Paul Harvey used to have a popular radio
spot called Now for the Rest of the Story
for many years before he died. In this
brief segment he would share a story about some historical event as most people
remembered it. He’d begin by telling the
story as remembered, but then he would pause and let his listeners know that he
was about to tell the story as it happened . . . he was going to tell “the rest
of the story.” Then he would proceed to
dispel all the myths and hyperbole about the story with the facts of how it really
took place. People loved it despite fact
that it often blew their understanding of history right out of the water.
This morning we are confronted with a
“now for the rest of the story” moment in the scriptures. From the mountaintop of our Christmas
celebration we’re are dropped back into reality. Dashed are all our heartfelt images of the
Christmas story that we hold so tightly on as we are told about what really
happened. It is kind of ironic how our
understanding of salvation is not presented to us in a neat little package.
The reality of the Christmas story is
that not everyone was thrilled about the prospects of this new savior arriving
on the scene. Not everyone is joining
the heavenly choirs singing “hallelujah!”
No, there are some who are scared . . . scared of how this new savior
can upset the apple cart and mess everything up. We are told of King Herod. Herod sees this new arrival as a threat . . .
a threat to his power and control. Like
any good monarch of the time period he knew what he had to do . . . he had to
get rid of the competition . . . he had to have the child killed.
Feigning interest in this new-born king,
Herod seeks the help of foreign dignitaries who are seeking the child to pay
homage. Herod tells them to find the
child and to come back to tell him exactly where the child is so that he can go
and celebrate the child’s birth. At
least that is what he tells them. His
intentions are quite the opposite . . . and the Magi are warned not to go back.
Herod, having been tricked, is more than
a little perturbed . . . he is angry. In
his anger he issues a decree to have all the male children, two and under, to
be killed in Bethlehem and its vicinity.
In this way he knows that he will rid himself of his competition. Surely, he will get the problem taken care
with such an action.
This is an abrupt twist in the story. Most of us go from the celebration of
the birth of Jesus to his adulthood . .
. we jump over the nasty parts of the story.
That is kind of what we humans do when it comes to things in our lives,
we want to forget . . . those bad moments.
We just jump over them and continue the story from a point where
everything seems simple, nice . . . cut and dry. We have a brief hiccup of amnesia.
I’m sorry to say, despite our best
efforts any of our stories—in order to be truthful and honest, must be complete
. . . complete with the good and the bad.
The whole story must be told because it takes all parts of the story to
understand who we are and what we believe.
Though we are trying to protect ourselves and others, the whole story
must be shared. When it comes to
understanding our faith, the story must be told in its entirety. We cannot leave out the parts that make us
uncomfortable.
Murdering innocent babies surely makes
us uncomfortable. Threatening to have
someone killed because they make us nervous makes us uncomfortable. And, in the hearing of this story, that
Joseph and Mary rush Jesus out of the country while innocent children are
killed . . . well, the implications of that make us feel uneasy. Innocents die so that Jesus may live . . . “A
voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeping for her
children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
Who could blame anyone for wanting to
jump over these parts of the story?
I sometimes struggle with what I can the
“irony of faith.” I sometimes struggle
with the whole Christmas story and its implications on my faith. It just does not make sense to me why such a
beautiful story . . . such a wonderful gift . . . is plagued with such nasty
details that go against what I want to carry in my heart. Yet, this is how the story plays out. It goes against everything I hold precious
and valuable. Things like life . . .
innocent children are killed. Obviously,
Herod does not value any life beyond his own.
So, I wonder . . . I wonder why God plays the story out in the way we
are hearing it this morning? Surely God
could have given the story a Disney-like ending.
In our hearts it seems so simple . . .
love. Through love all of God’s desires
are achieved. Love one another . . .
love one another as we love ourselves.
Through love all things are accomplished . . . the world becomes a
better place—the Kingdom of God. If we
could just learn to love one another . . . to love everyone. That’s what our hearts know, but our minds
know something completely different.
Our minds know that it is not as simple
as it seems. There are lots of people in
the world and throughout history who are not comfortable in who God created
them to be. There are lots of people who
are not satisfied with what they have, and they want more . . . more power,
control, riches. And, we know that these
people are not grounded in love, thus they do not hesitate to do whatever must
be done in order to get what they want for themselves. As far as they are concerned, everyone else
can go to you know where!
As we hear the “rest of the story” we
learn that the story of our faith is not a simple story that is not without its
nastiness. We are confronted with the
reality that not everyone wants what God wants . . . that they could care
less. Thus, they become the stick in the
mud, the fly in the ointment. They
complicate things. In this they mess up
our story, complicate our faith, and make us insecure. In our insecurity we attempt to avoid the
nastiness . . . to avoid the fact that being faithful to God’s desires is
difficult. We become frightened and look
like deer caught in the headlights . . . not sure what we should do.
It has been said that “winners write
history” . . . they tell the story from their point of view . . . which are not
always the “whole story”. They leave out
those parts of the story that are nasty and paint them in unfavorable ways.
So, who is writing our section of
history as the followers of Jesus? Who
is telling the story as it is really played out? Will it be glossed over, the
nasty parts forgotten, so that everyone—at least those in power and
control—come out looking good?
As the followers of Jesus, we are called
to do God’s will . . . which is often not the ways of the world we live. I do not think that I must give a whole bunch
of examples about what I am talking about.
All of us can look around the world we are living in . . . our
communities, our state, our nation, the world in which we exist. All are filled with examples of the nastiness
in the story that is taking place . . . we read it in our papers, on our social
media, and on the nightly news. All
around us are those situations where the world’s desires are clashing with
God’s desire. And, people get hurt. People get traumatized. All because of what is happening goes against
God’s will to fulfill the wants and wishes of those who cannot love.
It is ironic because we know better . .
. we know better because we follow Jesus.
Jesus’ story is not cut and dry . . . not all good. It was a hard journey filled with lots of
challenges that often went against the world.
We know.
This is the never-ending story . . . the
pursuit of God’s will . . . the establishment of God’s Kingdom. We are writing our chapter in the story. What will it be? A glossed over happy story where the reality
and difficulty of faith is not shared?
Or will it be the truth? The truth
that tells the reader or listener that faith is hard . . . there are hard
choices . . . unpopular choices that come in walking in the footsteps of
Jesus.
I don’t know. That will be up to each of us as individuals
and as a community of faith . . . it will be our choice. But what I do know, is that whether it is a
glossed over version leaving out the gory details, or a straight-forward
version with all the nastiness we are confronted with as the faithful . . .
what I know is that God is with us whatever happens. God was with Joseph and Mary as they rushed
Jesus to Egypt to protect their child.
God was with the mourning families who lost sons in the genocide Herod
afflicted upon them. And, that God will
be with us until the very end, and that is the truth. That is the “good news”. Kind of ironic how it all works out, isn’t
it? Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment