An Unhappy Christmas

Matthew 2:13-23

In our culture, the rich and wealthy get to be in the front row on Christmas.  I noticed Mayor Bloomberg and other city officials were seated in the front row for services at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  For the Lakers/Heat matchup yesterday afternoon, Kanye West and Larry David and Sylvester Stallone (looking rough) had front row seats.  Yet in Matthew’s gospel, not everyone is happy about Christmas, especially not the rich and powerful!

Did you know that Jesus’ family had to move around a lot when he was very young?  Many of us have moved from one place to another, but usually because we wanted to.  We move somewhere new for college or graduate school.  Or we take a new job that involves a move.  But Jesus’ family didn’t move because they wanted to.  They moved because they had to.  I know it’s hard to believe at Christmas time, but not everyone is glad that Jesus was born.

For the first couple of years, Jesus’ family lived in Bethlehem.  And they liked it there.  They got to know their neighbors.  They knew their way around.  It wasn’t a big town, maybe a thousand people.  More like a large village.  But the great thing about a small place is that you know almost everyone.  And in Bethlehem there were ten or fifteen other little boys about Jesus’ age.  They were quite proud to live in little Bethlehem.  It was close to Jerusalem, where they traveled for Jewish holidays.  And it was home to someone famous - King David, Israel’s first and greatest King!

Everything changed one day when some men in fancy clothes showed up at Joseph and Mary’s house.  

In the Bible they’re called “magi” or “wise men.”  They weren’t Jewish like Jesus’ family.  They were from a land far to the East.  Our songs say there were three of them.  But we really don’t know how many there were.  When the wise men came to visit, Jesus wasn’t a baby but a two year old toddler, up and walking.  They brought gifts for Jesus.  

And they had a strange story to tell.  In their culture, when a bright star arose it meant that a new king or ruler had been born.  So when they saw the bright star shining in the sky, they set off from their homes in the East to follow the star westward.  They stopped in Jerusalem to ask King Herod, where they could find the newly born king.  Herod hadn’t heard anything about it.  So he asked some Jewish teachers, and they said that the long awaited King of the Jews would be born in Bethlehem.  “So that’s how we found you,” they say to Joseph and Mary.  “King Herod is very excited to meet you all.  He asked us to let him know where you live so he can come and pay his respects!”  When Joseph heard their story, his eyes grew wide, and he looked at Mary.  She looked scared too.

Herod was a vicious Roman King who ruled the region of Judea from Jerusalem.  They had good reason to be scared.  Once, when Herod thought his wife and her family were plotting against him, he had them all killed.  (You thought your family had problems).  Herod didn’t like anyone talking about the end of his power.  And he had already shown he was capable of killing his own friends and family if he needed to.

That night, the wise men fell into a deep sleep.  In a dream an angel of the Lord told them not to go back to Herod.  Go home another way.  And so they did.  The next night, Joseph was in a deep sleep and he had a dream.  An angel of the Lord told him to take Mary and Jesus and head for Egypt.  Herod is going to try to kill Jesus.

Well, Herod waited and waited.  But the wise men never came back.  The fox got outfoxed.  The clever king got out-clevered.  And he was angry.  His initial plan was just to kill the young boy alleged to be the new King of the Jews.  But he didn’t know his name or his family or anything else about him.  So his plan changed.  The only way to be sure to get rid of his competitor is to kill ALL the boys in Bethlehem two years old or younger.  

This story is usually called the “slaughter” or “massacre” of the innocents.  We don’t know how many young boys lived in Bethlehem.  But it doesn’t really matter.  It’s a terrible, terrible story.  If there was even one family who had their child stolen from them and murdered by Herod’s soldiers, that’s cause for great sadness.  Bethlehem had about 1,000 residents.  That would put the number of boys born within two years at about 20, and several would have died at birth.  So now we’re down to 15 or so boys.  The people of Bethlehem were smart.  I hope they were able to hide several of the boys.

Love is threatening to force.  It was then.  It still is.  This Herod story shows that not everyone is happy that Jesus has come.  In the joy of Christmas, it is good to be reminded that this baby means joy for all, but judgment and threat for those who want things to stay the same.

You know what?  Herod was right to be afraid.  Jesus comes to announce that God is changing the rules: the people with money and power and food and laughter will fall down.  And the people who are poor and voiceless and hungry and sad will be put in first place.  

When you’re winning a game, you like the rules.  You want them to stay the same.  Winners usually don’t like the idea that the rules are going to change.

Like Moses, Jesus will emerge from Egypt and escape a Pharaoh-figure to deliver his people.   So on one level, Matthew is telling a VERY Jewish story.  Yet two years after Jesus’ birth, gentile wise men arrive from the East, signaling that this story begins with Jews but includes everyone.  This is good news.  But if you’re Pharaoh, or Herod.  If you’re part of the world that’s got a fixed and winning position.  You won’t want to hear stories about things changing.  You won’t be glad that God is turning things upside down and inside out.  But if you’re poor.  Or broken.  Or overlooked.  Or sick.  If you are in great need.  Then the story of Jesus birth is the best news you can hear.