Grace and peace be yours from God our Sovereign and from our Lord and savior,
Jesus the Christ, and from the Holy Spirit. Amen.
When you actually work through the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke and you
come down to the actual delivery of the child, both Gospel writers seem to downplay
the moment. The actual birth statements seem almost to intrude into the text.
First from Matthew:
When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he
took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son;
and he named him Jesus.
Then from Luke:
While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to
her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger,
because there was no place for them in the inn.
Two rather unspectacular statements considering who is being spoken about.
That should be the clue that what we are reading in Matthew and Luke are not birth
announcements but rather highly stylized narratives loaded with coded language and
imagery. Language and imagery that point to the significance of this child.
What child is this, who laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Matthew in his narrative evokes images of the evil empire Egypt and Pharaoh, and
then ties them directly to Rome and to Judah through Herod. Like Egypt before, Rome
and Judah continue to practice the same old worn out politics of domination.
And just as Pharaoh was undone by a lowly slave mother and her daughter, Jochebed,
the mother of Moses and Miriam, her daughter, so now Herod would be undone by a
lowly mother and father, the humble and devout Mary and Joseph. ….. Don’t miss
the subtle point here, that humble obedience to the way of God, undermines and
transforms domination every time.
Through it all Matthew will very subtly offer an alternative understanding to the concept
of Messiah. Messiah is not the warrior king who defeats Israel’s enemies, but the
humble Jesus who offers an alternative to the ways of the world. An alternative that is
modeled in the Magi and of Joseph by their humble obedience to the way of God put
forth in dreams.
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Luke is careful to center his story in real time, when Caesar Augustus decrees the
world should be taxed, and when Quirinius was governor of Syria Luke will also tackle
the image of the expected Jewish Messiah by centering the story in the city of the
expected Messiah, the city of David called Bethlehem.
The birth is once again rather unspectacular. The details of the birth simply lays down
a clue for the shepherds, used to confirm an angels message, that they will find a child
wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger.
The real heart of Luke’s birth narrative lies not in the actual birth but in the in the
Angels message to the shepherds, and in the declaration of the heavenly host.
First the Angels message to the Shepherds:
For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a savior, who is Christ and Lord.
This is perhaps the most loaded sentence in scripture. First comes the mention of the
City of David, which is the location that every hopeful Jew expected the new warrior
king to arise from. Then come the titles given in the message …. A savior, who is
Christ, the Lord.
What most of us do not remember or conveniently forget, are the titles of Caesar.
Among them are: Augustus which literally means, the God who is to be worshiped.
And Savior and Lord are both long standing titles of Caesar long before the birth of
Jesus. To these titles we could add God, Son of God, Redeemer, and Savior of the
world. All of them, titles belonging to Caesar.
And now very deliberately, Luke has taken the titles Savior and Lord from Caesar and
has given them to Jesus. More importantly they bracket the only title not given to
Caesar, Messiah or Christ. Listen again to how the message is phrased, “a savior,
who is Christ and Lord.” What we have developing here is a contrast between Caesar
the Augustus, and Jesus the Christ.
Luke not only wants to challenge Imperial Rome, he also wants to challenge Judah
and the understanding of the longed for Hebrew Messiah. Is Jesus to be like a warrior
king who slays his enemies in order to establish peace? Will it simply be the same old
domination system but now under Jewish dominance? How is this any different?
The heart of God is contained in the message of the angelic hosts. Glory to God in the
highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!" The message of
the Angels is. The Glory of God in heaven, is peace on earth among men. Or as we
say in our Lord’s prayer, “on earth as it is in heaven.”
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But then, didn’t Caesar bring peace? Didn’t David establish peace? And isn’t this the
hoped for role of the promised Davidic messiah? To subdue ones enemies and
establish peace on earth?
So the real contrast here is between the way of the world and it’s peace, and the way
of God and God’s peace. This is why the author of Philippians writes about the
“peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus.”
So here is the Christmas message. In Jesus, we have a king who is greater than all of
the domination systems of the world, even our own. In Jesus, we have revealed to us
that the way to the Father is not through power and might but through humble
obedience and suffering servanthood. In Jesus, we are empowered to be transformed
into the children of God. In Jesus, we have a savior and Lord who invites us to follow
him and his alternative to the Pax Romana, or the Pax Americana, or the Pax China.
In Jesus we have an alternative to Wall Street, an alternative to the vast discrepancy
between rich and poor, an alternative to the NRA, an alternative to War and bloodshed
and violence; an alternative to the abuse of women and children, an alternative to
domination systems of all kinds. In Jesus we have a different kind of Peace. Peace
not through victory, but peace through distributive justice and righteousness, through
compassion and servanthood.
In the way of Jesus we have the way to Peace and to God’s dream announced by the
heavenly host. And that is why we rejoice in the good news proclaimed at his birth!
For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a savior, who is Christ and Lord.
Amen.
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