Saturday, January 3, 2009

Shadows and Light

Christmas 1 Year B
Matthew 2:1-16
Shadows and Light
By Rich Gamble


Only Luke and Matthew talk of the birth of Jesus. Only Matthew tells of the wise men. Only Matthew speaks of Herod’s slaughter of the male children in Bethlehem. In fact the only account that exists of this slaughter of the baby boys of Bethlehem is found in Matthew.

Since the Jewish historian Josephus wrote a long history of Herod and does not mention the incident, some scholars conclude that it never happened. It is true that the absence of evidence does not make for the evidence of absence, there is some reason to doubt whether this did occur.

If it did occur it is unlikely that the slaughter was very large. Bethlehem was a small village and the surrounding population was sparse. So some scholars think that if this did indeed occur, the number of babies killed was probably less than 30 and likely less than 20, not the thousands or tens of thousands later attributed by Christian writers. Not to say that the murder of even one person is not a crime of immense proportions but it helps to put this into perspective.

Historians do not try to paint Herod as a nice guy. He did kill some of his own children. They were adults at the time but still they were his own kids. Herod accused them of trying to take the throne away from him, and had them executed. Perhaps that is where Matthew got the story. For the story in Matthew is about Herod killing children to protect his hold on the throne.

As you know, we don’t approach the Bible literally here. If this incident in Matthew never happened it doesn’t make it any less true. Fiction can often speak truth more clearly that journalism. Poetry can speak more truthfully than history. Our primary concern here is the truth in the story.

So what is the truth that Matthew seeks to impart with this story of Persian Astrologers, Herod, the babies of Bethlehem and Jesus?

Luke’s gospel cuts across class lines. Mary, Joseph and the Baby are seen as homeless and visited by shepherds, one of the lowest rungs of that social order. Luke wants to place Jesus in the work of God to overturn the powerful and lift up the poor and oppressed. Matthew starts by making he story cut across the lines of nation, religion, and race. The Magi or wise men come from outside the race nation and religion of Israel and yet, they see the birth of this child as an important event in their lives and for their world. This birth is not just for the Jewish people it is for the whole world.

But Matthew is also aware that the truth that Jesus brings to the world will be rightly perceived by those in power as a threat to their hold on power. The ones who hold power will use the tools at their disposal to deal with any threat and the primary tool of one who holds political power is violence.

From the very beginning of the story we are made to understand that the truth that Jesus brings is for every nation and race and it is dangerous. From this beginning we are not surprised to hear Jesus command his followers to spread his truth to everyone, and we are not surprised that this truth gets him killed by the Powers that Be.

This story in Matthew is a solid cure for anyone who wants to boil Christianity down into a means of obtaining personal salvation as more conservative forms proclaim or as a spiritual self-help practice as the more liberal side says. To follow the truth of Christ may lead us to the salvation of our souls and may improve our inner harmony but at its heart, this story proclaims that the truth of the Christ is a world changing, power disrupting truth that shines a light on the violence and fear of the systems of power which then and now rule our world.

If our faith isn’t making the defenders of Domination uncomfortable, if not homicidal then perhaps our form of Christianity differs from that of the Gospel writers.

In Matthew’s story, Herod didn’t just happen to kill babies in Bethlehem, he did it to end a threat to his throne. If Jesus was a threat to Herod and his truth is to be (as Matthew proclaims in the last chapter of the Gospel) to the whole world, then isn’t this truth a threat to all those everywhere, who sit enthroned in the power of domination?

Matthew’s Gospel has this story to show us that this isn’t just a story for us but for the whole world. And it isn’t just a spiritualized story but one with direct social, political and economic consequences.

To believe in the truth of this story is to believe that the life of faith is a life of conflict with all those who seek to oppress and exploit others. You cannot truly care for the poor without ending the conditions which create the suffering of poverty. You cannot alter the conditions that create oppressive poverty without challenging those who prosper from that system. This is not a story about good people and bad people, it is a story about the way out of systems of injustice and violence. It isn’t just that Herod was a bad guy who killed children; it is about the fact that no one should have the power and authority to kill anyone. In Matthew’s Gospel Herod fades away but the systems which cause murder and misery remain. Even Jesus’ own death does not end those systems. It is left up to his followers to carry on the struggle.

Our challenge then, in this pleasant little community of faith in this pleasant neighborhood is to find ways to care for those who are impoverished and oppressed but also to challenge the systems which create poverty and oppression. Doing such work will, according to the Gospel, be good for our souls.

This story speaks of life and death surrounding the truth God speaks to the world. God brings life, Herod Death. Our faith is about life and death matters in the world.

In the coming year, how will we promote life and challenge those who deal in death? How will we promote justice and challenge those who profit from injustice? How will we follow the call to extend ourselves to the world and risk ourselves for God’s love?

If we dare, if we risk, if we give, if we speak out, if we reach out as embodiments of the love of God, then we will have entered the story and become the good news.
Amen