The scholars who through their books guide poor parish preachers advise us to put aside sentimentality this Sunday. Christmas joy is so yesterday. “Hollow theology,” one said. They berate us because, while the Christmas story is nice and heartwarming, the real world is out there, and we are in it. One scholar says, “‘Be of good cheer’ masks the reality that much of the time life is anything but cheery.” In their argument, they cite the readings for today. They remind us to put things in context.
They remind us about Isaiah. These three verses are full of exuberance. It recounts the fine deeds of God, and sings God’s praises. But the verses have been quoted out of context, they say. “Airlifted,” one says, “out of a chapter thick with divine wrath and human despair.” In Isaiah, chapter 63, from which these verses were picked, we hear about God who is angry, tired, and disillusioned, and a world that fits that mood. We should, we are advised, not be tempted to focus on verses 7, 8, and 9. Lest, I supposed, we are tricked into finding pleasure in God, the world, and God’s works.
They remind us about Herod, the evil king in Matthew’s story of young Jesus and his family. “Nothing sentimental about Matthew’s ‘Christmas story’”—the writer puts that in quotes to reinforce his point. It is set in times—its context—set in times of turbulence and terror. Herod was certainly and truly a bad person. He killed his rivals. He built fortresses all around Israel because he was afraid of being deposed. He murdered his wife and one of his sons. As he was dying, he ordered the execution of all political prisoners so that all the people would mourn. There is no historical record of the slaughter of the innocents that Matthew writes about, but it would have been in character for him. He could and would have done it. The times were wicked.
We give thanks for these scholars. But really, we don’t need any reminders about how the world is. We have our own context. It is more or less the same as the world has always been. We are not ignorant of times of terror and turbulence. We are not strangers to human despair and surprising sorrow, or to unfairness and stupidity and evils. We know too much of cruelty already. We don’t need to be reminded that the peace of the child in the manger, shepherds all around, is not normal. It is extraordinary.
That is the point.
The verses from Isaiah and the “Christmas story” are signs that in the midst of trouble and sorrow, God is still good. Though Herod is as horrible as bad kings can be, the idea of the story in Matthew is that some escape. Though the Israelites may have had a rough go of it in the previous few centuries, they praise God for what God has already done: freed them from slavery, returned them from exile. “I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord, the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, because of all that the Lord has done for us,” Isaiah sings. Israel reminds itself of the God who was there, who adopted and cared for them, raised them and taught them. The God who is their God. “These are my people,” God says. “These are my children.” In their distress, it says, God, too was distressed.
My niece, when she was a toddler, used to raise her arms to her parents and say “carry you!” Do you want me to carry you? they had asked her so many times. When she was tired. Or when she was frightened. Or when she was surrounded by lots of big adults in crowds. When the forces of her world bore down on her or her own resources were weakened. So it is with us, God’s children. “In his love and in his mercy God lifted them up and carried them,” Isaiah says. Carry you.
It is misleading to call the “Christmas story” sentimental. The context for Matthew is not the evils of the world—though he would agree that are certainly in the world—the context for Matthew is the prophetic history of God’s goodness and hope for the world. The point is not that Herod was a cruel genocidal king. Everyone knew that. The point is the God intervened to save one. Matthew puts the story in context, in the context of God’s work, God’s history, God’s promise, God’s reign. And especially God’s challenge to the other forces of the world which otherwise seem so unstoppable.
We can respond to things of the world with weeping and complaining and being discouraged. And there are plenty of times for that. But not today. Today we remember and respond with praise for all things God has given us. We sing with all the world, following the words of the psalm. Praise God. The sun and moon and stars, the heavens and the seas praise God. The monsters, fog, fire, hail, and wind praise God. The mountains, the trees, the beasts, the birds praise God. The kings and rulers, men and maids. Let us all praise God, for he has raised up strength for his people. Carry you!
If that is sentimental, if that is hollow theology, well then: hooray for that. Praise God and be thankful.
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