4 January 2009

Christmas II

The Rev'd Lloyd Prator

New York City

Today we have an interesting little reading from Matthew’s gospel, which takes place in the early childhood of Jesus. It is one of the infancy narratives which pose interesting problems for scholars because the stories are not consistent from one gospel to another. Luke and Matthew give very different pictures; John and Mark know none of these stories; and, for some reason, these stories seem to attract all sorts of other stories purported to be about Jesus’ early life.

What we have here in this reading is the prelude and the follow-up to the story of the Holy Innocents. First, Joseph has a dream where he is told to take the child and get out of town because Herod is going to kill him. So, Joseph did just that. And then the story of the Holy Innocents follows; the story which we read on Monday the feast of the Innocents.

Then Joseph heard that Herod was dead, and he returned to Israel from their stay in Egypt. He would have settled in Judea, but as it turned out, the news reports about safety in Judea were exaggerated. Archelaus, Herod’s son, was ruling in Judea in place of his father and he had some of his dad’s unfortunate characteristics. Like killing folks. This was a singularly unpleasant family. So, instead of settling in Judea, off they went to Nazareth.

The story is a typical effort of Matthew the evangelist to make two points out of references to the Old Testament. He came to Egypt. He was a Nazorean. Both were important ideas: Referring to Jesus as one who came out of Egypt draws a parallel between the saving acts of God in the Exodus, the escape from Egypt at the Red Sea; and the return to Israel from Egypt by Jesus, god’s son. Both were “from Egypt”. And, He was a Nazorean. A Nazorean was not just a person from a small town in Judea, but was also a person who had embraced a certain ascetical discipline. To be a Nazorean meant to be under strict religious vows.

So, this was all about saying two things concerning Jesus: Like the Ksrael of old, he came out of Egypt. Like many religious leaders of the day, he took his faith seriously and even made extraordinary vows to deepen his relationship with God.

As I said, this period of Jesus’ life is open to many legends and stories which have had varying degrees of appeal over the years. The notion of Midrash means sacred stories associated with scripture or laid upon scripture for the purpose of leading the faithful to greater meaning. One such story is a child’s tale about a spider. When the Holy family was in route to Egypt to escape Herod, they stopped for a night to sleep in a cave. It was very, very cold and the ground was covered with frost. A little spider saw the infant Jesus and wished he could do something to help the baby, so he did the only thing he could. He spun, from his web, a flimsy curtain across the opening to the cave. An almost pathetic effort. Along came the soldiers, looking for babies to kill in the service of Herod’s bloody quest. The soldiers were about ready to burst into the cave and search it when the captain noticed the spider web. “There’s no one here and hasn’t been anyone here for a long time, look, the opening is even covered with spider webs.”

Thus the holy family was saved. And, some legends have it, the story of the spiders web is the origin of the tinsel we put on our Christmas trees, because it looks like the web, white and crusty with frost, which stretched across the opening to the cave and protected the Holy Family.

From this gospel, and its associated midrash, we might take a couple of things.

First, salvation history depends on everyone taking his or her role. Egypt was certainly no supporter of Israel; then, as now but all nations and peoples are involved, even Egypt. On Tuesday, we will drive that point home in the story of Epiphany, reminding us that the gospel of Christ is for all nations. But today, we consider the fact that God intends to use many cultures in the display of the truth about his son.

And, second, there is no gift too small for God to use. Even a spider web, if you are willing to allow the story of the web into the gospel narrative. Even the smallest things can have a role in the saving history of God.

And, finally, things look different from different perspectives. Had the spider been asked about his work, he would have shrugged all eight shoulders and diffidently murmur that he had done all he could. And hee probably felt fairly pathetic about his little offering. But if you asked the soldier what he thought that day – well, we know, don’t we? He thought it was a sign that there was no one inside. Same little event, seen differently by different people.

As Christmas draws to a close, reflect upon the gifts given both large and small. And remember that there may be a gift the ultimate power and significance of which you cannot yet fathom. I can imagine one such gift.