Christmas I         December 30, 2007     Rev. Laird Duran

How was your Christmas? That’s a question I’ve answered many times this week. We had a good Christmas. Worship here on Christmas Eve was really great. I’m always especially moved by the singing of Silent Night at the end of the service. Sleep in heavenly peace. I enjoyed playing it one more time this morning on my violin. As a family, we gathered around the Christmas tree and opened presents. This holiday season continues as we look forward to New Years Day. We’ve left up the Christmas tree, take in a few football games, and make some New Years resolutions, eat black-eyed peas. Then on Jan. 2, it’s back to the reality. In a few days, the festive holiday will give way to the concerns of the world.

For the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the peace of Christmas didn’t last long either. This reading brings us back to the reality that Jesus faced when he was born in Bethlehem. Immediately after St. Matthew's Christmas story, his gospel tells us about Herod’s slaughter of all the innocent baby boys born in Bethlehem. It’s not something we like to talks bout six days after Christmas. But it’s true. In this world where violence and sin are still on the loose, people, especially children, continue to suffer and die needlessly.  

We often say that Christmas is especially for children. As we say that, I think we are usually picturing the smiles on our kid’s faces as they open presents. But what about the children with no smiles on Christmas? Did Jesus come just to make our children smile, or was he concerned for all the children? For me, the reason St. Matthew's gospel story about the children of Bethlehem is telling us the God loves all children. And that Jesus was born to save all God’s children. And that is my message this morning.

Let me tell you about a story I read by the award winning sports columnist and author, Mitch Albom. Albom has also written many popular books, including Tuesdays with Morrie. Albom wrote series of columns that began on Christmas Eve in the Detroit Free Press on heartbreaks and hopes of unsung Detroit area athletes. On Christmas Eve, he started this series off with the heartrending story of a young high school football star who was murdered in Detroit. His central message was that we must protect and care for our children, all our children.

Let me give you a few brief excerpts from Mitch Albom's column. He writes: “Let's talk about a neighborhood where a young football player named Kenny Baumgart, the son of two cops, took a bullet through the lung from a kid he didn't even know, over an argument that nobody can even remember. It happened in the school parking lot. Several shots were fired. People screamed. Next thing you knew, his older brother was carrying Kenny's limp and bleeding body into Holy Cross Hospital, yelling, "Somebody help me, my brother's been shot...."

“His 17th birthday was held in a cemetery. His family, friends and teammates gathered on a cold October afternoon with gifts, balloons, even a cake. ... And as the skies darkened, they sang a soft rendition of "Happy Birthday." They sang it to a tombstone.”

Albom is writing about Detroit, but he’s really addressing children throughout our nation, including Fort Worth, too. He’s talking about neighborhoods where children who walk home from school are taking a risk. He paints a picture of the schools where police are necessary to keep the peace. He talks about our culture where nearly every student either has a gun or knows where to get one.

Albom concluded his column with these words:

Darrell Hagerman, Kenny  Baumgart's murderer, was convicted of second-degree murder. He cried at the verdict. Kenny Baumgart was buried in his Pershing [High School] football jersey. To this day, some people say he was simply in the wrong place. The problem is, it's all the wrong place, isn't it?

There is no safe place for our children. For many people, their first instinct is to move their children out to the suburbs, or into a private school. But that’s not going to keep them safe. As I read Album’s column, I was reminded of my call to Jonesboro in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of four twelve-year old girls and one pregnant teacher. Westside School outside of the town of Jonesboro. As I read these columns, I cold hear in my mind their parents singing happy birthday to their child’s tombstone on their thirteenth birthday. I was also reminded of the carnage at Wedgewood Baptist just a few miles from our church.

A church or school is no place for a gun. A cemetery is no place for a birthday party. What’s so hard about that? The question Albom asks is this: Are we going to protect our children, or aren't we? Albom has several suggestions that would test the will of the people of Detroit and of the state of Michigan to make our families, schools and our streets safer. I agree with many of his suggestions because I think we need to change for the sake of our children. And I say God bless all who work to help and protect our children and those who pray for them. I include teachers, social workers, and all of us who are praying for our children. We can work for justice to keep our children safe, and but that’s not the question Matthew’s gospel is answering this morning.

St. Matthew would have us ask a different question. The question here is simply, is God going to save the baby Jesus? How? Who will do it?  And, will Jesus save the children who are suffering? The good news is yes, and again, yes!  God will save them.

It was his earthly father Joseph who heard the voice of the angel, telling him to that he had to go into exile in Egypt. God chose Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph because they would listen to the angels, and do whatever was necessary to protect baby Jesus.

But what about the rest of God’s children? Will God protect them, too? That answer is in verse 18. “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.” To us it sounds like it might be a secret code for some obscure revelation. But for those who first hear Matthew’s gospel, they knew exactly what this meant.

Matthew’s gospel was originally written for recently converted Jewish people. They all knew Rachel’s story. She was the wife of the patriarch, Jacob. She gave birth to first to Joseph and died tragically in child birth to her second son, Benjamin. Do you remember the story of the Jewish patriarch, Joseph? (If my daughter was here, she’d say yes, but I have the feeling you’re going to tell me anyhow.)

Joseph’s 10 older brothers tried to kill him, and threw him in a ravine. He was picked up and sold as a slave in Egypt. After many years, Joseph grew up to be the second in command over all Egypt directly under Pharaoh. A severe famine hit the whole world, and his ten older bothers, the ones who tried to kill him, came all the way to Egypt to buy food. He had the power and the means to make them pay for their crime against him, but he chose to forgive his brothers. Then he tells them to bring his whole family, including his Father Jacob and brother Benjamin to come and live n Egypt.

Rachel’s second son, Benjamin established a linage that included King David, who was the mighty king of Israel. And Benjamin’s and David’s linage included Jesus earthly father, another man named Joseph, the older looking man who protected Jesus. We see his image in every Christmas creche seated next to Mary. That Joseph was  Jesus’ earthly father, so we can say that he was of the house of David.

But that’s all just background to the question, what will God do with all our children? The verse about Rachel’s weeping for her children is a reference to the book of the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 31, which marks a key turning point in the book. For the first half of Jeremiah, he blasts the people with God’s judgement for their sins, and tells them that’s what caused their exile. But after the go into exile, from Chapter 32 on, the book of Jeremiah assures them that Rachel’s children will one day come back home. Jeremiah says of Rachel’s children, "Keep your voice from weeping, There is hope for your future. Your children shall return."

What will Jesus do with our children? In Matthew chapter 19, Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ The final answer was given on that first Easter when God raised him from the dead. This was a promise from God that the suffering and death of children is not in vain. God’s kingdom will bring new life even out this horrendous carnage imposed on children.

That message of God’s kingdom is found in many scriptures of the New Testament. The Book of Revelation paints a wonderful vision of the picture of the kingdom heaven coming down to the new Jerusalem. that wonderful picture for us when he says’ “After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. ... Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ... "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.... They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; ... for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:9, 13-14, 16-17)

Yes, all the children who have suffered and died will be among those who have come through the ordeal and stand before the throne of God, with white robes washed clean by the blood of the Jesus, the Lamb of God. That's the promise of the new Jerusalem, and the kingdom of God Jesus began on Easter Day.

Until that day, we know it’s true that Christmas is for children. It is for all God’s children, which includes you and me, too. It is a word of hope and promise that Jesus came to save us and that one day we will be among that multitude with all God’s children. Let us do what it takes to protect all our children from exploitation and the sin of the world. Let us seek justice because we want peace, especially for children. Amen