Somewhat awkward. The powers that be had not expected this. There had been 'messiahs' before, and champions of freedom, and there would be again. This however was not the arrival of a warrior.
It was worse. The prince of peace arrived innocent. In the City of David to be sure, but a shepherd boy would be more menacing. This is an opportunity, the king concludes. To get in there right away and do the right thing ... by his own lights.
But he sends the seekers on their way and they do visit the child and his family, and surprise them with gifts.
Royal gifts - gifts for a king.
They begin to see the danger.
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and thought, I know what I have to do? Right now?
Something like that happened to Joseph (and more than once). He took mother and child by night and fled.
What a beginning, and what an exit.
***
Stars you say? Or perhaps a great conjunction of planets. Somehow in the skies a cosmic event heralded, to the wise, an event with earthly import. And more importantly, an earthly event had cosmic significance.
Zoroastrians might point to this as the collision of darkness and light. Certainly the powers that be, with all their dark significance and mighty power, were troubled at this small glimmering of hope in a stable.
But not even the night belonged to Herod the Great. Not truly. For it was under the cover of darkness, over those self-same planets now slowly departing from their conjunction, that the holy family made its escape.
And when they return freedom will travel with them.
***
The wise men have left. The holy family has departed, safely, by night into exile.
The story does not end there. Herod the Great waits in vain for the magi to report back to him. So he takes extraordinary expedient measures.
From a scene of innocence and glory, from a moment of wise perception and quiet celebration, we pass into a scene of power and overweening pride.
Herod takes out a ghastly form of insurance. Knowing that the child was to be born a king, and born at Bethlehem, he tries to wipe out the threat of goodness by killing all children under two.
No child is safe until all children are safe.
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’ (Matthew 2:16-18)
The story does not end there either! As the prophet Jeremiah went on to say, after that lamentation:
Thus says the Lord: Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for there is a reward for your work, says the Lord: they shall come back from the land of the enemy; there is hope for your future, says the Lord: your children shall come back to their own country. (Jeremiah 31:16-17)
And so --
When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be called a Nazorean." (Matthew 2:19-23)
There is hope; there is a way forward. The young family return to Israel; but not to be under the eye of Herod’s son enthroned in his place they divert their steps to a small hill-town in Galilee.
Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
Today of course if you go there you might see a small stream, and imagine Mary getting water there. You might see a little dwelling, discovered under the surface of a morning street, and remember the humble beginnings of the carpenter’s son. You might see Roman pavement in front of a street door, imagine steps of shodden foot passing close by the home of a little child.
And you might imagine the child growing in wisdom and in strength. That day will come.
For now the parents, and the shepherd and the angels and the wise men, carry the secret.
And then it will be carried forward, by evangelists, disciples men and women and children.
By us.
***
So the Christmas season continues after the birth of the Savior.
After the angels depart. After the wise men go their way. So now what? Howard Thurman, a pastor in San Francisco, told us this way:
When the Song of the Angels Is Stilled
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.
Now the work begins.
Now it is our turn, our time. The story of the child is not over, not yet.
When the family returns from Egypt they go not to Bethlehem but to Nazareth. And there Mary and her husband Joseph will raise the child. They will diligently take him to the festival in Jerusalem, Passover, the feast that means so much, and promises freedom as it celebrates the faithfulness of God. But soon, we will be hearing and celebrating - and trying to understand - the story of the adult: of Jesus coming out of Nazareth to the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and returning for that festival - with cosmic consequence.
For now though it is on us.
Can we join him, join Jesus, as he grows and matures into an adult and fearless faith? Into action prophetic and natural? As he simply does the right thing, the significant thing, which is the human thing to do? And realize how in each cup of water, each tray of food, each healed sore or sadness, we proclaim the glory?
That God is with us.
God is with us first as a fragile child, who must be wrapped up in his innocence and born far away. God is with us in the proclamations of the angels, the singing of the shepherds, the doting of a father?
God is with us in anger over injustice, and in doing something about it.
How we treat each other, our environment, and the creation of which we are a part, shows that glory.
Perhaps it is as simple as calling a friend or greeting a stranger: how are you doing in these dark times? Do you see the light is coming back? What can I do to help you? Or how can we pray together? Maybe it is more political than that. Maybe it is more indirect, not knowing the impact of your gift or confidence.
But it is our time now. To do what Jesus will do, to learn who Jesus is, and who we are becoming in Him.
In Him, in his footsteps, rejoicing in what he is doing, we begin to heed the words of many prophets.
"To heal the broken-hearted"
"To make his pathways smooth"
To go ourselves to Jerusalem, in our hearts, to adore - and to get busy.
Good trouble, indeed, is on the way.
https://fcjsisters.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/when-the-song-of-the-angels-is-stilled-howard-thurman/
http://edgeofenclosure.org
https://youtu.be/fuFqCb1B5gM (Second Sunday after Christmas, January 3rd 2021, St Andrew's Episcopal Church, Tucson, 10am service)
