First Sunday of Christmas
Text: Matthew 2:13-23
Pastor Jean M. Hansen
Just three days ago we gathered for the meaningful candlelight service celebrating the arrival of Jesus, God with us. Perhaps not all of us, but many have enjoyed spending time with loved ones, relaxing and basking in the festivities of the Christmas season. At the informal service later this morning, the focus will be on Christmas hymns and (ugly) Christmas sweaters for an upbeat change of pace.
But, at this service, we’ve read an account from Matthew 2 which brings us back from celebrating to the reality of struggle and suffering. It offers a reminder that even when God is on the scene - as Jesus - evil continues to put up a rebellious fight. This account follows what we’ll be focusing on next week, the arrival of the Magi, who came to pay homage to a king, whose birth was announced by a new bright star in the heavens.
On the way, the stopped, unfortunately, at the palace of King Herod and asked where they might find this, “new born King of the Jews.” Commentator Scott Hoezee offers this humorous description of what happened next, “And so it was that after having punched a few holes in a wall and after having kicked the cat clear across the room, Herod manager to smooth back his hair, wipe the furious sweat off his brow, straighten up his royal robes, and re-appear before the Magi with the hallow words, ‘Well, good luck to you, gentlemen, and once you find the king your looking for … um … er, let me know where he is. I have a little something for him myself; can’t wait to give IT to the little fellow…’” (1)
As you may recall, the Magi did not return to Herod to report Jesus’ whereabouts, and once that dawned on him, the king issued a decree ordering the murder of all the boys in and around Jerusalem who were 2-years-old and younger, hoping that one of them would be the so-called king. That did not happen, though, because God warned Joseph in a dream that his family was not safe, so they fled the terror of Herod and were refugees in Egypt until hearing, again in a dream, that Herod had died.
Evil had reared its ugly head in the person of King Herod who was a combination of afraid and maniacally jealous; he even wiped out his own sons and wife when he thought he they were too eager to take his place on the throne. We know that anger breeds in fear, and jealousy seeks revenge, and since people can choose how to manage those unsettling emotions, even in the midst of bright stars and visiting Magi, evil threatened. It’s doubtful Herod had even one thought about the terrible suffering his order caused, nor of the treachery of it. He was the one in power, and might makes right.
Now, we might ask, why is this horrible story mixed in with the beautiful one of Jesus’ birth? That’s somewhat like asking, “Why is this challenge happening to me?” Many of you know my response to that; it’s because we are imperfect people, with imperfect bodies, living in an imperfect world, where the human ability to make choices concerning how we respond to those imperfections is both a blessing and a curse.
Mary, Joseph and Jesus were not the exception to this rule. They were surrounded by the upheaval and evil Jesus came to challenge. Quoting Pastor Roger Nelson, “The outlandish claim of the gospels is that God became flesh not in the world of nativity snow globes, shiny, happy people, and naïve spirituality but int eh world where tyrants kill babies and parents cannot be consoled. If the incarnation has any meaning at all, then God came into the darkest realities of the world.” (2)
Pastor Nelson describes a stone memorial located in the far south end of Chicago’s Michigan Avenue that testifies to this reality. A mother of 8, Diane Latiker, started to stack bricks on which the names of Chicago children killed by gun violence were scribbled with a magic marker. A few bricks became more than 600, a place where people stop to pray and remember. It’s a reminder of what Henry James wrote in the book Theory of Fiction: “Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting, but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places; people of sense to be in small … we can neither forget it nor deny it nor dispense with it.” (3)
In the midst of that reality, be it in the first century or the 21st century, God shows up. For Mary, Joseph and Jesus, God showed up in a dream, with which Joseph did not argue, and they escaped to, and found refuge in, Egypt. For us, too, God’s presence is made known in dark times. Perhaps in dreams, but also through guidance from an unexpected source, or caring support, or a messenger whose words seem usual, but end up being a revelation.
The point is that God is not undone by the evil that threatens, nor are we; in Jesus there is hope, for today and into eternity. As Pastor David Min noted, “This is the other side of Christmas, the other side of the angels and shepherds. Just as we celebrated joy and wonder in the lead up to Christmas, so we contemplate vulnerability and chaos and danger and frailty on this side of Christmas. And standing in the middle of the two is the birth of the Messiah, our Savior.” (4)
It’s a metaphor for our lives, in the midst of both joy and sorrow, fear and confidence, peace and upheaval, there is Jesus. He experienced it all and is with us as we do too; that’s the total Christmas story. AMEN
(1) “Matthew 2:13-23 Commentary” by Scott Hoezee, December 29, 2019, www.cepreaching.org
(2) “In the Lectionary”, December 28: First Sunday after Christmas, by Roger Nelson, The Christian Century, December 2025, pg. 29
(3) Same as #2
(4) “The Other Side of Christmas” by David Min, May 25, 2021, www.standrewsenfield.com