the darkness will never go out. So, as we approach the New Year, seeking God’s mission and purpose for our lives– we do so with confidence; knowing that despite our frailty, failures and weaknesses, God’s purpose and mission will flourish and God’s light can never be extinguished despite what people might have us believe. And as that is true for us as individuals, so it is true for us as a church in the Stafford team; God’s purpose and mission here in the centre of Stafford will flourish and God’s light will continue to draw people with open hearts to Jesus. Amen.