The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
January 3, 2021
2 Christmas, B
Jeremiah 31:7-14
Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a
Matthew 2:1-15, 19-23
So, That was Tuesday…
A couple thousand years ago, Jesus was born. The Creator of the Universe became a human being in human flesh and walked among us, and most people had no idea. In Australia, some guys were sitting around a campfire playing didgeridoo. Here in not yet Texas, Native American tribes were bedding down for the night. For most people around the world, Jesus’ birth was just a regular Tuesday or whatever day it was, meaning that the world kept on turning much as it had for a billion years before.
I’m reminded of a Coldplay song called, “Til Kingdom Come.”
And the wheels just keep on turning
The drummer begins to drum
I don't know which way I'm going
I don't know which way I've come
For you I'd wait 'til kingdom come
Until my day, my day is done
And say, you'll come and set me free
Just say, you'll wait, you'll wait for me
Since Jesus’ birth, the world keeps on turning, and God continues to be with us. We often feel like we are waiting for peace on Earth, and we may get discouraged in that waiting. Yet for that beautiful promise, we will wait till kingdom come. God also waits for us to live out the peace we want, knowing full well that we often won’t, and yet, in the midst of that waiting, God is with us.
Now for Mary and Joseph Jesus’ birth was the end of waiting, a fantastic event. God had became human and was born with angel choirs singing to shepherds, who then saw Jesus and proclaimed God’s greatness; God’s prophecy to Mary was fulfilled as hope, light, and life came into the world. So that was Tuesday, or whatever day it was, and then Wednesday came around with an exhausted Mary and Joseph waking up early to an infant crying for milk, with swaddling cloths decidedly wetter and dirtier than they had been hours before.
Fast forward a couple thousand years, and Jesus’ birth isn’t just some other day which goes unnoticed by almost everyone on earth. Today, Jesus’ birth is celebrated all over the world, in Israel, in Australia, in Texas. In every corner of the Earth, people celebrate and give thanks for Jesus’ birth, for God among us, and still, the world keeps on turning.
Jesus’ coming was supposed to be this world altering event. The coming of messiah was said to be the inauguration of a new world of peace on Earth. We know now that peace on Earth and an end of all strife wasn’t actually going to happen with Messiah’s birth.
The world altering event of Jesus’ birth went on with normal life for everyone. The daily grind, the joys of life, the struggles of life, all of that has continued on ever since Jesus’ birth. Sadly, tragedy had continued on as well. Even this past Christmas day, in Tennessee, a man packed his RV with explosives and became a suicide bomber, luckily killing only himself. Killing, strife, and those with power wielding their power cruelly has continued on ever since Jesus’ birth.
King Herod was a prime example of this. When the Magi first came to Herod, he asked them when they had first seen the star guiding them to Jesus and based on that date, he had boys two years old and younger killed in his efforts to kill Jesus who was probably about 18 months old at that point. That’s why the angel told Joseph to flee to Egypt. Killing, strife, those with power wielding their power cruelly. As we know all too well, all of those things and more have continued on ever since Jesus’ birth, human pride, greed, and brokenness have continued on even with God among us.
Of course, that’s kind of the point of Jesus’ birth, isn’t it? In the midst of killing, strife, and the powerful wielding their power cruelly, God is among us. God is among us not because we’re perfect or because we’ve made life into a perfect world. In the midst of human pride, greed, and brokenness, God is among us precisely because there isn’t peace on Earth. God is among us precisely because we aren’t perfect and we do keep messing up. God came among us to set us free from that over and over again.
We lose our way. We forget the beauty of light and life all around us. Sometimes we become so enshrouded in darkness, and our brains, our minds, and souls become so broken by darkness that we do terrible things like filling an RV with explosives and blowing ourselves up. We lose our way and we bring about strife on Earth rather than peace on Earth.
Even in lesser ways than suicide bombing, we lose our way and live into darkness. We get so caught up with deadlines, with worries about the future, with things not being the way they are supposed to be, that we lash out. We try to force our way rather than follow in God’s way. We lose sight of the beauty of God among us because after all, that was Tuesday, and Wednesday comes with a whole new set of problems, and so God keeps on giving little epiphanies, little revealings of God’s presence and way among us, to show us the light and set us free from the darkness.
Even for Mary and Joseph, that next day after Jesus’ birth led to a whole succession of next days, and in all likelihood, they lost sight of the glory of Jesus’ birth. From diapers, and drooling, and little sleep to chasing after a toddler, climbing on furniture and breaking things, Mary and Joseph began raising a little boy. Again, Jesus was probably around 18 month old when the Magi came to him. Mary and Joseph had been raising a toddler for over a year since choirs of angels sang, so they may well have lost sight of the glory of Jesus’ birth. Once again, even Mary and Joseph may have needed to be set free.
The coming of the Magi was a new epiphany, a new revealing of God among us to the Magi, and through them to people beyond Israel. The coming of the Magi was also, in all likelihood, a renewed epiphany, a renewed revealing of God among us to Mary and Joseph. In the midst of raising a toddler, a caravan of strangers came. They had treasure chests with them, which makes this seem like they were a caravan of Magi traveling together, and when they saw Jesus, they said they had been guided by a star, by some miracle of God, and they followed the star because they wanted to pay homage to and worship Mary and Joseph’s little boy named Jesus. Then, they opened up their chests and rooted through them, and gave Jesus some of their best loot.
How random is that? Here Mary and Joseph are, a year and a half after shepherds and angel choirs, and a caravan of weird Magi show up at their door like some Amazon delivery guy with a package they didn’t order. I think Mary and Joseph needed that epiphany just as much as the Magi did, just as much as we do. In the midst of all of the days after the glory of Jesus’ birth, God came among them again to set them free.
A couple thousand years ago, Jesus was born to set us free. The Creator of the Universe became a human being in human flesh and walked among us. Even with that great coming of Jesus, the light of God living with us in the world, we still lose our way and get trapped by the darkness, and so into that darkness, God continues to give little epiphanies, to show us the light once again and to set us free.
And the wheels just keep on turning
The drummer begins to drum
I don't know which way I'm going
I don't know which way I've come
For you I'd wait 'til kingdom come
Until my day, my day is done
And say, you'll come and set me free
Just say, you'll wait, you'll wait for me
