The famous United Methodist Bishop of California named Gerald Kennedy once sent a pastoral letter to all the churches and pastors under his care. He told the story of seeing a very poorly dressed woman and her young daughter looking into one of the beautiful department store windows in the downtown area of a large city. In it was the manger scene, but here Mary was dressed as the Queen of Heaven with rich diamonds and other jewels in her dazzling crown. The little girl gazed for a while, and then turned to her mother and said, "She''s so beautiful! I bet she never had any troubles like we do, did she mother?"
The good Bishop shared this statement, "Let nobody in your church ever think that Jesus Christ was ever divorced from the world of trouble and pain." The Gospel truth is that he came among us to share every experience of our common life. As a matter of fact, when the baby grew up and became a man, most saw him as a revolutionary and troublemaker.
It is so unfortunate that the manger scene is made so charming and quaint. However, our scripture lesson this morning from Matthew''s Gospel which describes Mary and Joseph''s fleeing to Egypt and the slaughter of innocent children demonstrates quite convincingly that the Holy Family was not insulated from the cruel realities of a sinful world. In this portion of Matthew''s Gospel we read of the great story of the coming of the Wise Men, and realize Matthew is emphasizing the universality of the Gospel mandate of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. We also see Herod''s anger and see behind him the opposition of the devil to God''s salvation work in Jesus Christ.
Do any of you remember the old television series, which was one of my favorites, called "Perry Mason" in which the persons called to testify on the witness stand had to "tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God"? The scripture lesson from Matthew today tells the whole Christmas Story and truth about humankind''s reaction to God''s gift of Jesus Christ.
Every year the Christmas Spectacular is held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. It is a very moving drama which ends with a re-enactment of the nativity scene. However, if I were in charge of the show I would end it with Mary and Joseph and Jesus fleeing to Egypt. Each time I see the Christmas Spectacular I know the whole story has not been told. I can understand why an entertainment production would not see fit to tell this part of the story, but I am disappointed that we in the church so often forget what this part of the story is telling. This passage deals with the age-old problem of evil in our own lives and in the life of our nation.
This, I agree, is a terrible story to read during the Christmas season, and it would be much easier just to continue to the more soothing parts of the Christmas narrative. However, I think, as Dan Rather would say, this also is part of our world. We know that truth must be pursued and stories told even if they are ugly and make us feel downright uncomfortable.
If I had to retell the story of Mary and Joseph''s fleeing to Egypt I would do it in the format of Ted Koppel''s Nightline. Here is one way the story could be told.
"Good Evening! Welcome to Nightline. We are coming to you tonight both from Egypt and Bethlehem. Hello, I am Tad Knoppros from EBS, the Egyptian Broadcasting System. Tonight we are going to share an interview from a couple who have just fled from Bethlehem because of a night time revelation that a hideous and evil King was going to kill all male babies around two years of age because of an ancient prophecy. Joseph, can you please tell us how you got here and why."
Of course, there was an interpreter present to translate when Joseph tried to share some of the sense of desperation and total fright of traveling on donkey during the night to escape the ongoing search of Herod''s army for their child. Joseph was fortunate in the sense that he awoke during the night. He said an angel told him to hurry up and gather the family and flee as quickly as possible to Egypt land.
"Now, I want to turn to my colleague in Bethlehem, Barbara Rivers."
"Good Evening, Ted. I am in Bethlehem, and there is great crying and mourning from mothers for the killing of their innocent children. It is very hard, Ted, to describe in words the slaughter of children because of the rage and anger of a king over a prophecy issued many years ago to a group of people who seem to have no power, no armies, and are at this moment under domination by this king''s government. However, there is one bright spot. There is a rumor among the people that a mother, her husband, and their wee child managed to escape during the night to Egypt. In Egypt, there are pockets of Jewish people who throughout the years have gone there to escape persecution and imprisonment. The people feel that if the threesome can only get to Egypt, they will have safe harbor."
This morning I want to share three insights that sound forth from this scripture lesson to help us to understand the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the whole Christmas story.
First, our scripture lesson reveals that there is always a mixed reaction to God''s coming in Jesus Christ to bring the true light in the world to dispel the darkness of sin and apostasy.
The Wise Men bowed down and worshipped the infant who would grow to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Herod, the present worldly king, sought to put the child to death. The truth is quite evident--wherever the good news of the Gospel is preached it will always have its enemies. How many times is it revealed in the pages of the Bible that it is the demons and the powers of evil and darkness who first recognized Jesus Christ. The love of God when it is expressed to include the love of the entire human family will always arouse hatred before hospitality. Like Herod, at times the Gospel message attacks our own personal kingdoms and convictions. Truth doesn''t always come easy.
This morning I would like to share a story from a book titled, The Whispers of Christmas by Dr. Joe E. Pennel, Jr. Dr. Pennel writes:
"Whenever and wherever the message of Christ is taken into the world, there is the possibility that it will be met with rejection. I was Pastor in Memphis, Tennessee, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot while standing on the balcony of a downtown motel. I learned of the shooting when our black custodian interrupted the finance committee meeting by shouting, "Dr. King has been shot, Dr. King has been shot!" The next morning''s issue of The Commercial Appeal, our local newspaper urgently called the clergy of the city to a meeting.
"Pastors representing every racial, cultural, and educational level in the city gathered for a mass meeting which had been called by the bold headlines of the city newspaper. Reverend James Lawson, a friend of Dr. King''s and an effective pastor in South Memphis, read the Old Testament lesson. The local Greek Orthodox priest read from the New Testament and symbolically kissed the feet of Mr. Lawson. Reverend Frank McRae, a courageous leader in the United Methodist Church, spoke about hope in the midst of despair.
"After a session of Bible study, prayer, and speaking, the clergy decided to march en masse to the office of Mayor Henry Loeb, as a symbol of love and reconciliation. We wanted the Mayor to reconsider his opposition to the striking sanitation workers as a symbol of repentance and love.
"After leaving the sanctuary, we formed ourselves in lines two abreast and started walking toward the city hall. Just before we had completed one block of our march a young deacon from St. Mary''s ran back into the church and brought out the processional cross which was commonly used on Sunday morning for the worship service. With humility and yet boldness, he put himself at the head of the processional now aimed at the city''s seat of power. As we walked, television cameras descended upon us. Reporters from New York to California started pumping us with questions about our motives and how we felt about what had happened the night before.
"When our journey was about half completed, an older woman started yelling from a second floor apartment window. Because of the traffic, the cameras, the reporters, and the noise, her speech was, at first, inaudible. As I drew closer to the flower-boxed window, I could hear the anger of her shrill voice: "The cross belongs in the church! The cross belongs in the church! I am a member of St. Mary''s. Take the cross back to the church where it belongs." Her secure kingdom, like Herod''s was being threatened. And she responded not with homage, but with rejection." (1)
Reactions to God have always been mixed. Secondly, this story demonstrates that people love the darkness and try to extinguish the light--but the light of Christ is an everlasting light. It is there for us to follow, not to erase from the pages of the human drama and story.
One of the great voices in the United Methodist Church today is that of Dr. Maxie Dunnam of Christ Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Maxie, at the present moment, is the president of the World Methodism Council. He tells of a recent trip he made to Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Hungary. He was invited to preach and to share testimony with fellow Methodists in these settings and bring words of hope and encouragement to our brothers and sisters in Christ. He shared the following report in his church newsletter about this trip and the fact that the Star of Bethlehem still shines bright in these communist countries despite 45 years of oppression and persecution:
"For 45 years, the huge red star of the Soviet Union dominated the landscape from the pinnacle of the highest tower of the Parliament Building. With great joy, Brother Hecker wanted us to know that the red star was gone. He didn''t know where it was, but it had been taken down after the Freedom Revolution.
"That night, we went to the Church to preach and share fellowship. The Sanctuary of the Methodist Church is in the Headquarters Building. It''s a dilapidated building, five stories high, built around an inner court. Shell marks from the war are everywhere, and the deterioration of the building is so sad. It was shored up on the inside by large timbers. The Communist Government confiscated two-thirds of the building years ago.
But when we entered the little sanctuary, Jerry and I felt we were in another world. There was an atmosphere completely different from the exterior appearance of the building. The dominant Christian symbol in the sanctuary was a huge, multi-pointed Advent star that comes out of the Moravian tradition. It''s a central symbol of worship during the Advent season.
"Having heard the story of the faithfulness of the Christians in that land and the other two countries we visited, and seeing the Advent star and all that it represented, I had a deep emotional experience. The red star of the Soviet Union was gone from the Parliament Building, but here in this place among these people another star--the Star of Bethlehem--was shining brightly." (2)
Remember, all names--even the names of kings, prime ministers, presidents, dictators--will someday fade into the pages of history, but the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church is the one name that someday the scripture promises that every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10, 11 RSV).
Thirdly, this lesson teaches us that evil is a real part of our world and that it seeks to claim us. But the power of Christ is a greater power and not only claims us but frees us from the shackles of the deceptive promises of evil.
Many years ago Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, the famous preacher from Riverside Church, New York, shared a message at the University of Beirut where in attendance were people of many different faiths and ideologies. He thought to himself, what could he say to them that would speak to every faith represented in that audience? It was said that with great insight and sensitivity he asked them, what has your religion done and is presently doing for the establishment of character? He did not ask them what church they belonged to or denomination or faith tradition, but what was their faith doing for the building up and establishment of character.
We must sometimes admit that our faith has not had much input or impact on the establishment of our character. Sometimes it has not challenged the evil and sinfulness in us--sometimes it has only been an excuse for it or an extension of it. Sometimes our faith permits us to be spectators to the human drama rather than responding to a bright and guiding light that might lead us in a different way, as it did for the Wise Men who were really kings and held much power, loyalty and influence.
C. S. Lewis, a distinguished Christian writer, helps us to understand the power of evil and how it so deceptively can enslave us to its destructive powers. Lewis wrote a probing and insightful book titled The Screwtape Letters. This book will introduce you to a solid, scholarly but yet spiritually powerful explanation of the realities of evil in human life and the beguiling ways of Satan. C. S. Lewis warns about two dangers we will encounter as we address the demonic: "There are two equal and opposite errors in which our race can fall about the devil: One is to disbelieve in his existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in him. The devil is equally pleased by both errors."
The greatest contribution of the Christian faith in relationship to the question of evil lies not solely in explanation of the origin of evil, but in the power that God gives to us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ to overcome evil and render it invalid.
I want to share in closing a story about the origin of the custom we modern day people have of putting tinsel on our Christmas trees. According to William Barclay, this legend comes from the moment in history when the Holy Family was forced to flee to Egypt. According to the legend, the Holy Family was getting quite tired and cold one night. They sought refuge in a cave. A small spider saw the Holy Family and wondered what he might do to prevent the baby Jesus from being captured by Herod''s army which was pursuing them. The spider using the only gift he had. He spun a web across the entrance to the cave. The next morning when the soldiers saw the sun shining on the web now covered with frost they decided to check the entrance to the cave. When one of the soldiers was about to enter the cave, another soldier said that no one could have entered the cave because the web was so beautiful and undisturbed. So the Christ Child and the Holy Family enjoyed the safe refuge of a cave because of a simple spider. (3)
I hope you can see the insight shared in this story. If a tiny spider can thwart the plan of Herod imagine what spirit-filled men and women of God can do to prevent evil from escalating in 1991.
"Though this world with devils filled
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us
The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him.
His rage we can endure,
For lo, his doom is sure.
One little word shall fell him. (4)
That word is Christ. No wonder Herod reacted in the manner he did. Like Joseph and the Wisemen, let us hear anew the Nightline revelation of God--that we also can flee the powers of darkness and be lead by the light of God''s presence to a safe harbor and another way.
Amen, Amen.