Where Christ Was Born

Matthew 2:11-18

Christmas 1

December 29, 2019

William G. Carter

On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Now after they had left, 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 about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and 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 have called my son.”

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

It is the fifth day of Christmas. You are forgiven if you forgot your five golden rings. There has been a lot going on. Last Tuesday night, the midnight air was full of candlelight and joyful noise, the angels danced for Christ is born. Since then, some of the visitors have come and gone, the Wise Men among them.

For those of us some distance away, the question remains, “Where was Christ born?” You may think that’s a silly question, already answered. Where was he born? “In Bethlehem of Judea.” OK, fine – but where?

The children who were with us last week could not agree on a location. Some said Jesus was born in a cave They took their cue from Justin Martyr, who declared that to be so in the second century, about a hundred fifty years late. Others said Jesus was born in a barn, for he was placed in a feed trough for the cattle. Everybody knows you keep the cattle in the barn, right? Unless you are a first-century Palestinian; then you bring the cattle inside your home to keep them warm. That’s where the mangers were.

Where was he born? The wise men believed the new King of the Jews would be born in a palace. So they went to Jerusalem, the capital city. Wow, was the current king ever surprised! He had to ask the Bible scholars on the royal staff, “Where is the Messiah to be born?” They said, “Bethlehem of Judea,” just as the prophet Micah foretold. He didn’t know, because most kings don’t spend a lot of time reading the Old Testament prophets. And the wise men were six miles off.

Today, all the tourists visit Bethlehem if they can get through the checkpoint. They go to the Church of the Nativity, located (where else?) in Manger Square.  Founded by Emperor Constantine’s mother in 325 AD, that big old church took 240 years to complete. It’s a venerable old place, having survived earthquakes, the Crusades, and countless tourists.

If you go, you stand in a long line that moves slowly. A cranky priest snarls, “Be quiet, this is holy ground.” You wind down a stone staircase and there it is: a fourteen-point silver star surrounded by marble. According to Constantine’s mother in 325 AD, that’s the spot. It doesn’t look very humble. Not at all. Was Christ born there?

If you ask the scholars, they look down at their sandals and shuffle a little bit. The scholars remind us the Bible’s Christmas stories were written down 50, 60, ever 80 years after Jesus’ birth. They say, “We know he came out of Nazareth, a town ninety miles to the north.” But there’s no historical record of Caesar’s census, nor much evidence that the Holy Family spent much time in Bethlehem. So who knows? All we have are the Bible stories.[1]

Yet there is one thing we can say with absolutely certainty. Jesus was born into a world where a lot of children are still in danger.

We didn’t tell you that on Christmas Eve. No, that was the night to sing, “Away in a Manger, no crib for a bed; the little lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.” That was when we lit candles and sang, “Silent Night, holy night.” That was then; today, after the tourists have all gone, we hear about the aftermath of Christ’s birth.

The short version is that King Herod was a nut job. He was turned in upon himself. He couldn’t bear the thought of another king born in his land, on his watch. He was suspicious, fearful, paranoid, angry – and therefore murderous. The people of his land may have been waiting for a Messiah, but Herod never wanted that Messiah to come because he was in charge. He was on the throne. He was at the pinnacle of power, intended to keep it, and expected to pass that power onto his family. That’s the way power works.

We talk a lot these days about “empowerment,” about helping others to gain strength and achieve their goals. It’s a worthy aim, but do we understand the nature of power? Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. As somebody notes, “Power means that you do not want to be confront something that questions you. You cannot stand the threat, and therefore you become more and more encased in your own pride.”[2]

This is one of the moral lessons from the new Star Wars movie, “The Rise of Skywalker.” To everybody’s surprise – to nobody’s surprise - the nasty old emperor has been lurking in the shadows for years, ready to pursue his vain dream of galaxy domination. He will do anything to win. Just like King Herod.

Herod is intoxicated with power. He orders the destruction of the innocents, all because of the announcement of one Innocent Child. The sad truth is that nobody in his kingdom would have been surprised by this. They were well accustomed to his cruelty. They knew all about deprivation, poverty, and senseless destruction.

There is no need to go into further detail, especially if the taste of candy canes lingers in our mouths. The other day, a three-year-old boy and his mother were attacked in Brooklyn by a crazed fanatic. They are Jewish and were walking to a Hanukkah celebration. For no other reason, or maybe that was the reason, the assailant came out of nowhere and started hitting them. It was the latest of an increasing spree of anti-Semitic attacks in Brooklyn, where more Jews live than in Israel.[3]   

And I’ll tell you something: this is where Christ was born. It’s the same world. It’s the same place where people are threatened by people who are threatened. Some will summon their power to strike others down. Some will summon their power to hold their ground. Meanwhile the sad truth is that the world hasn’t changed much since the time of Jesus. People who are hurt will hurt other people.

Jesus is born right in the middle of all this. Matthew’s Gospel tells the truth. From the very beginning of Jesus’ life, there was a cross. He is born with complete innocence and that’s what exposes those who are guilty. In a display of moral weakness, King Herod tries to get rid of the future Messiah. He does it in the most desolate way possible, threatening all the children of Bethlehem in order get rid of the One.

God outsmarts King Herod, thanks to dreams and angels. This time, young Jesus is saved by his parents. Yet the cross still awaits him even after Herod is out of the picture. An anxious empire may exchange one leader for another, but anxiety continues if it is untreated. That is the foreshadowing of the wise men’s myrrh, a most curious gift for a child. Myrrh is a burial spice. If you ever get invited to a baby shower, don’t take any myrrh.

The wise men brought myrrh. In the case of Jesus, this “bitter perfume” is a reminder of the evil that taints our world. Cruelty is still in the air. The myrrh foreshadows how Jesus will face the cross of an anxious empire.

Yet the death of Jesus will count for something. It will flip everything. As with his life, the death of Jesus opens up an alternative to everything King Herod stands for. Instead of fear, Jesus steps out in courage. Instead of self-protection, Jesus offers himself in self-giving. Instead of creating wreckage and grief, Jesus gives life and offers healing. Instead of anxiety which is usually expressed through destruction, Jesus dies to cancel human sin and its lingering effect, and this is the will of God.

And in the greatest mystery of all, the myrrh given to the infant Christ is never used. When Jesus dies, it is the eve of the Sabbath, so he is buried quickly. When the women can finally get to his tomb to anoint him with the myrrh, Jesus has already been raised from the dead. There is a greater power at work in him, than the power of death. It is the power of life, expressed in love, lived with simplicity and honesty, for the benefit of all.

Where was Jesus born? This is the world where Christ was born. This is the world he died to save. This is the world God has raised him up to keep saving. The work goes on and he remains with us, just as he said.

All of life comes from God, and it is a ceaseless invitation to live with God, just as Jesus taught. All that Jesus did – teaching, healing, serving, restoring – all of it is a model for how we can live. We don’t ever have to be afraid. We can trust God above everything else, because Jesus has come, and he has come back, and he stays with us, just as he said.

If King Herod pokes up his head along the way, the Gospel has already exposed him for what he is: a tormented soul, less than fully human, wounded and anxious. His way is not the way to the fullness of life. We can go home by another way.

And if we get the chance, we can look Herod square in the eye and declare what the poet said long ago: “Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.” (Zora Neale Hurston)

(c) William G. Carter. All rights reserved.

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[1] See, for instance, Raymond E. Brown, “Historically, Was Jesus Born in Bethlehem?” The Birth of the Messiah (New York: Image, 1977), 515-18

[2] James I. McCord, “Dark Night of the Soul: A Christmas Meditation on Matthew 2:16-18,” Princeton Theological Seminary, 15 December 1982. Accessed online at http://commons.ptsem.edu/id/03758

[3] “Four Jewish women targets in latest anti-Semitic attacks in Brooklyn,” New York Daily News, 27 December 2019.