Scripture: Revelation 21:1- 6a

Text: Matthew 2:13-15, 19- 23

Weekly Bible Study: Bible Study Blog

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Last weekend, I began a sermon series titled Christmas Homecoming. In the series, I’m playing around with prepositions. The preposition for last week’s was “for”, Home for Christmas. We are preparing our homes for Christmas. Almost all of us do this, in some way or another. Whether we do lightshow competitions in the neighborhood or simply hang a wreath, our traditions are varied but preparing the home for Christmas is nearly universal. I challenged the congregation to set aside time to prepare the home which is your heart. We have to be intentional about this. Even ministers can become so caught up with the rituals of doing Christmas that we don’t ponder, in our hearts, the meaning of God coming to dwell among us. Let me challenge you again. Set aside time to prepare the home that is your heart. This is the point of the first sermon, home for Christmas.

 

Our preposition this week is “by”. Home by Christmas implies a destination which on one level connects emotionally with all of us.  Parents want children to come home by Christmas. College students and young adults step out of their new lives and return home by Christmas. The uniting at the homestead works well until there is a marriage. With two sets of parents wanting you to be home by Christmas, there is conflict. Throw in grandchildren, or a divorce or a move and suddenly, the definition of home gets complicated. Even with these complications, there is longing to be someplace we call home by Christmas.  

 

We feel this personally and we empathize with others. When President Bush announced in September that 5,700 U.S. soldiers in Iraq will be sent home by Christmas, we cheered.[1] It connected with our love of I’ll Be Home For Christmas. It became popular because it was released during World War II.  Soldiers and their families long to be home by Christmas. One of my colleagues tells about an experience during the Vietnam war. A house near the entrance of their subdivision kept their Christmas lights burning long after the season was past. They burned through January. Even through the first of February those outside lights burned every night. Finally, about the middle of February he became a bit critical and said, "If I were too lazy to take my Christmas lights down, I think I'd at least turn them off at night."

 

But about the middle of March there was a sign outside their house that explained why they'd left the lights on. It said simply, "Welcome home, Jimmy."  Their son was finally home from Vietnam. They had unashamedly left their Christmas lights on in anticipation of his return. They waited until he came home to have Christmas.[2] There is something about being home by Christmas unless you are already home, which was the case for Mary and Joseph.

 

Let me say that again. Mary and Joseph had baby Jesus in their home in Bethlehem. I know this is contrary to conventional wisdom. I know this contradicts what I said last week. But it is consistent with one truth from last week’s sermon. Over the centuries, western culture has woven together the stories of Matthew and Luke with strong cultural traditions, most of which become so sacred they are unconsciously affirmed. Last weekend, we studied the story found in Luke.  Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem, seeking accommodation and finding “no appropriate place in the guest room” But today, for at least a moment, we aren’t going to consider Luke or any of the sacred traditions. We are going to put blinders on and focus on Matthew’s report. In the gospel of Matthew, there is no home by Christmas. They are already home.

 

Bethlehem is the home of Mary and Joseph.  Matthew’s telling of the birth is so sparse that you likely missed this point. It comes at the end of the first chapter and has more to do with conception and naming than a birth. An angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream, assuring him that Mary has conceived by the Holy Spirit and commands him to take her as his wife. Because he believed in the dream, “…he had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.” (Matthew 1: 25). That’s all you get. No knocking on doors looking for a room. No wrapping the baby in swaddling clothes. No angels singing. There doesn’t even seem to be enough time to even pass out cigars or offer congratulations before Matthew puts in motion the events which cause Mary and Joseph to leave their home. “In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?’” (Matthew 1: 1-2a). Sometimes a question can cause trouble and this one did. Herod perceives himself to be King of the Jews. The simple question is politically loaded.

 

Herod was appointed King of the Jews by the Roman Senate 37 years before the birth of Jesus. He was from an area in southern Judea which in the Old Testament was known as Edom. The Edomites were the offspring of Esau, Isaac’s first son. You’ll remember that Jacob cheats his twin brother Esau out of his birthright, setting up a family feud. The survivors of Edom are Idumaeans and while they loosely kept Jewish customs, there is little respect on either side. We see something like this in the Republican presidential primary. Mitt Romney says that he is a follower of Jesus Christ because he belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Most say, “No, you’re Mormon.” Most Jews did not recognize Herod’s claim. Add to this Herod’s paranoia and pathological behavior, a family feud for 18 centuries and suddenly, an innocent question becomes the turning point for history. 

 

When the Wise Men are warned in a dream not to return to Herod and reveal the location of Jesus’ home, Herod decides to  kills all of the boys two years and under. He may not know the actual house but he knows where to go. Scripture is clear that the Messiah will be from the city of David, not simply born in but actually from. “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” (Micah 5: 2) Herod sends his soldiers to Bethlehem to massacre the baby boys.  Jesus is spared because Joseph is a dreamer and has a second dream.  In the dream an angel tells him to flee Bethlehem and find safety in Egypt. This isn’t the first time a spiritual dreamer has found refuge in Egypt. Joseph’s name sake, the eleventh son of Jacob and Rachel, sold into slavery by his brothers because of his prophetic dreams, survives in Egypt and thereby saves all of Israel.

 

When Herod dies, Joseph dreams again, a third time and is told to return home.  Like the nation Israel led to the promised land by Moses, Jesus and the Holy family are called out of Egypt.[3] Joseph starts to take the family home to Judea, but he’s worried that Herod’s son, Archelaus again might still be dangerous. In a fourth dream, Joseph is told to relocate from his home in Judea to Galilee, to the town of Nazareth. Even though we always tell the story that Mary and Joseph journey to Bethlehem to have the baby, Matthew has a different position. The Holy Couple didn’t have to get home by the first Christmas. They were home.

 

I know this is the second week in a row messing around with your Christmas story and I know this is a dangerous place. In some congregations in the past, there would have been an emergency meeting of the Elders before the day was up.

 

Besides getting myself in trouble for a second week in a row, why does this matter?  It matters two ways. First, Matthew wants us to understand the birth of Jesus takes place within the larger context of God’s history. He carefully presents the lineage for David. He reminds us of God’s providence in saving Israel once before during famine when the first dreamer named Joseph was exiled there. He recalls God’s love and covenant when God called Israel out of Egypt to their new home in the Promised Land. God’s redemptive history is being relived in the events of Jesus’ infancy. He is exiled to Egypt and called home to the Promised Land in order to save his people. This is God’s plan, now on the largest and grandest scale and Jesus will “save his people.” It is both the beginning, the alpha and the end, the omega. This is why it matters to Matthew.

 

And this is why it matters to us. Matthew reminds us that the birth of Jesus is the beginning of a journey, not a destination. We often miss this with our carefully woven together story and our need to get home by Christmas. The birth of Jesus begins a journey for this baby. He travels from Bethlehem to Egypt, to Nazareth and the region of Galilee, back to Judea and Jerusalem, with a temporary stop at a place named Calvary. But he doesn’t stay there long because there is Easter and Emmaus and a beachside breakfast on his way to the throne room of in heaven. There we see him seated on the throne awaiting the new heaven and new earth where death and mourning and crying and pain will be no more. This is his destination and it is ours as well. Christmas is the beginning point of our journey with Immanuel. We can miss this with our desire to be home by Christmas. We aren’t Christmas visitors trying to find our way to a Bethlehem home. We are Christmas pilgrims, leaving the manger and beginning a journey on our way to our home in God.

 

I was ordained 26 years ago at Wilshire Christian Church in Los Angeles. Located on the corner of Boulevard and Normandy, we were a block away from the original Brown Derby and the famous Ambassador hotel where Robert Kennedy was shot. Sadly, the glamour years of these landmarks were gone and many homeless were wandering the street. Much of my first experiences in ministry were caring for this community as they interacted with the congregation.

 

On the side of the building which faced Wilshire, the church placed a Nativity like those you see in church yards throughout the city. But there wasn’t much space with a building in a downtown urban center. There was just a little cutout of green grass under a window. So they only displayed Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus.  With the changing neighborhood, there was open concern among some leaders about whether it was prudent to display the crèche. Traditionalists won out.

 

In my youth, I was the optimist. I couldn’t imagine anyone bothering the Holy Couple. But to my dismay, it wasn’t two days before Jesus went missing. Everyone was frustrated and it took several weeks asking around before we discovered who had taken baby Jesus. It was indeed one of the homeless men who carted his belongings around in a shopping basket. I didn’t know his story nor do I know his name. For the sake of this story, I think we should call him Joe. I’m sure you’ll agree because when you hear his excuse. When confronted, he simply said, “For the baby to be safe, I had to take him with me.” 

 

You just can’t make it home by Christmas, stare in the manger and go on with life. Christmas isn’t a destination; it’s a journey. For Jesus to be safe, take him with you.

 

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