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.