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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Merry Christmas on this fifth day of Christmas. The text for this morning comes from the Gospel reading. You may be seated.
In and through this child, the one born of the Virgin, the one named Jesus because he would save us from our sin. In and through this child were Mary and Joseph led. In and through this child, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ, the One called the Holy One of God. In and through this child were Mary and Joseph led. And they were led to places, and they were led from places which they had never imagined in their own mind. Unexplainable places, enduring and experiencing unexplainable things in their lives that they never thought that they would experience inside. Amen. Pushing them, pulling them beyond, well, kind of like he does to you and me, beyond what we can bear. Revealing to them mysteries in this child and through this child. Revealing to them mysteries that they could only believe they could not understand and explain because it was not to believe.
In and through this child did they experience things in their lives that exalted them, brought them great honor. And in and through this child are they experiencing things that greatly humbled them, brought them to their knees, buckled them and made them feel as if they were but dust. And yet they were given no exact answers throughout their being led by God. This child, they were only given promises to believe. And boy, did they give and receive promises.
It is a very horrific scene in this morning’s Gospel reading. It is a scene that Mary and Joseph were led by God, this child, in and through. O bloody town of Bethlehem, how shrill we hear thee cry. Your mothers shriek while fathers weep the graveyard lullaby. For butchers clad as soldiers at Herod’s mad behest, a boarded wheel with blades of steel, they thrust forth. And tender chests.
Joseph was hit square in the solar plexus, doubling him over. Striking at the very heart of his manhood. Fathers, husbands, you know the score. When you can’t fix what your wife or child is enduring, it makes you feel very impotent. When you can’t protect and preserve them from pain and sorrow, you are incapable. And that’s exactly what God did to Joseph. Struck him at the very heart. Why could he not stay and fight if this child really is God? And he is, and they believed it. And yet God whisks them away, forces him to retreat, seemingly humbles him to be of no power whatsoever in caring for this child and in caring for his bride.
They believed he was the Son of God. They knew and trusted in. It had been revealed to them in the promise he would be named Jesus the Savior. And God’s will was done in their lives in spite of how it made Joseph feel. And Mary, Mary was the one who had said to God, may it be done unto me as you have said. But like you mothers know, the pain of your child strikes you very deep in your heart. She had to have asked herself the question, why were those children killed and murdered and my child allowed to live if he is the Savior and the Son of God? Why do I rejoice and hold this flesh and blood in my arms while they weep with empty arms and no child to nurse at their breasts? Yes, God’s will was done in the families of this town and it is inexplainable.
As much as God’s will was done in Mary and Joseph’s life, and it was unexplainable. Promises to be believed in and trusted in, and they did. But if you and I think so naively that Satan would not scratch the scab of Mary and Joseph and at their core, humanity’s sin, we’re fooling ourselves. They are just like us with flesh and blood. And yes, God did set them aside for unique purposes, but in the end… They still were sinners like you and me.
God is setting a theme for you and me in this text. The theme of how our life as a baptized child of God is. God’s will is done in our life in spite of us and in spite of the evil that surrounds us. And all we have are his promises. O Bethlehem, thou house of tears, what balm can heal thy woe? When darkness looms, can flowers bloom from seeds of grief you sow? Dear heaven, share thy secret. These sons died not in vain. Young martyrs bold in death foretold, a death that life would gain.
Joseph and Mary, as much as all the apostles and all the disciples, including you, has God’s will been done in their and your life. They have all experienced, as you have, God’s will being done. And at times, it lifts us up in glory, and at other times, it crushes us. And yet the child is the one through whom all of this is rectified.
It’s interesting, isn’t it, that God used Mary and Joseph in as profound of a manner as he used wicked Herod and Archelaus. God would not be thwarted by their evil, and God would not be thwarted by their piety. He would accomplish his will in spite of each of them, but only the faith of Mary and Joseph brought them the eyes to see, to believe. God’s will is good toward them.
The prophet Isaiah says, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. In this world, it is easy to be overwhelmed that darkness will triumph. It shall not. And in all of the ways that Mary and Joseph were led, did darkness always cave to the light of Christ? But Mary and Joseph could only see that through the eyes of faith, not by their experience and not by their reason.
Only this child, our God, is in control of all things. Things that you and I see as evil and things that you and I see as good is God in control. And will he overcome it through Christ this child? Nothing will thwart his promises. Not the evil of the people of Bethlehem. Not the evil of the leaders around Bethlehem. Not anything the people have done or have failed to do or the leaders will thwart this will of God. And God will not let the death of those martyrs, those young children slaughtered, be the final word in Bethlehem. No different than he will let your heart be the final word in grief or in sorrow or in shame and pain.
The darkness seeds to the light. The light triumphs. This child in him and through him is God’s will accomplished in your life. You and I live with a faith that is continually accosted by the uncertainty of our minds. And yet we believe by God’s Holy Spirit. You and I live our faith with many things unanswered, many things unresolved, and yet our faith continues to trust in this child as he leads us, as he led Mary and Joseph, to places they knew not, from places that they knew and wished they could not leave.
Are you and I led? Ye martyred boys of Bethlehem, from neath the altar. Pray to Christ your Lord, whom Herod’s sword slew not that awful day. Rachel, Rachel, weep no more. Your sons shall dry your tears. For flowers bloom where darkness loom, since Christ our light appears.
In the end, God’s will will be done. In spite of us and our best efforts and our worst shame, and in spite of evil that we experience and have foisted upon us, will God’s will be done and we shall be led to glory by the one who will dry our tears, the child. He will dry your tears. In and through him are you and will you be led to glory.
In the name of Jesus. Amen. The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
