Sunday, December 30, 2018

Sermon - Christmas 1 - Matthew 2:13-18


Matthew 2:13-18
Christmas 1
“Mercy for Those Who Suffer”

Certain feast and festival days are observed by the Lutheran Church, in the freedom of the Gospel, but with appreciation of our connection to the universal Christian, or catholic, church throughout history. If you look in the front of your hymnal, you'll see a list of those that we have retained – certainly a much shorter selection than that of our Roman Catholic friends, who count thousands of saints and have various individuals in commemoration every day of the calendar.

But the first few days after Christmas have an interesting trio of occasions appointed. December 26, 27, and 28 mark the commemorations of St. Stephen, the first martyr, St. John the Apostle, and then the 28th recalls the Holy Innocents. It is this observance that I'd like us to focus today. And to remind us of the story, I share the following reading from Matthew chapter 2. This happens just after the wise men visit Jesus:
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The Flight to Egypt
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Herod Kills the Children
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
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Jesus is born. The wise men come, stop by Herod and ask about the new king. But the old king doesn't take kindly to it. He schemes to snuff out this possible threat to his throne. He snookers the wise men, tries to co-opt them into his scheme. But warned by the angel, they take a detour on their way home, far away from wily old Herod. Herod is enraged. He will not be outplayed! And so, in a grisly bout of literal over-kill, he orders all the young boys, 2 and under, in Bethlehem to be killed. And no doubt the soldiers carried out his twisted orders like soldiers do.

And while many of Herod's wicked deeds are recorded outside of Scripture, this one probably didn't raise an eyebrow for historians. After all Bethlehem was a small town, and some have guessed the number of children killed was only in the dozens, perhaps. Not so noticeable by historical standards. But the evangelist Matthew notices. Just as God notices when even a sparrow falls to the ground. He certainly regards, especially regards the little ones. And the church notices, too, and commemorates the event on December 28th every year.

Some have even said that these “Holy Innocents” were the first Christian martyrs, the first ones to shed their blood for Christ, though not of their own will. We call them the Holy Innocents, though, not because they were innocent of sin – that would violate the doctrine of Original Sin. But humanly speaking, these little ones had done nothing wrong but to be born in the wrong place at the wrong time. And by the blood that they shed, they pointed forward to the blood that Christ would shed – though he was the only one of their number to escape – he was preserved for his future sacrifice at the cross.

It should not surprise us, the cruelty of Herod. It should not surprise us who live in this grisly world of violence, even upon the most innocent and helpless of our day. Young and old, persecuted and oppressed. We see the strong preying upon the weak, the powerful on the powerless. Selfish sinners have always been out for themselves, first. And this brings great suffering. You don't need me to point to the suffering
in this world – the evils and brokenness. This text, might, however, draw us to think of the slaughter of innocents in our day – in the abortion mills under the cloak of “choice”. A modern day scale of murder that Herod himself might even find shocking.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has special regard for the lowly, the outcast, the widow and orphan, the poor and humble. It is always in the heart of God to show such mercy. He shows mercy, first of all, to poor sinners. This is why the Christmas angels sang glory to God, for his favor that rests on men. This is the thing that has happened, that the shepherds found amazing and had to make known. This is the birth of the Savior, the King born in Bethlehem that the wise men came to see. Jesus is the embodiment of God's mercy to the world, and to you. He takes the cross you deserve, the suffering with your name on it, and he brings God's peace and love.

The church, however, as the Body of Christ in this world, sees the weak and oppressed, the lowly and humble, the needy and suffering – and we see them with the eyes of Christ. We regard them with mercy. This is why the Christian church has established so many hospitals and orphanages. The church that led the charge for justice in so many spheres – freeing slaves, working against racism, caring for the poor, the refugee, the persecuted. Even today, when disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes strike near and far – it is the Church that reaches out with Christ's mercy to those who suffer.

The Church does so on the macro-level, through national and district efforts, showing mercy to those even on the other side of the world. It does so on the individual level, as each Christian serves other individuals in our particular vocations.

But we also do so as a congregation, uniting our resources and efforts together to bring the mercy of Christ to those in our own community. We have shown mercy at Messiah in many ways over the years – through a benevolence fund, through helping immigrants, through showing mercy through our swaddling clothes ministry and angel tree gifts.

Today, we formalize a new way of showing the mercy of Christ as a congregation, through the churchly office of a deaconess. Pamela, you will be working on our behalf, with our blessing and support and prayers, as you show seek to bring the mercy of Christ to the vulnerable ones in our midst. We can't all be there to visit with the lonely, share our time and lend our ear. But you will do so with all of us behind you. You will help us help them, and embody our Christian love as you serve.

As Christians, we love because God first loved us in Christ. We love those who suffer, because God cares for those who suffer.

And we can remind those who suffer, and ourselves when we suffer, that God's love for us endures nonetheless. God's love even for those innocents of Bethlehem, and for all innocents who suffer, is seen in the cross, and in the suffering of Jesus.

All of us, to one extent or another, share in the sufferings of Christ. But all of us, even in our sufferings, can find comfort in Christ:

“But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” 1 Peter 4:13

“For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” 2 Cor. 1:5

We find comfort, in knowing our sins are forgiven. We find comfort, in knowing that the present sufferings aren't worth comparing to the glory that waits for us beyond death. We find comfort, knowing that Christ has suffered all for us, and sympathizes with us in our weaknesses.
And we also know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character and character, hope. And hope does not fail. In the midst of our suffering, even as at all times, God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.

We rest assured in his promises, so that as dark as these days get, as much as the wicked seem to prosper and the powerful abuse the powerless, as bad as it seems and truly is – even in the midst of weeping and lamentation - there is a hope on the horizon. There is a new day coming, and it will dawn with his reappearing. It has, in a way, already begun. For we are heirs of the kingdom of God. And he will not forget us, and he will never forsake us.

Lowly beggars that we are, we have a God of mercy. We have a Christ that came for sinners. We have a Jesus who suffered and died so that our suffering has meaning and our death is not without hope.

This babe of Bethlehem is not just the best hope for a fallen world, he's our only hope. But what a hope he is. He who shed his own, holy, innocent blood – to make us holy, and to declare us eternally innocent before God. This is Jesus – born for you! Born to show you God's mercy. Now go and echo that mercy, children of God. Amen.


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