St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church

December 30, 2007

It’s Not the End of the Story

Matthew 2:13-23

Dear friends in Christ, grace and peace, from God our Creator, Jesus the Christ child and from the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Thank you for all of the wonderful Christmas greetings: the cards, letters and emails. What a great tradition to send and receive Christmas cards from family and friends! My own greetings will go out as an Epiphany letter this year. Although I moved in October the cards found me once again and I now have collected addresses for my Epiphany letter.

A friend in California sent me photocopies of pictures of her family. This year it was a full page of pictures and the highlights of 2007 were documented. She doesn’t send a Christmas letter anymore; she let’s the pictures tell the story. And, my how we change! Families grow bigger and the children grow up! The kids who were toddlers are now in college. They grow up so fast!

Last Monday on Christmas Eve we gathered in this place to celebrate the Savior’s birth. Our hearts rejoiced as we sang the carols telling of the baby Jesus asleep in the manger. That was just six days ago.

But today as we continue to sing carols and celebrate Jesus’ birth, Mary and Joseph are fleeing Bethlehem to protect their young son. We barely have a chance to catch our breath between verses of the carols and we hear of Herod’s plot to destroy the new born boy.

It was the Wise Men from the east who told King Herod about the Savior’s birth. They had noticed signs in the heavens that the Savior had been born and stopped in Jerusalem on their way to Bethlehem. Herod pretended to worship Jesus telling the Wise Men that he would like to send a gift. He asked the Wise Men to stop by on their way back to let him know the location of Jesus’ birth.

But the Wise Men never do come back. Through a dream they learn that Jesus’ life was at risk and found a different route home. Then, Herod does a really horrific thing: he has all of the boys under age two killed, even one of his sons.

So, today as we sing “Joy to the World” we are reading about the “slaughter of the innocents.” This text which tells of the senseless deaths of children is known as the “text of terror.”

Terrorism wasn’t created in the 21^st century. Whenever there is an opportunity to stand in the way of peace, or insult human dignity, evil people like Herod have found a way to do that. Herod figured that if he could eliminate Jesus at birth, the earthly kingdom would belong to him.

Christmas both then and now can be a depressive time for many. At the time of Jesus birth Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt to save their baby boy from being killed by Herod. Today Christmas is a difficult time for many people. For some who have experienced the death of a loved one, grief holds its sway. Others have experienced separation, serious illnesses, job changes or financial pressures.

I have known people who grew up in families with limited resources who have painful memories of excessive spending during the Christmas season driving the family into greater indebtedness. And I have known people who experience a significant degree of exhaustion as a result of the frantic pace and numerous demands of the season. We should never be surprised to find those within our own congregation who experience the entire season as a trying and difficult time.

What has changed in 2,000 years? We still lament the suffering and violence in our world today. We mourn the 3,800 Americans who have lost their lives in Iraq, the tens of thousands wounded in body and mind, and the unknown tens of thousands of Iraqis who have died.

The joy of Christmas Eve just 6 days ago has given way to a different set of circumstances. We cannot remain at the manger singing Silent Night. We must now follow Mary, Joseph and Jesus on a perilous journey. We face the sad reality that the world does not interrupt its usual business for very long. The “slaughter of the innocents” continues.

This hard text brings us back to the realities we so easily dismiss. It demands that we re-enter the “real world” and prepare ourselves for a continuing confrontation with suffering and evil. This passage of scripture reminds us that blessing and tragedy often occur in conjunction with each other. We cannot have one without the possibility of the other. After the celebration comes the inevitable let-down. This is the cycle of life we are called upon to name truthfully and faithfully.

The Advent season began five weeks ago with a prophetic warning and a call to repentance leading up to Christmas, the incarnation of God in the world. In this season we are led out, once again into a world that is blessed and broken, full of suffering and promise.

Jesus came at Christmas to prove that ultimately, love wins over evil. When we leave this place in a few minutes we will go out into a world that is broken and suffering. People are weary from suffering. Who will tell them that there is hope? Who will tell the world that this cold, dark winter will eventually give way to spring? Who will tell them that the birth of the baby in Bethlehem was not the end of the story, but that it was the beginning? Only those who know the news can tell the news. And that’s our mandate, to tell the news. And the news is this: the Savior is born, and all is well. Thanks be to God! Amen.

Richard Andersen

Interim Pastor, Wingspan Ministry

St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church

December 30, 2007