Baby Jesus
John Shuck
Southminster
Presbyterian Church
Beaverton, Oregon
Christmas Eve 2015
The Gospel of Jesus
Jesus was a
descendant of Abraham. Jesus’ parents were named Joseph and
Mary. Jesus was born when Herod was king. Eight days
later, when the time came to circumcise him, they gave him the name
Jesus. Many in Jesus’ hometown asked, “This is the carpenter, isn’t
it? Isn’t he Mary’s son? And who are his brothers, if not
James and Judas and Simon? And who are his sisters, if not our
neighbors? Phillip tells Nathanael, “We have found Jesus,
Joseph’s son, from Nazareth. “From Nazareth?” Nathanael said to
him. “Can anything good come from that place?”
And that is all we know about the birth and family of the
historical Jesus. Those few sentences scattered throughout the
gospels are all that is plausible about his parentage, family, and
hometown.
How then did we get to Christmas with virgin births, stars,
angels, wise men, and December 25th?
We begin with two separate legends. One
found in Matthew and the other in Luke. When I use the word
“legend” I am not being dismissive, as if it is “only a legend,” therefore
ignore it. I am being descriptive. Stories of
miraculous births whether they are about the birth of Jesus, Moses, Augustus
Caesar, or of any gods or divinely blessed mortals, are told through legend. They
are not history as we understand history.
The ancient writers were not writing
history. They were writing mystery. They told
stories to capture the character and the meaning of the
person. When you told a story about the significance of
someone’s life in the ancient world, old stories were
best. You imitated stories that were well-known and with
creativity adapted them to fit the person you were
celebrating. The gospel writers were not interested in the
facts about Jesus as we might be. They were interested in the meaning
of Jesus as they interpreted it.
How did they use symbols, tropes, plots, and metaphors to
tell their story and what story were they telling? Before we
ask that question, we have to ask a more basic one: why did they
need a story of Jesus (whose name by way, means savior)
anyway?
The Jews were under occupation. When Jesus
was born the occupying power was Rome. When the gospels were
created, perhaps as many as 80 to 100 years or more after his birth, Jerusalem
had been burned and their temple destroyed by the Romans. The Jews
were in conflict literally and theologically with Rome.
In Roman Imperial Theology here is how the divine powers
worked. You went to war. You were
victorious. There was peace. This is not
unlike imperial theologies throughout history including in our own
time. God blesses the victor. Who was the
victor? Augustus Caesar. He was announced divine at
birth. According to legend his father was a
god. Because of his military victories and for bringing peace
to Rome and quiet to the provinces, he was raised to divine
status. Coins bore the inscription that he was son of
god. He earned the title by victory in war.
What about the Jews? Obviously, in this
theological system, they were not favored by the gods. To the victor
goes true religion. But the Jews and the early Jewish
movements that centered around Jesus did not accept Roman religion. They
had a different vision of God. The God of the Jews and of
Jesus said you get peace through justice in which justice means enough for
everyone. You don’t get lasting peace through war and victory,
but through non-violence and justice.
Jesus was a Jew. The earliest sayings and actions
associated with him show him to be a wisdom teacher and social
prophet. His vision was in direct conflict with Roman
theology. Instead of war to victory to peace, his vision
looked to non-violence to justice to peace.
He articulated a vision that was already present even if at
times hidden in his own tradition. It would be a vision that
would be both present and hidden again in the traditions and centuries that
followed him. His vision captured the imaginations and the
hopes of those who heard him and who believed that it might be possible for
everyone to have enough, to live in harmony with Earth, to enjoy the fruits of
their labor, and thus to live in peace. To live metaphorically
on God’s mountain where no one will hurt or destroy.
Jesus was executed by the Romans with the assistance of
local religious authorities. But his vision did not die with
him. Stories about him were told. Sayings were
collected. Some events remembered. Many
stories and sayings were created. All these stories eventually made
their way into theological narratives or gospels. These
narratives were not history but mystery. They were stories of his
meaning for those who told them.
Paul was one such meaning maker. He didn’t know
the historical Jesus. The Apostle Paul turned Jesus into a cosmic
savior, a cosmic Christ, saving us from sin and even death
itself. This theology influenced the
gospels.
Two gospels in the New Testament tell of his
birth. Matthew imitated the story of the birth of Moses,
also a legend. Both Moses and Jesus are saved from ruthless
leaders (Pharaoh and Herod, respectively) who slaughter innocent children in
failed attempts to kill these destined heroes. Moses
grows up to lead the people from bondage in Egypt. Jesus
is like Moses.
In Luke, the good news of the birth of Augustus and Roman
Imperial Theology is turned on its head. The language that
belonged to Caesar inscribed on imperial coins and stone temples, “the savior
who brings peace to the world,” is applied to Jesus whose birth announcement is
given to shepherds, the bottom of the economic, social, and political
ladder. The choice is clear. Does
peace come through war and victory or through non-violence and justice? Which
god will we serve? Which god will save us?
Yet even within Luke and Matthew, the meaning and
significance of Jesus is being shaped by other theological
needs. He is becoming more of a god than a human being and his
significance is becoming more cosmic than
practical. Influenced by Paul’s theology, Jesus is the
cosmic Christ who comes to die for the sins of the world. The birth
stories of Jesus both preserve his vision and move beyond it.
By the time we get to the second century, the Jesus movement
has separated itself from its Jewish roots altogether. Jesus
is nearly fully god by now. He is divine and sinless, thus Mary’s virginity and
her purity are emphasized.
Tonight we will hear portions of two other legends. The
first is The Infancy
Gospel of James. It was composed in the middle
of the second century. It tells about Mary’s childhood, a
birth also by the Holy Spirit. Mary has parents, Joachim and
Anna, and stories are told about them. Joseph is an old man
because it would be unseemly for Mary to have any relations with
him. We find that Mary is a teenager when she gives
birth. Jesus’s brothers and sisters become step-siblings. They
become children of Joseph born long before Jesus is born. Meanwhile Mary
is well on the way to becoming a perpetual virgin.
It is in the Infancy Gospel of James that
we learn some interesting details that have become part of the tradition. For
instance, Mary rides a donkey to Bethlehem. We also discover the
tradition of Jesus being born in a cave and the magic of the silent night, when
everything stops moving and becomes perfectly still at the moment of his birth.
Around the year 600, the stories of Jesus’ birth and early
childhood are collected into a work called The Book About the Origin of
the Blessed Mary and the Childhood of the Savior. In
this marvelous collection of legends, Jesus exerts divine powers from the
moment he is born. We will hear a couple of those
stories tonight. It is in this text that we learn an ox and an ass
are present at the birth. The ox and ass are in nativity
scenes and featured in Christmas carols.
On the flight to Egypt, the infant Jesus causes a palm tree
to deliver fruit to his mother. You will find a version of
this story in the Qur’an, Islam’s holy book. The Cherry Tree
Carol is based on this story and tells it a bit differently. We
will hear that song tonight, too.
Also during the flight to Egypt, the first family confronts
dragons, lions, and panthers. The Baby Jesus is not
afraid. He commands them to obey and of course, they
do. He is the king of creation even at birth.
There is much
debate regarding the date of his birth, December25th. One
theory is that the date is borrowed from various solstice celebrations. But
it could be that it was based on a calculation regarding Passover, the time the
gospels record his execution. Tertullian
around the year 200 calculated that the crucifixion occurred on the 14th of
Nisan, based on his reading of the Gospel of John. In the Roman
calendar that would be, March 25th.
This same date, March 25th, was later recognized
as the Feast of the Annunciation, or Jesus’ conception. In
other words he was believed to have been conceived on the same date that he was
crucified. Nine months following March 25th is
December 25th, the date of his birth.
This is of course all legend based on
theology. One medieval painting has the Baby Jesus coming down from
heaven carrying his cross. The theological structure is
about Jesus Christ whose purpose is to die on the cross to save humanity from
sin and thus offer eternal life on a new heaven and a new
earth.
We’ve come a long way from the historical Jesus. It is a
challenge to discover how legends and theological traditions originate, but
like Velcro balls, they pick up whatever is in their path.
Tonight we celebrate the legends surrounding
Jesus. It is Christmas. We embrace the
magic. We delight in the mythology. We contemplate
the theology. We pause to honor this holy night. We open
our mind and heart to the virgin, the angels, and the adoring
shepherds. We welcome Jesus Christ: the Divine Son,
Light from Light, Very God of Very God, King of Heaven and Earth. Yes,
yes.
Amidst it all, I would like to light one candle for the real
person buried underneath the layers of legend and theology. I
light a candle for the vision of Jesus of Nazareth, the vision of a human being
who had a hope and a conviction that there could be a lasting peace in this world,
if we could be humble, wise, and courageous enough to seek justice for
everyone.
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