Christmas 1 A 28th December 2025
The world is
changing and this Christmas was tainted by the darkness. Christmas is the “Light coming into the dark
of our world. Themes of light and dark,
always a part of Advent and Christmas, seemed to take on more meaning this
year, knowing that our Jewish community were experiencing such darkness. One week after the terror, instead of hiding
away in the darkness of fear, people came out, and there was a proclamation of
the God’s light – which is what Hannukah is – and I ponder coincident
that we, in such close time proximity - at Christmas, celebrate the light of
the world, stepping down into our darkness.
Instead of an event that had a few thousand people celebrating Hannukah,
the ceremony was attended by something like 20 thousand and televised. It takes
courage to stand up and be faithful to God when the darkness is great.
In our
readings this week, we discover that the troubles that Mary and Joseph had
faced prior to the birth of Christ, was only just the beginning of the
difficulties they would face. Jesus was
born and there was the highlight of God’s Angels proclaiming the birth to the
shepherds and the whole buzz around from those who had heard the news, but now
Herod was on the war path.
For our
story today we jump ahead to the time after the visit from the Magi – the wise
men from the east who followed the star looking for the King of the Jews. Joseph again is visited in a dream, by an
Angel. He is warned to flee to Egypt. The way that the story reads, it appears that
he woke in the night, and the family left straight away.
Have you
ever wondered how Herod fitted into the Jewish story and why he was king? Herod, as far as belief was concerned, was
nominally Jewish. He was an Edomite
through his father and Arabian through his mother. The Edomites were descendants of Abraham and
his son Isaac. Isaac had twin sons, Esau
and Jacob. Jacob became Israel and the
descendants of Esau were the Edomites. Isreal
was under Roman rule and Herod was appointed by Rome, as the King of the Jews.
It is
documented that Herod was incredibly ambitious and held on to his position by
killing anyone who was a threat. This
included some of his own children and one of his many wives. Although it seems incredible that Herod would
kill his own children, I’m reminded that I heard a podcast that suggested some
of the fairytales that speak of jealous step-mothers, were actually originally written
based on fact, about jealous mothers, who were known to mis-treat and even
poison children who posed a threat to them.
One thing is very sure, our
values for the sanctity of life and our value of treating others as we might
like to be treated ourselves… these are not values that are shared by all. They have come from the Jewish linage of
faith and they have come from the Gospel.
This is also something that struck me as I listened to the Jewish
reflection ceremony. The speakers talked
about spreading the light. They talked
about treating others as we would like to be treated. The 14 year old, Chaya, who was shot while
protecting children who she didn’t even know, did so because that is what you
do for others. You protect their life,
even though you don’t know them.
Chaya, and the
Jewish community, reminded me of who we Christians are supposed to be. And it causes me to ponder; Our society also
used to value the sanctity of life. Our society’s
values are built on the values of Christianity….or at least they were
built on the values of Christianity – and as we’ve been reminded recently;
those values came from the Jewish religion.
Those values come from God. Toward
the end of the day of reflection, after hearing from survivors and
commemorating those who were taken, the menorah was lit. This is important for our readings today,
because the Menorah is a sign of the presence of God. In the temple of ancient time, the menorah
was to remain lit at all times. This was
so that the people could look at it and know that God’s presence was with them.
Today in our
first reading we note that Isaiah says; “in all their distress. It was
no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his
love and pity it was he who redeemed them; he lifted them up and
carried them all the days of old.” It
may have been an Angel that appeared to Joseph and it was Isaiah, a messenger, who
proclaimed God’s message to the people of his time. These were God’s agents who helped by proclaiming
God’s word - who were vital, but Isaiah
is clear – It is the presence of God that saved them. God Saves!
The name Jesus is “God Saves” – which we’ve also noted in the last
couple of weeks.
Jesus is the
presence of God. We are saved by Jesus,
who redeems us. “Redeem” is one of those
old words that we might hear so often that we often forget what it means. It was a term used for setting free those in
slavery. It was used in other ways too,
but always about paying a price and restoring to a wholesome position. Jesus, through his life, death and
resurrection, has redeemed us all. We
all belonged to God, but all of us at some point choose to do our own thing –
go astray – sin. When we do this, we
are making the same mistake as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God respects our choice and we no longer
belong to him. The spiritual price for
this choice is death – not just physical death, but separation from God for all
eternity.
We read in
our letter to the Hebrews; “Since, therefore, the children share flesh and
blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he
might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free
those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.” Unwittingly, by turning our backs on God, we
belong to the devil. Jesus redeems us….
Buys us back. We always have free will
and to accept this gift or not – we are completely free to choose. Just like Joseph was free to choose. He could have woken up and said, “No – I will
stay here. I’m comfortable here.” Joseph and Mary chose to be obedient to
Christ and it saved their life… and the life of the baby Jesus. Being obedient to God brings life to ALL. Mary and Joseph being obedient to God means
that we can ALL be redeemed by Jesus and brought into the family of God. The actions of Mary and Joseph had life
changing consequences. But you know
what? We all are called to be obedient
to God. All of our obedience will bear
fruit that will impact eternity.
The 14 year
old Australian Jewish girl, Chaya, felt God say to her, “Go, protect those
children”. She said she knew that God
was with her and this was her call. She
knew she could be killed, but she knew that God called her to do this
thing. Mary and Joseph travelling to
Egypt was not necessarily safe. This
time they were journeying with a little one.
I don’t know exactly what the journey entailed and we are not told, but
I can only imagine the anxiety of trying to get far enough away without drawing
attention from those who could alert Herod.
In our own
calling from God, we may face danger or even be injured like Chaya was. Many others will probably not understand why
we do what we do. We might be the
oddities in our nation who strive to preserve the sanctity of life, protecting
the life of those we don’t even know, all because we know, we are ALL so
precious to God. We might find ourselves
worn out because we are being obedient to God’s call. Others might say that we are doing the wrong
thing in “feeding the poor, protecting the vulnerable, the elderly and unborn, caring
for the injured, or the intoxicated on the streets”… wearing ourselves out etc… But we know that God has called us, and we
may well be injured along the way – sometimes by the well-meaning friends who
don’t understand that this IS God’s call– but we know that we are called. This call is not an easy one, but we remember
that we ourselves are save by God. We
know the love of God and that he desperately wants to reach out to others with
his love that he can only show through us – his body on earth. Through His Holy Spirit God’s presence is
always with us… It is him who saves us for eternity.
How can we
today, be like Joseph, answering God’s call and actively protecting God’s Word so
that God’s salvation can come to all?
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