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Diary of a (Maybe) Retired Pastor

Tag: Nativity

  • Rachel Wept

    mayberetiredpastor

    Rachel Wept

    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. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

    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.’

    Matthew 2:16-18 New Testament, The Bible.

    Matthew’s Nativity account contains the harrowing account of the massacre of the innocents, the result of the actions of a ruthless political leader. Mary and Joseph had to flee with Jesus to escape Herod’s persecution and, as many a sermon has pointed out, Jesus began life as a refugee.

    Herod the Great, the politician in question, was a ruthless and uncompromising Jewish ruler. The killing of unnumbered young children mattered not the least to him in  the pursuit of his political objectives. That was twenty centuries ago. Today, the land is again ruled by a ruthless and uncompromising Jewish ruler whose actions are orders of magnitude greater in ruthlessness than Herod’s. And once again the words of the prophet Jeremiah can be aptly quoted – Rachel indeed weeps once more for her children as Prime Minister Netanyahu pursues his political objectives with little, if any, regard for the price paid by thousands of innocent families.

    His excuse is that it is a matter of self-defence, and in this he has been supported by many we would have hoped would judge better, arguing that the right to self-defence trumps all other concerns. Others do not see it in the same way and are appalled at the tragedy and loss inflicted on innocent families. Regardless, whatever human courts might say there is one court which no ruler, no government can avoid. Against the rulings of this court there is no appeal.

    The Bible declares that vengeance must be limited to an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (Exodus 21:23-25) a limit that has been contemptuously breached by the Netanyahu government. More critically, it is clear that, by making His Son share in the tragedy of the massacre of the innocents, God has declared in favour of the innocent and the persecuted.

    Jeremiah’s prophecy is simultaneously a word of comfort and promise to those who have suffered, and, a divine judgement against those whose deeds have poured out tragedy on the lives of those who weep. While Netanyahu’s government may hold human courts in contempt they will be held accountable to the one court that matters: they will each, individually and corporately, have to give account before God Himself.   

    As for you mothers who weep, your cries have been heard; the Lord God Almighty Himself will hold your persecutors to account.

  • God Chose A Side

    mayberetiredpastor

    God Chose A Side

    This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

    Matthew 1:18-19,  New Testament, The Bible

    Maybe it’s because I have been watching a lot of police dramas set in the middle of the last century that these verses have hit me with particular vehemence this Christmas. The best of these address social issues prominent at the time, but even those that don’t reflect cultural norms that are disturbing from the perspective of sixty years in the future. Something that repeatedly strikes me is how badly women were treated at every level of society – not only as victims of crime but simply in everyday life ( I recommend the series Inspector George Gently as a series that powerfully addresses the issue of the day while providing absorbing crime drama).

    It’s not new, of course, to recognise that Jesus’ birth was surrounded by controversy but our celebration of the festival obscures and sugar-coats the nature of His birth. It doesn’t strike us with the force that Matthew’s original readers might have felt. The truth is, the circumstances of Jesus’ birth were shocking and Matthew does not shy away from it. Mary, a young girl, supposedly a virgin, is suddenly discovered to be pregnant. Joseph, her fiancé, reaches the obvious conclusion and decides what any man in his position would have done (and would still do today) – he annuls the engagement. He is a kind man and aims to do so quietly to spare Mary, but it is clear what he, and any other person, believes.

    Reading these verses again I was struck by the realisation that, when He sent his Son amongst us, God chose a side. Of course, we are well aware that in being born as a human being Jesus was humbling Himself to an incomprehensible degree, but, even so, we identify Him with the “good”, “upright”, “moral” (middle class!) people. We fail to recognise that from the very beginning God chose to be identified with the outcast, the despised, the damned. God caused His Son to be born in such a manner that He would be known as the son of a woman who had become pregnant by someone not her fiancé or husband; she was a woman who had made an “unfortunate” mistake; a flirt, a slut, a whore. Jesus, in short, was a bastard. In the mid-twentieth century this would have condemned her.  It’s clear, that this judgement was in the background of Jesus’ story all through His life. The gospel of John, chapter 8:19,41, only makes sense if the Pharisees were referring to stories of Jesus’ illegitimacy. Jesus’ dubious parentage was clearly widely known. God chose a side.

    In the birth of His Son, God chose to stand with all those judged and damned as unworthy by society. He chose to stand with the outcast, the immoral, the weak, the poor.  When I look at the church today I wonder if we, in our moral judgments and condemnations, really stand on the same side as God chose or whether, in Jesus words in John 8, we belong to a different father?