Too Close For Comfort

First UMC Fort Dodge

January 30, 2007

Mark Haverland

Matthew 2 13 Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ""Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.'' 14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 15 He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "" Out of egypt I called my son.'' 16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. 17 Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: 18 "" a voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more.'' 19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, 20 ""Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child's life are dead.'' 21 So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, 23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: ""He shall be called a Nazarene.'' 3

Talk about a Grinch stealing Christmas! Here we are less than a week from the glow of our candle light singing of Silent Night, and King Herod is trying to kill the baby Jesus. Will Smith got in some trouble this past week by pointing out the simple truth that Hitler probably thought he was doing the right and good thing by killing all the Jews in Germany. Likewise, Herod probably thought there was nothing wrong with killing lots of babies in his day either. Collateral damage , as the evil doers of every age say, is unavoidable and sometimes necessary to accomplish a greater good. Destroying a village in order to save it has been a battle cry for many tyrants throughout the centuries. Herod was trying to kill the baby Jesus because Jesus was a competitor for the throne. All the other babies died simply because they looked like Jesus. Those babies are the first martyrs in Christianity but there have been and continue to be plenty of other people killed because they looked like Jesus. You know, it’s probably a good thing that this story comes so soon after Christmas. We’re still basking in the glow of the sweet and innocent baby born in Bethlehem. Before we get too complacent with all this sweet baby business we need a reminder of how dangerous it is to look too much like Jesus. Coming so soon after all the cooing of baby Jesus in the stable, the slaughter of the innocents, as it’s called, is a not so subtle way of telling us that this Christianity business is not going to be a bed of poinsettias. The manger lies right beneath the cross – and Matthew doesn’t want us to forget it.

The recent Christmas Ceasefire on the campaign trail left the broadcast air on Christmas day echoing with the final saccharine ads of candidates competing to be more Christian than the others. The candidates from both parties used shamelessly Christian themes to leverage support from voters. The “I love Jesus more than you do” campaigns are particularly evident in the Republican Party, but all candidates nowadays feel a need to establish their religious bone fides. This is a remarkable irony in a religion that started out with such extreme hostility from the government of the times. Campaigning for king of Israel as a Christian when Herod was king was a very dangerous strategy. Through most of history, in fact, looking like Jesus was a distinct liability. Herod was no dummy. And he was only the first of many powerful people to notice that those who look too much like Jesus a huge threat. I’m glad that Christians are not fed to the lions anymore. I’m happy that those who look like Jesus are not killed by ruthless tyrants nowadays. But I’m also a bit uncomfortable when Christians are too cozy with the power elites. It is our role to be slightly at odds with those who are in power. The Slaughter of the Innocents described by Matthew is a clear tocsin that being Christian is dangerous business.

Herod was a spectacularly vicious, intolerant and paranoid king. Herod the Great, as he liked to be called, was absolutely unscrupulous in matters of his own interest and security. He was constantly worried that rivals would threaten his royal prerogatives. Herod even executed one of his own wives and two of his sons because he thought they might be plotting against him. A contemporary joke had that it was safer to be one of Herod's dogs than one of his sons. Of course, he ruled only because the Roman government allowed him to. So successfully did he court Roman favor that he eventually presided over all Jewish territories and was given the right by Rome to be called "King of the Jews." He tried to kill Jesus because the Wise Men from the East told him a new king of the Jews had been born in Bethlehem. He killed all the boy children under two in the city of Bethlehem because he feared this infant rival. Since Herod died in 4 BC after a 33 year reign, he must have been a pathetic sight. An old man afraid of a baby. Did he think he was going to live forever on the throne in Jerusalem?

Some think this story is apocryphal and it may be, but it is another one of those stories which is very true whether it happened or not. How much more true can you get than to say that evil lurks everywhere trying to undo the Good? How much more true can you get than to show how children so often suffer the sick, sad wrath of pathetic bullies? How much more true can you get than to show how Jesus threatens those whose power comes from greed, envy, and exploitation? How much more true can you get than to expose the man behind the curtain to be a fraud? How much more true can you get than to describe the evil of a ruler who feels threatened by the power of God’s Word?

Herods still walk among us today, of course. World leaders are sparring for control. The murder of Bhutto in Pakistan looks suspiciously like the hateful act of a rival for control in that country. Even religious empires slander and unleash murderous emotions when turf and contributors and allegiance are at stake. Is not Bin Laden, also in the news this week, a sort of modern day Herod, who sees threats in the shadows of his bedroom, and lashes out at innocent people?

The flight of Joseph with his family was not the first time Israel fled to Egypt for safety, you may remember. And it would certainly not be the last time children had to flee for their lives from an evil king. I read this past week about the Kindertransport, that from Dec 1938 to August 1939 transported 10,000 Jewish children at risk from the Nazi regime. Britain opened its doors to these children at a time when there was virtually no emigration from Germany at all. British families volunteered to serve as foster homes and rescued thousands of children who otherwise would have perished in the death camps of Nazi Germany. It reminded me of the Orphan Trains, which transported thousands of children from the streets of NYC and Philadelphia to the small towns of rural Iowa and Nebraska and Kansas and other mid-western states in the late 1800s. How sad that children so often face danger because adults can’t run the world properly.

We face our own issues in this regard. An alarming number, maybe as high as a third, of children in the United States live in poverty, don’t have adequate health insurance, and live in what we have come to call at-risk environments. They’re not fleeing for their lives, but they’re not completely out of danger either mostly because we adults can’t run the country properly.

Did you read about the lion which killed a visitor at the San Francisco Zoo this past week? He apparently jumped a fence which was not quite high enough. There is some hint that the tourists may have taunted the lion and approached too close in too threatening a manner. My worst fear while back backing is that I will inadvertently get too close to a grizzly bear and cause him to attack me. Zoologists point out that animals have what is called a fight-flee line. If you approach a bear slowly enough only to cross his flee line, he may just run from you. But if you somehow manage to sneak closer to him before he sees you, instead of running, he might just turn and attack you. You've crossed his fight line. Not a good idea!

All of us have a flee line and a fight line, I suppose. Take teenagers, for instance. Teenagers often have a touchy sense of their own private space. Even asking them something like, “How’s you day going?” can feel to them like a violent invasion of their privacy. It feels to them like someone is crossing their flee line if not also their fight line. It may be best to avoid altogether asking questions of teenagers. Instead, just talk to them about your own experiences. I notice that when Jennifer asks very young children questions during the Kid’s Moment, they respond eagerly if not always accurately. But when I ask the teenage kids in Confirmation questions they usually hunker down in sullen silence. I have found that it works best just to forge ahead with whatever I have to tell them and not expect much verbal response. Ellery Duke of the DM Pastoral Counseling Center likes to tell the story of his own teenagers. He tried hard not to ever expect them to respond to a direct question about themselves. One day, when a college sophomore daughter got back home from a semester in France, he picked her up at the airport and on the way home began telling her what he had been doing while she was gone. After a while, the daughter interrupted him and asked, “Don’t you want to know what France was like for me?” Sooner or later, kids give us a clue that it’s okay to invade their space again by asking them a question.

The Bible is essentially the story of humans who, like teenagers or grizzly bears or Herod, flee or fight when God crosses the line and gets too close. The Bible opens with Adam and Eve rebelling when God crosses the line by making demands on them and threatens their prerogatives to do as they please. We are a touchy species, it seems, who don’t like to be crowded in. Herod was not the last to feel threatened by Jesus. Jesus can cross our flee/fight line, too. Few people let Jesus get inside their borders. Most folks flee when Jesus approaches. We sense sometimes, like Herod, that Jesus will make demands on us, will ask us to change, will tell us that everything we have belongs to God. Jesus comes to say lose your life, love your God more than yourself, give everything to the poor, turn the other cheek, accept me as your King. This is way too close for comfort. Most of us flee.

Abraham Lincoln told the story of the judge who was offered a bribe from a litigant in a trail. “I’ll give you a hundred dollars to help me out,” the man offered. “No,” the judge rebuked. “I’ll give you five hundred dollars,” the man countered. The judge gave him an icy stare. “Okay, then, five thousand dollars!” At which point the judge leaped to his feet, grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck and threw him into the street. “Why’d you do that?” he asked. Lincoln replied, “You were getting too close to my price.”

I sometimes think those who stay away from church are just afraid to let Jesus get too close to their price. They enjoy their personal prerogatives too much. They don’t want to change. They want life to keep going on just as it always has. They want to keep their hands firmly closed around all that is theirs. Jesus stands very close to us and whispers in our ears, “open your hearts and your treasures to the needs of your neighbor.” This is way over the human flee line and many people run or stay as far away as possible.

Have you heard the old chestnut about how Wally ruined the Christmas play? Little eight-year old Wally played the part of the innkeeper at his church pageant. When Joseph and Mary knocked on his door late one night saying, "We need a place to stay," Wally responded with a well-rehearsed, "I'm sorry! There is no room; you'll have to move on!"

Then Joseph argued, "But my wife is expecting a baby!"

"Move on!" Wally sternly and proudly recited his lines.

Then as Joseph put his arm around Mary's waist and together they slowly began to walk off, little Wally's eyes welled up with tears and he broke out of character to call out, "Wait! Wait! Don't go! You guys can have my room!"

If we’re not careful, the advent story can have the same effect on us!

Lord hear our prayers………. We bring before you, Loving God, all the hopes and dreams, fears and hesitations that accompany us into the new year. Help us lay aside the frustrations and sorrows of the past. Enable us to build on the joys and celebrations. Be with us again this year and lead us closer to you. Amen

God of mercy, of kindness, and of justice, we choose to walk with Christ into the new year, to work with Jesus for the new social order he came to inaugurate. We commit ourselves with our gifts of money, time, talent, and energy to oppose all that would oppress your people, working toward bringing to fullness Christ's reign on earth. Bless and use what we offer this day. Amen