Psalm 133 - The Blessedness of Unity
How very good and pleasant it is
when kindred live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
life forevermore.
Well – we missed the Christmas story this year (with the majority of us out sick) but I don’t think I want to go back and try to play catch-up. We have all heard that story all our lives – whether in church or even just the reading from Charlie Brown’s Christmas on TV – and we have all celebrated it in one form or another this past week. I’ve noticed in the past that if we miss a holiday and try to go back to pick it up, it has a tendency to fall flat because the world has already moved on.
I do want to talk about the Christmas story today, but not in the traditional way. When I read through it this week preparing for today I was struck – as I don’t think I have been before, by just how crowded the story – according to Luke -- is.
What we can assume we know is that there was a man and a woman, about to have a child -- a couple who are – at best – lower middle class. I read somewhere that the word we translate as “carpenter” actually is closer to “handyman” – not someone who owns his own business but someone who does pick-up work for others. This shouldn’t make a big difference, but I suspect it did drop Joseph down a notch in the social hierarchy of the time. My point being – these were not important people.
Except for Mary’s prenatal visit to her cousin Elizabeth, we don’t hear any mention of family on either side. They don't even have the luxury of being at home in familiar surroundings when the birth occurs. Whatever plans they might have had with a midwife, for instance, were left back in Nazareth – and they were off in Joseph’s birth city alone and among strangers.
This is what we can assume we know. Even the part about traveling to Bethlehem may just be window dressing to make the story match up with an old prophecy from Micah that said the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
So, a man and a woman – and eventually a baby.
Until we get to Luke’s Gospel. And suddenly this story of an ordinary birth becomes an extraordinarily crowded story.
Luke’s version – written something around 90 A.D. – fully 60 years after the death of Jesus, remember -- begins, of course, with flights of angels, but then we get to shepherds – pretty ordinary, everyday people. But these shepherds all just take off, leaving their sheep untended, to go see the result of the birth of a child belonging to someone they don’t know at all. We may not think that is so unusual these days when we drive for miles at a moment’s notice, but this really is an unusual happening. And then on their way home, they tell everyone they know – so they can go see, too.
Eight days later, Joseph and Mary make the trip to Jerusalem and the Temple to present their child to God and to the assembled community. There, the holy man Simeon praises God and reminds them that it was promised he would see the salvation of the peoples before his death – and this is the one. Then Anna, the prophetess, speaks up and proclaims that this is indeed the one they have awaited for so long. All of this in the Temple, itself – in public, including the whole worshiping community into the story.
All of these things are public presentations reminding us that we are not born into isolation or strict individualism but into community. We exist with and for each other.
We used to live in multigenerational families – the most natural thing ever – but we tend to self-sufficiency these days – or, think we do. But, doing life on our own is not how God designed us. We are created to live in humble interdependency with each other.
So let’s finish off the Christmas season with one more look at our subject through the lens of Matthew 25 – whatsoever you do to the least of these... and see how that applies to living in community.
Family is our first community – but from there, how far out does community reach? And what are our responsibilities to those communities? Where do we find Jesus in the least of these?
Any thoughts, ideas?
{Discussion]
I do want to talk about the Christmas story today, but not in the traditional way. When I read through it this week preparing for today I was struck – as I don’t think I have been before, by just how crowded the story – according to Luke -- is.
What we can assume we know is that there was a man and a woman, about to have a child -- a couple who are – at best – lower middle class. I read somewhere that the word we translate as “carpenter” actually is closer to “handyman” – not someone who owns his own business but someone who does pick-up work for others. This shouldn’t make a big difference, but I suspect it did drop Joseph down a notch in the social hierarchy of the time. My point being – these were not important people.
Except for Mary’s prenatal visit to her cousin Elizabeth, we don’t hear any mention of family on either side. They don't even have the luxury of being at home in familiar surroundings when the birth occurs. Whatever plans they might have had with a midwife, for instance, were left back in Nazareth – and they were off in Joseph’s birth city alone and among strangers.
This is what we can assume we know. Even the part about traveling to Bethlehem may just be window dressing to make the story match up with an old prophecy from Micah that said the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
So, a man and a woman – and eventually a baby.
Until we get to Luke’s Gospel. And suddenly this story of an ordinary birth becomes an extraordinarily crowded story.
Luke’s version – written something around 90 A.D. – fully 60 years after the death of Jesus, remember -- begins, of course, with flights of angels, but then we get to shepherds – pretty ordinary, everyday people. But these shepherds all just take off, leaving their sheep untended, to go see the result of the birth of a child belonging to someone they don’t know at all. We may not think that is so unusual these days when we drive for miles at a moment’s notice, but this really is an unusual happening. And then on their way home, they tell everyone they know – so they can go see, too.
Eight days later, Joseph and Mary make the trip to Jerusalem and the Temple to present their child to God and to the assembled community. There, the holy man Simeon praises God and reminds them that it was promised he would see the salvation of the peoples before his death – and this is the one. Then Anna, the prophetess, speaks up and proclaims that this is indeed the one they have awaited for so long. All of this in the Temple, itself – in public, including the whole worshiping community into the story.
All of these things are public presentations reminding us that we are not born into isolation or strict individualism but into community. We exist with and for each other.
We used to live in multigenerational families – the most natural thing ever – but we tend to self-sufficiency these days – or, think we do. But, doing life on our own is not how God designed us. We are created to live in humble interdependency with each other.
So let’s finish off the Christmas season with one more look at our subject through the lens of Matthew 25 – whatsoever you do to the least of these... and see how that applies to living in community.
Family is our first community – but from there, how far out does community reach? And what are our responsibilities to those communities? Where do we find Jesus in the least of these?
Any thoughts, ideas?
{Discussion]
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