Mysteries Revealed Reveal Your Saving Mystery Ps 72:1-7, Mat 2:1-16 Matthew 2:16 (CEV) When Herod found out that the wise men from the east had tricked him, he was very angry. He gave orders for his men to kill all the boys who lived in or near Bethlehem and were two years old and younger. This was based on what he had learned from the wise men. That is a record of the very first time that someone, or something tried to silence Jesus, the Christ. That attempt has continued right up to this New Year, 2015. The attempt has taken many forms, from overt violence to subtle unspoken pressure. Today, it is disguised as political correctness or cultural sensitivity. By whatever name or method, Jesus, the Christ is not welcome in our contemporary society any more than he was in Herod’s palace. Why did Herod react the way he did? Why is Jesus, the Christ, legislated out of our school system? Why is the temptation so strong to leave Christ out of the discussion about any one of the issues that plague our world? It seems that the saving mystery is much safer kept as a mystery. “Jesus as the Christ” may sound like an awkward phrase but I am using it intentionally this morning to highlight the fact that Christ is not a name. It is the Greek equivalent of the title Messiah. Running the two together as in Jesus Christ is a simple and common way to silence Jesus. We think we know who he was without having to acknowledge what he was. The wise men did not travel from the East just to see Joshua bar Joseph which was most likely the name Joseph and Mary registered at the temple. They came to see a king. Herod knew that. He was already aware and had asked his advisors where Messiah was to be born. The visit from the Magi just spurred him into action. Herod knew what Messiah meant. It was the end of the way things were. He may well have feared for his throne. He may very well have feared that anything new, anything that might unsettle the tenuous hold that he had on power would threaten the Roman occupiers and bring down the wrath of Caesar. But the coming of a Messiah was about ushering in a totally new way of being the People of God. What if God really answered the prayer of the Psalmist? Psalm 72:1-7 (CEV) Please help the king to be honest and fair just like you, our God. Let him be honest and fair with all your people, especially the poor. Let peace and justice rule every mountain and hill. Let the king defend the poor, rescue the homeless, and crush everyone who hurts them. Let the king live forever like the sun and the moon. Let him be as helpful as rain that refreshes the meadows and the ground. Let the king be fair with everyone, and let there be peace until the moon falls from the sky. That is what was expected of the King. That’s what the hope of Messiah was all about, Shalom, Salvation. It’s no wonder Herod wanted to silence this Jesus, the Christ. It was either that or things were about to change. And I suggested earlier that attempts to silence Jesus, as the Christ, have continued to this present day. So the prayer of the team writing this second Sunday of Christmas material is that God would reveal His saving mystery. I want to ask, why, after 2000 years is it still, a mystery? Somewhere along the line, we have done a superb job of silencing Jesus, as the Christ. I want to suggest a different image for us today. Gods saving action is not so much a mystery as it is the elephant in the room. You have seen the commercial; no one wants to identify the irresponsible behaviour of a man who has overindulged and is about to drive himself home. We talk quite freely about Jesus, a personal saviour. From the ultra conservative, evangelical church of the Southern States to the most orthodox of Catholicism, personal salvation is front and centre. Only the methods differ. On the one hand the emphasis is on an individual profession of faith. On the other hand it is the individual’s faithful participation in the Mass. A recent book “Divided by Faith” tries to explain why systemic racial discrimination still flourishes in North America. They conclude that it is not active racism. It is the emphasis on individualism, personal relationship that makes invisible the pervasive injustice that perpetuates racial inequalities. Jesus, as the Christ, the Messiah is about a new way of being. His saving acts fed the hungry, healed the sick, restored the outcast, embraced the sinner, and welcomed the lost. The prayer of the Psalmist was answered. But,” reveal your saving mystery” is a prayer only we can answer. The saving mystery is about being salt to the earth, light for the world. It’s about overcoming the temptation to leave Jesus behind, leave him out of the conversation that try to make sense out of a senseless world; whether those conversations are about global war, or a fractured relationship close at hand; world poverty or rampant personal debt; global warming or the defense of personal life style that cause it. Revealing God’s saving mystery is about remembering John 3:16 for what it really says. God so loved the world, not me, not my denomination, not my race, my county, the world. And if God loves the world that much, who am I to say my world is more worthy that theirs, whoever they might be. Jesus, as the Christ is about a new way of being in this world. A way of being that opens the possibility of a new kind of world, a Kingdom of God world. That means bringing Jesus way of being in the world into every human situation that his people encounter. We frequently quote that verse from John. But we don’t go on to quote the next two verses. But in the modern translations of vs. 18 I find another illustration of silencing Jesus as the Christ. The words are modified to suggest that God sent Jesus not to condemn the world but to save the people. More traditional and more accurate translations all say to save the world. What would a saved world look like? The psalmist knew, it is the image behind his prayer for the king. Justice and peace are part of that prayer but the dominating picture is one of fairness. Fair gets a bad rap. It is often written off with a blind acceptance of the idea that the world is not fair. This world isn’t. A saved world would be. God’s saving act will remain a mystery as long as Jesus the Christ is the elephant in the room.