Let us not get too sure of our Biblically based selves

In the true poem of Christmas there is warning for those of us who point fingers at those who have lost the Biblical meaning of the season in Santas, tinsel, presents and turkeys. Those of us who know the truth of the real story have a huge scream in the middle of that which we claim to know that if we are listening even a little bit will knock us off the perch of our arrogance.

The story is full of humble people who say yes to God no matter what. The Eastern mystics have to travel without satellite navigation though in a funny way that is all they had! The shepherds have to walk down from the hills to see if the angels were right! Mary and Joseph are the real costly responders. For Mary to say yes to God’s invitation to become the teenage, unmarried carrier of the Messiah was to lose her reputation and the happy plans of a more traditional wedding to Joseph. Jospeh too needed courage. There must have been a hundred voices telling him what he should do about the scandalous Mary to avoid her shadow being cast over his life. Joseph believed and stayed brave. His quiet village life was changed forever too.

The startling part of the story that is often over looked is how those who had the truth of the Scriptures laid out before them responded. When the eastern travellers tipped King Herod off that a king had been born, Herod didn’t dismiss these weirdos as being out of their mind but immediately called together the religious leaders to ask what the prophets had said about such a moment in history. Now there is no doubt that Herod was a rogue, out for himself with no regard for anyone else but it is not just him that the Scriptures tell us who was disturbed when the religious leaders discovered the truth of the baby King in the Scriptures. We are told that Herod and all Jerusalem with him were freaked.

Personally I find this absolutely incredulous that these Jewish leaders and politicians came across the truth of what their people had been yearning for for hundreds of years and instead of celebrating the Messiah’s arrival they tried to murder God’s promise. Indeed in 33 years time in that same city they actually would kill him but he escaped from this particular Herod who murdered every other two year old boys and under in the area in his attempt to do away with the truth of the Scriptures.

Why? Well perhaps knowing the truth is not the best knowledge to decide whether to follow Jesus or not. The shepherds and the wise men had only partial understanding of the consequences of the event and could therefore explore the truth. Herod and the religious people of Jerusalem knew without doubt what this birth meant. They were aware that it would change everything. Their complacency and comfort as they negotiated and flirted with the occupying Romans would be turned upside down. They had a clear picture of what Jesus would later call “deny yourself and take up your cross daily and follow me.” They simply were not able to pay the price of the truth or God’s salvation.

This truth shakes my own complacency. I know the truth. I have just received an M.Th. I am ordained in the Church. Could it be in having the cost of following Jesus laid out before me it causes me to kill that truth in my own obedience. I need to search myself down to the marrow of my soul and once I have done that then do it again to check I am not fooling myself. It also helps me to be less surprised when those around me who claim to know their theology and God’s ways seem to maintain the status quo rather than bring on the socio-political revolution that Jesus came to usher in. I read the song of Mary, gaze at Jesus manger and see the poor blessed and then hear his first words in Nazareth where he again speaks in socio-political terms and wonder how many of my evangelical brothers and sisters can ignore the Scriptures for a middle class comfortable bland illusion of discipleship. I remember Herod and realise that it is not about having the truth that counts. It is acting the truth that counts. Actions are always more powerful than words. It is why after all the Word became flesh!

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