December 29, 2013 (First Sunday of Christmas) Matthew 2:13-23
Matthew 2:13-23
God of Refugees, God of Refuge
First Sunday of Christmas – December 29, 2013
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
This is a hard text to read on the First Sunday of Christmas.
And of course this is a hard text to read anytime.
The child Jesus and his parents are forced to flee and seek refuge in another country – in Egypt –
because the tyrant King Herod is threatened by this child the magi have named “king.”
And while the child Jesus is saved and his life is preserved so he can live into adulthood,
Herod does succeed in killing all the other male children two years or younger
in and around Bethlehem.
Because the population of Bethlehem was relatively small at the time,
scholars estimate this may have meant only 20 or so children were harmed.
But of course, the numbers don’t really matter: even one child would have been too many.
And so Matthew includes a lament in the reading that he quotes from 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.
A lament is included among the Christmas carols this morning.
Jesus is displaced, children are killed: the innocent suffer at the hands of the mighty.
Where is the good news in this?
Jesus and his family at least find refuge and safety in Egypt until
it is safe for them to return home.
And that’s a good thing.
But surely it was not an easy thing to be a refugee, then or now.
But part of the good news at least this morning is that in Jesus God has come to identify
very closely with all the displaced ones – with all the refugees – of this world.
In Jesus God has come to us in the very form of a refugee.
God enters into a homeless situation in Jesus.
There is surprise after surprise about God in the Christmas story.
That he is born into poverty, born in a stable, placed in a rough feed box and
now seeks asylum as a refugee: these are surprises indeed.
If Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, then this story is telling us God is particularly and
especially with the poor, the displaced, the refugee,
for God in Christ came as one of them – and knows what it is like.
Part of the good news in the story is that God keeps Jesus and his family safe in Egypt.
I’m not sure how good this news is for the families of those whose children were killed.
Sometimes it’s hard to rejoice in one family’s good fortune when one’s own is grieving.
But we have to see the good news in the story where we can find it:
despite Herod’s fear and ruthlessness, despite tyrants raging, despite so much suffering,
God is quietly but powerfully at work.
In this story, God is actually in the new place, Egypt,
providing refuge and safety and a measure of well-being.
God is in the new place.
Sometimes that may not look like much – and we don’t even get a glimpse of what
life in Egypt was like for Jesus and Mary and Joseph.
But God is always in the new place, providing safety and well-being.
And that is good news for all of us – that God is always in the new place.
It is good news for all of us who have experienced the world’s many displacements.
For anyone who has had to move to a new home or a new city.
For anyone who has had to move to a new job or a new career.
For anyone who has had to move to a new school or a new start of any kind.
For those who experience the displacements of old age and
perhaps moving to new accommodations.
For those who experience the displacements of illness in all its forms.
For those who experience the displacements of grief and of death.
And of course for those who experience the displacement of becoming refugees,
whether through natural disaster like in the Philippines or through war like in Syria.
For all of these, we need to hang on to the good good news that God is in the new place,
providing a measure of safety and a measure of well-being so that
life and love can flourish.
The United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that 2013 will have seen
the highest number of displaced persons – of refugees – ever seen in the world.
Even though the numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons is already higher than
it has been in decades, the sharp increase this year is largely due to the civil war in Syria.
And while it is difficult for us to hold together belief in a loving God with
things like this that happen in the world,
we have to remember the Christmas story.
The Bible well knows that human destruction is woven throughout the fabric of history,
and, like the Gospel story today, it honestly confronts that.
But the Bible also knows that the awful consequences of human destruction cannot and
indeed will not destroy God’s ability to save.
That is tremendous good news.
Many Syrian refugees – over 150,000 – have found refuge in
the Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan.
One of our members, Bob Granke – the Executive Director of Canadian Lutheran World Relief –
recently met one of the families living in the camp – the Alammarie family.
As of December 12th, this family of eight had been in the camp for 7 months.
Here’s what Bob wrote about his visit with the family:
There were no real complaints, even though they are living in tents and the rain soils the tents and belongings. Winter will be tough for them.
At the mention of the Syrian winter, you remember that this fall we –
along with many other Canadian Lutheran congregations – collected sweaters to send to
the Syrian refugees to keep them warm through CLWR– over 60,000 all together!
In the face of the epic conflict going on in Syria, 60,000 sweaters may not seem like much.
And yet, it kinda does. It’s kind of astonishing. It’s kind of over the top. It’s God at work.
Bob continues:
I can tell you that the Canadian sweaters will be a godsend. Their children are in school. It’s been a difficult adjustment but they have a positive attitude. It’s families like this that we are making a difference for. . . . All your support is making a real difference in the lives of Syrian refugees. (http://www.clwr.org/News/news-brief.cfm?news_id=346)
At First Lutheran Church we sent a lot of sweaters to Syria.
God is in the new place. God is in the Za’atari Refugee Camp.
God is providing safety and well-being to those innocent ones displaced by war.
And it turns out God is doing this through you.
For another piece of the good news this morning is that you can incarnate the one
born in Bethlehem – and be an agent of God’s saving grace in the world,
and participate with God in God’s loving mission to
love bless and heal this world and every person in it.
God wants to be in the new place with all the displaced ones of this world.
God is in the new place – and God is in the new place through you.
I still wonder about those other children in the story, though –
the ones who didn’t find refuge from the tyrant.
I like to imagine that at some point in the story – after Jesus and his family return from Egypt,
after Jesus grows up, maybe on his way to Jerusalem,
where he will finally identify in death with all the victims of tyrants everywhere – I like to imagine that Jesus finds the families of those whose children had died,
and offers them his healing compassion and ministers to them.
I like to think that Jesus was saved for this purpose:
to bring the reign of God close to those who suffer
all the awful displacements of this world.
May we continue to join him and may we continue to be strengthened for this task at this table.
So together let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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