Commentary on Lectionary for December 26, 2010

First Sunday after Christmas

Isaiah 63:7-9; Psalm 148; Hebrews 2:10-18; Matthew 2:13-23

When Christmas is on a Saturday, many people will miss these readings for the first Sunday after Christmas. And they’ll be glad they did, because the one from Matthew tells a gruesome tale of a king murdering children two years old and under. It seems almost unfair for God to send an angel to warn Joseph to take the child to Egypt, but then no one warns the Mothers in and around Bethlehem and their children are slaughtered.

What a savage time, we think! But Matthew writes that not only Herod was afraid when the wise men came looking for a King, but “all Jerusalem with him” (Mt. 2:3). Their neighbors to the east had already proven themselves aggressive enemies, so Herod may have been taking no chances in ordering this pre-emptive strike against a possible threat in the distant future. And the irony is that Herod died before anyone could tell whether his action was necessary to preserve the powers that be. History would not vindicate him. The destruction of the Temple would come from Rome.

Anyhow, Matthew’s main purpose seems NOT to have been to tell horrible stories, but to link Jesus to the Old Testament prophecies, to Micah and Jeremiah and Isaiah. He wants to make it perfectly clear: this is the one who was foretold.

And the creators of the lectionary readings did the same thing: the Isaiah reading comes from a chapter that pictures God as dressed in crimson because he has killed so many of Israel’s enemies. But the chosen verses are those that make the point that God didn’t send an angel to save his people: it was “his presence that saved them; his love and pity redeemed them” (Is. 63:9).

The letter to the Hebrews quotes Psalm 22, which also contains so many violent images, as directly applying to Jesus. And the point of that passage is that this God who created everything came to us in human form, sharing all of our sufferings, a victim of our violence, so that He could help us get beyond our pain and relax in his presence.

As the New Testament writers look back on the first Christmas and the life of Jesus, they seem to be saying, “Yes, yes, we know that life is full of powerful men who will do anything to preserve their status; we know there are nations who want our land and our resources and will kill to get them; we know even children have a high mortality rate and sometimes die horrible deaths, but the thing we want to tell you is not that—that’s old news. The thing we want to tell you is that something new has happened; someone has entered our nasty realities to help us, to save us from all of this. We have VERY good news for you! Go pray Psalm 148 and call upon all of creation to praise the God who has come to join us!”

Now here’s the thing, and it will bear repeating throughout this new church year: the nasty things are not going to stop. The reading from Matthew is proof of that. Prayers will still go unanswered. Disaster and heartache and tears are all around. But with his presence, his grace and his help, we can align ourselves with the reality that is underneath all temporary forms, find our peace in it, and start our eternal life now. We won’t always be successful in this “alignment,” but some day we may swim through our tears and find joy.