Good News Has Come!
(Matthew 2: 1-23)
You’ve heard it said before and, in all likelihood, you’ve said it yourself: “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all. Some folks start believing they are living under a dark cloud and that there is some sort of mysterious force out there in the universe that has it in for them and before you know it, they’ve developed a defeatist “what’s-the-use” attitude. You might say it’s all in their heads but sometimes there’s more to it especially if you’re the one worried about keeping your head above water and never mind chasing the American Dream. Everything is going up except your wages and the nickel and diming from everyone from the grocery store to the gas pumps to the tax assessor-collector wants just a little bit more and before you know it, that negligible nibble has taken a bite out of your meager earnings. And then you hear about some law being passed to protect some group of people of whom you do not belong and you resent it because nobody ever passed any laws protecting you and yours. Not true by the way. You turn on the television, and you see a report about some company landing a fat government contract where they get a chunk of your tax dollars and you wonder why when you see the small stores and businesses in your community laying off people and having going-out-of-business sales. It’s all bad news and you wonder to yourself when any good news will come your way.
It’s the good news coming our way that Matthew is writing about in our gospel reading for today. Jesus was born in Bethlehem fulfilling some prophesies that tied him to the Messiah of his people, but nothing has happened, nothing has changed. The people are still under an oppressive regime. Not only do they have to contend with the Romans who assign governors to the territories to collect taxes for Rome, but they have their own kings and rulers who are extracting what they can while they can, and then there are the Pharisees and Sadducees who are controlling the people through a long list of laws, rules, regulations, and traditions that seem to hurt more than they help. It would not be hard to imagine many who heard the good news from the shepherds eventually dismissing this good news and turning back to trying to exist in a society where luck has nothing to do with it. There may be a few true believers who are willing to wait for this little boy to come into his own and establish his kingdom freeing them from their bondage and vastly improving their lives. But God’s plan for the Messiah and his time have not yet fully developed.
Matthew begins chapter two by telling us that after Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the rule of King Herod, magi came from the east to Jerusalem. So yes, contrary to all the nativity scenes we see each year and Christmas pageants, we learn that the three wise men were not standing next to the shepherds who had gathered around the manger in the middle of the night. They were asking: Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We’ve seen his star in the east, and we’ve come to honor him. There is a lot of debate and conjecture as to who these men were, and many believed they were likely astrologers whose reading of the stars led them to the conclusion that a newborn king of the Jews had been born in Palestine. And they would also have had to have some knowledge of Old Testament Jewish prophecies causing them to put two and two together. We are told that when Herod heard this he was troubled as was everyone else in Jerusalem. To me, it begs the question as to what they were worried about? Were they comfortable in their status quo and worried about a new king coming along and stirring up the masses? I guess they figured all that nonsense the homeless shepherds were talking about had passed. Now this. So, Herod gathered all the chief priests and legal experts and asked them where the Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem, a few miles down the road, and told him what was foretold by the prophet Micah, “one who governs, who will shepherd my people, Israel.” Being more than a little paranoid, Herod secretly calls for the magi and finds out from them the time the star first appeared. He then instructed them to go find this child, come back, tell him where he is so that he too may honor him. The star reappeared and they continued on a few miles to Bethlehem and entered the house to see the child with Mary, his mother. They fell to their knees honoring him and presenting him with gifts fit for a king. And, because they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route. The plot thickens.
After the magi had departed an angel from the Lord appeared to Joseph in another dream and said: Get up. Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod will soon search for the child in order to kill him. Realizing the urgency, Joseph got up, not waiting for morning, and gathered up Jesus and Mary and headed out. According to my Study Bible, going to Egypt was not unusual because there were colonies of Jews in several major Egyptian cities that had developed during the time of the great captivity who apparently chose to remain in Egypt which would allow them to move into the Jewish section of any city with a Jewish population. It kind of reminds me of growing up in Syracuse where there were different sections of the city where immigrants new to America settled for comfort, security, and convenience.
When Herod realized the magi weren’t coming back he flew into a rage and sent his soldiers our into Bethlehem with orders to kill, on the spot, all the Jewish males who were two years of age or less according to the time period he had calculated from what the magi had told him about the initial appearance of the star. We don’t know how long Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were in exile in Egypt, but Matthew tells us that after King Herod died an angel of the Lord reappeared to Joseph in another dream saying: Get up and take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel. Those who were trying to kill the child are dead. This fulfills what the prophet Isaiah spoke in Isaiah 40: 3, I have called my son out of Egypt. So, Joseph gathered up Jesus and Mary and headed back to Israel, but when he heard that Herod’s son was the new ruler over Judea he decided to relocate in Galilee, in a real small remote village called Nazareth, again fulfilling what was spoken about the Messiah being called a Nazarene.
Can you imagine being so insecure in your position of authority that you would be willing to order the slaughter of innocents just to keep your throne, just to maintain your status quo? Can you imagine having your door kicked in while you and your family were fast asleep and having armed agents of the government seizing you and, in this case, murdering your infant son who posed no threat to anyone? It seems implausible and you might say: “Well that happened a long time ago and would never happen now, we’re better than that.” Sadly, you’d be wrong because history is replete with many similar scenarios where some insecure person ascends to the top of the political hierarchy and is so paranoid or afraid of losing power that there is nothing they won’t do to keep their grip on power to maintain their status quo and of those who pay them homage.
Yeah, I know, you’re probably thinking that this latest ruler isn’t doing anything that the guy before him didn’t do to keep power before being overthrown. That’s just politics and the way the world operates and there is nothing that can be done to change it for the better. Well that may be true and easy for you to buy into as long as the bad stuff happens to the other guy, you know, the guy who doesn’t look like you, vote like you, speak like you, love like you, pray like you, or think like you.
But this is different. Matthew and the other apostles are telling us that the Good News has come. Jesus has come to establish a kingdom ruled by love and mercy, a kingdom known for its justice and righteousness, a kingdom where there is no status quo other than the status that comes with being an adopted child of God, a brother or sister of Jesus Christ. A ruler who heals the sick, restores sight to the blind, and preaches the love of neighbor, all neighbors. God took on human form to come to earth and to be a disrupter of the status quo that was doing nothing but making life miserable for his suffering children. Herod was afraid that this newborn king would one day take his throne. He completely misunderstood the reason for Christ’s coming. Jesus didn’t want Herod’s throne; he wanted to be king of Herod’s life. Jesus wanted to give Herod eternal life, not take away his present life.
The Good News has come. The Good News is here and it is up to us to share the good news with others who are desperately looking for a better life, a life free of the oppressive status quo that serves those in power and has no intention of making anyone’s life any easier other than the lives of themselves and those who support them. But preaching and sharing the Good News is one thing but it does little if we don’t do all we can to put the Good News into action, to be disrupters if we have to, to challenge those in authority who, unlike Jesus who came to serve, choose to vilify the other, instill fear of the stranger, and show disdain for anyone who is different. The Good News has come so let us share it and live it in all we do.
Let us pray.
Almighty God, we confess that we are often swept up in the tide of our generation. We have failed in our calling to be your holy people, a people set apart for your divine purpose. We live more in apathy born of fatalism than in passion born of hope. We are moved more by private ambition than by social justice. We dream more of privilege and benefits than of service and sacrifice. We try to speak in your name without relinquishing our glories, without nourishing our souls, without relying wholly on your grace. Help us to make room in our hearts and lives for you. Forgive us, revive us, and reshape us in your image. Amen.