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Rev. Heike Werder
Matthew 2: 13-23
“The Work of Christmas”(1)
Despite his prominence in Nativity scenes, this is one of the few Scriptural stories featuring
Joseph. In fact, this is really Joseph’s “big break,” the most action we see from him in all
Gospels.
We don’t know a lot about Joseph. Matthew tells us in chapter one of his Gospel that Joseph is
a righteous man. He is a kind man –he was going to spare his fiancée’s reputation by dismissing
her quietly when she was found to be pregnant, rather than publicly shaming her, which would
have been the norm.
Imagine...a young man, ready to be married and start a family, although perhaps not that ready
for a family, not before the wedding, anyway.
Imagine the excitement, the anxiety, looking toward his wedding day, wondering about his
wedding night, chances are he didn’t know Mary very well at all… what will this new life as
husband and provider be like?
And then, smack in the middle of preparations and anticipation, Mary “was found to be with
child from the Holy Spirit.”
Now, Matthew doesn’t tell us what this looks like, exactly, but I imagine it was extremely
awkward for all parties involved, and no one was really OK with it, except maybe Mary, and
even that’s debatable, and I’ll bet Joseph wished he had never gotten involved in this whole
marriage thing in the first place.
And then, just when Joseph was resolved to disengage himself from this whole Mary business
as quietly and quickly as possible. And then something strange happened: a dream, an angel, a
messenger from God, telling Joseph to marry Mary, to name the baby Jesus, and Jesus will be
great. So Joseph did.
And now, another angel visit in a dream, this time it’s take the child and flee, hide your family
away until it’s safe.
This is really Joseph’s big story. No one else in his family is named: not Mary, not even Jesus.
Only the bad guys are named: Herod, and his son, Archelaus.
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Joseph seems to be someone who has it all together. He gets things done, does what it takes,
obeys what he’s asked to do, trusts God’s plan.
He’d have to, to get up in the middle of the night, convince his wife and mother of his small
child to get up, as well, and flee to Egypt.
We know about Egypt – that’s where Joseph’s people were slaves under Pharaoh. Egypt is
where God delivered the Hebrews from, and now God is telling Joseph to take the child, God’s
own son, and flee to Egypt, finding freedom where they once were bound? And Joseph does
what the angel instructs.
And in Egypt he hides, and waits, and is not disappointed, for soon enough another dream,
another sudden angel message from God:
“Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s
life are dead.”
And Joseph does. Only this time, we get another hint of Joseph’s personality, an inkling that
maybe he isn’t all “yes ma’am” and “yes sir,” that he isn’t simply obeying blindly.
Joseph was afraid to return to Judea, despite the instructions, despite the angels, despite the
messages from God, Joseph looked at who was ruling and said “No way.”
And another angel visit, and a slight change of course: to Galilee, to Nazareth, where we know
Joseph safely delivered his small family.
Of course, what we’ve left out is significant. The reason for the flight to Egypt. The horrible
thing that happened, the unimaginable, the murder of all children in and around Bethlehem,
Herod’s paranoid slaughter of all two years-old and younger.
The despair that struck who knows how many families, the wailing and weeping that Joseph
and his family were spared from hearing.
At Christmas, we read from the Gospel of John: “the light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not overcome it.”(2)
What we so often read, so often hope instead is “the light shines in the darkness, and there is
no longer any darkness.” But the truth is there is darkness. There was darkness at Christ’s birth
and there is darkness still today.
Jesus is the light, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not and does not
overcome it, but there is darkness.
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Babies still die. Families are still broken. World leaders are still power hungry and jealous.
Even at Christmas, even as we celebrate the Light, we must look out into darkness, we must
remember those children, those mothers and fathers.
The sermon this morning is entitled “The Work of Christmas,” (3) a title that I gleaned from a
poem by Howard Thurman.
I am not a great poetry buff, but this one I really like for it rings truth to me. I believe I have
shared this one with you before.
The Work of Christmas
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.
This text from Matthew is assigned to this particular Sunday, I believe, to remind us of the real
work of Christmas.
Joseph’s work is small. Joseph’s work is to wait, and to hide, to listen, and to keep his family
safe.
Sometimes that is what God calls us to do: to wait for a message, for God himself, for a light, for
more instructions. We are often quick to act, quick to speak, and we do so without really
listening.
Wait. Listen.
What is God’s word to you?
What is God birthing in you at the beginning of this new year?
What small baby is God calling you to keep safe?
And the rest of the story, Herod’s slaughter of the children, reminds us that the work of
Christmas isn’t all ours. The work of Christmas is and must be the work of Jesus Christ.
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Because who are we when up against a murderous king? There was nothing to be done to stop
Herod. And it is still happening, innocent people killed all over the world.
What can we do?
We pray.
We treat one another with kindness.
We comfort those who mourn.
We do not fall into despair.
Jeremiah’s words come back to us: “There is a reward for your work, there is hope for your
future, says the Lord.”(4)
The true work of Christmas is the work of Jesus Christ. It is the work of a savior who was not
born into kingly glory and honor, but who slipped quietly into the world, into a poor family, and
yet a savior who was a political threat from infancy, a savior surrounded by suffering and death
until his own.
The true work of Christmas is the work of Christ. It is prophecy as yet unfulfilled: “he will wipe
away every tear from their eyes, Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be
no more… and there will be no night there.”(5)
But for now, with Joseph, we wait, we listen.
And with Christ,
we find the lost,
we heal the broken,
we feed the hungry,
we release the prisoner,
we rebuild the nations,
we bring peace among all people,
we make music in our hearts.
And we watch for the Light in the darkness (6). Amen
Sources:
1. Title of a poem by Howard Thurman.
2. John 1:5
3. Thurman, Howard. The Mood of Christmas. Indiana: Friends United Press, 1973.
4. Jeremiah 31: 16-17
5. Revelation 21: 4, 25
6. John 1:5 A New Year Prayer