The Stories We Tell

January 3, 2010
The Stories We Tell
Ephesians
Matthew
Year C
Epiphany

Play the Coventry Carol by Sting……

This is a great traditional after Christmas carol. I will read you the words…..

Lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Lullay, Thou little tiny Child.
By, by, lully, lullay.

O sisters, too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day;
This poor Youngling for whom we sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.

Herod the King, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day;
His men of might, in his own sight,
All children young, to slay.

Then woe is me, poor Child, for Thee,
And ever mourn and say;
For Thy parting, nor say nor sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.

You can probably tell from the words that this is a lullaby to a little baby. This is not a song to the baby Jesus. It is a mother saying goodbye to her baby in the slaughter of the innocents. It is a continuation of the nativity story. Mary and Joseph have travelled to Bethlehem, they baby Jesus as been born in a stable. And now that they have returned home, the wise men come to visit the baby in a stable. The story says that they came bearing gifts for the baby. They saw his star in the East and needed to worship the newborn king. During their travels, they had come to Jerusalem to ask King Herod about the new king. Realizing that Herod meant the new child no good, they did not let him know where the baby was. They went home another way. When Herod realized that he had been deceived, he had all children under two killed. And yet the baby Jesus was raised in Egypt in order to avoid danger. The slaughter of the innocents is a very important part of the nativity story.
The Coventry Carol was written as a part of a play in the 1500’s. We have no written record of the script of the play in which this story was told- yet we still have the words to this carol. Some of the words – they had to make up the last verse- because no one could read what it really says.
Then woe is me, poor Child, for Thee,
And ever mourn and say;
For Thy parting, nor say nor sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.


I thought it was interesting that Sting – does such a beautiful job of singing the song – and he has several Christmas songs on his album – and yet he makes it very clear that he doesn’t believe in Jesus. He doesn’t believe in God at all – yet he felt the story of the baby jesus was an important story to tell.
Christmas is such an important part of our faith. The nativity story is such an important part of our faith as Christians – it is hard to think of anyone telling the story but not believing it.
And yet is the story really important. Actually Christmas is a very recent phenomenon. The early Christians have always celebrated Easter, as the important part of Christ’s story. They really thought nothing of Christ birth.
If you examine the story – you find that it is the shakiest part of our faith. You can pick the story apart bit by bit- and it raises more questions than it answers.
Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th – Christmas hasn’t always been on that day – historically we do know that Miryam did have a son named yshua. He was born in the spring, in March or April. There would have been no logical reason for Joseph to travel to Bethlehem for a census. Isreal was a part of the Roman empire – the only reason to have a census is if you are going to have a war – And yet Isreal had been promised that they would never be used as soldiers. And if you read the Hebrew scriptures – a census was only of men – there was no reason for a pregnant women to travel 70 miles on a camel to be with her husband. There were no special stars recorded at that time, no record of any wise men coming to Israel from the east, no reason for Herod to be so intimidated that he would kill innocent children – he killed all of his own children – but that is another story. This is not even 2010 in the year of our Lord – a scribe miscalculated the date that Jesus was born – it is really 2014 but we don’t really know for sure. That geneology that matthew gives connecting jesus to David – he made it up. Matthew spends a lot of telling us that Jesus’ birth fulfills the scriptures – and yet any jew will tell you that Matthew and all of the other gospel writers were seriously confused about what the scriptures say – Isaiah doesn’t say that a virgin will conceive – it says that any young maiden will get married and have a child. Scriptures says that I will call my son out of Egypt refers to Moses bringing the isrealites out of Egypt, not jesus. I wont mention that they is no proof that the isrealites ever really exited Egypt to worship there own God. Or that someone named king david was a real person. The whole story was made up. Not one of the facts of the story hold up to reality. So why do we tell the story? Why have we held onto this story for 2000 years – why do I stand here every Sunday and tell that story as if it is really true – when there are so many other things that I could do with my Sunday morning. More importantly – why are you listening to the story in the first place.
I think that Ephesians has a good reason that puts it all into perspective. Paul says that God gave me a secret – that I have to tell the world. That secret is that God’s love and salvation is for everyone – not just a certain group of people. The story of God’s salvation is not a story about a little baby born in a manger – the story of salvation is much bigger than that – it is a story that is still going on today. The story of salvation is much more about the present than it is about the past.
The concept of childhood – and young people needing to grow up and discover their destiny is only a recent phenomon. In the old world – you were considered an adult the day you were born. You were expected to find your place in the world and to live in it, as soon as you could walk and talk. So when a man did a great thing – it was assumed that was his destiny. That there were signs and wonders at birth which proclaimed to the world what this man was going to do with his life. It was so much more meaningful to construct a birth narrative about Jesus then to tell the truth. We can understand a little baby in a manger much more than we can that some strange man just walked into Jerusalem out of the middle of nowhere and started teaching stuff that no one had ever said before. We don’t know where this man came from, or where he got his knowledge, or by what authority he was speaking. He just walked into our lives, led us to a cross and died and came back to life, and somewhere in the midst of our life – we got it - we understood what he was trying to do. When actually, if you take out the birth narratives – that is exactly what the bible says about Jesus’ life. He was baptized, he taught for three years, and eventually he was crucified for teaching heresy.
So why did Matthew work so hard to give this man a life- a history, a connection to birth? If Matthew was so unclear about his own history – why would he spend so much time telling trying to connect this man’s life to prophecy.
Because matthew was not concerned about history at all – he was more concerned about the future. The focal point of the story of the birth narrative is not jesus – the focal point of the story is you. Matthew didn’t want you spending your life waiting for something to happen, something that already happen 2000 years ago. His message to us is that the scriptures have already been fulfilled – so you don’t have to wait any longer for salvation. Salvation is amongst us – salvation is within us, salvation has carried us this far, salvation ahead of us. The scriptures had to be fulfilled so that we could realize that the same power that fulfilled the scriptures, is the same power that fulfills our hopes, dreams and yearnings.
Kathryn still get goose bumps when she think about the day that she was explaining the concept of epiphany to her Sunday school class. Johnny blurted out that he had seen God for himself. No one has ever seen God face to face Johnny – so don’t say such a thing. But Johnny insisted to the class that he has seen God face to face. After class was over with she felt guilty about cutting Johnny off like that. Even if she didn’t believe him, she should have listened to him. She felt so guilty that she couldn’t even listen to the sermon. After church she went up to Johnny and his parents and apologized. She asked if it was okay that Johnny could tell his story now – and his parents said it was okay. Johnny explained that it was the time that he was in the hospital. He was very sick, and could see the doctors and nurses and his parents above him in bed. All of a sudden he was lifted up above them and he travelled into the dark tunnel until he reached a bright light. And there he saw God - he felt safer and happier then he had ever been and he wanted to stay there in that moment – but God told him it was not time yet. That his parents would miss him and that there was still things he needed to do with his life. God said that he had a long life and he would never be alone. So God sent him back to the tunnel, and he woke up. His parents remembered the day perfectly, Johnny had been really sick and lost consciousness, the doctors did not know if he would ever wake up and come to. But a few hours he did – everything was okay and Johnny went home and got better. His parents asked shy he never told that story before – Johny said because I was afraid no one would believe me. Miss Kathryn decided that all of the other children had to hear that story – and she called each home to tell them what to expect in class the next Sunday – Johnny would tell his story of his encounter with God.
The nativity – the baby, the stable, the star, the shepherds, the wisemen, the innocents – all have a purpose in our lives and in our story. It reminds us that whatever happened on the day Jesus was born – it was not just a family story- it was not just about a people – it was a story about all of us – the star led the wise men from the east to realize that whatever happened that day – it was a great moment for us all – because it was the moment that we realized that God is here for us all not just some of us. That is the great secret that Paul had to tell the world. God is indeed with us – God is with us in the story of Christ. Christ came into the world so that our story would be complete. Our lives would be fulfilled. God had a plan for us all – and we are never alone. Amen.