The First Sunday ofChristmas ---- 1 January 2017

Happy New Year!

Hebrews 2:10-18

10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12 saying, "I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you." 13 And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again, "Here am I and the children whom God has given me." 14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. 16 For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

Matthew 2:13-23

13 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." 14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15 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." 16 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. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 18 "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." 19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20 "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead." 21 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23 There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be called a Nazorean."

Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

·       In some churches, this day is the festival of the Name of Jesus. For some others, it is the festival of the Holy Family. It is New Year’s Day, but that is not a church festival since the Church year began with the first Sunday of Advent.

·       No matter what we celebrate as far as a festival, we celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ by following his command to “Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19) We remember his teachings, his miracles, his suffering, his sacrifice, and his glorious resurrection.

·       The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews – whose identity is not known to us – reminds us on one more thing: Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

·       Since Jesus was born as one of us, his life was one like ours. It is true that he was a man of his time and would have no understanding of things we consider normal today. It would be true that he would be amazed (and possibly scared) by things like railroad trains, aircraft, and modern communications. No doubt he would enjoy air conditioning and a cool drink from the refrigerator.

·       Those things might just be incidental. What really matters is what the letter to the Hebrews said – he is able to help those who are being tested because he was tested.

·       Our Gospel story from Matthew tells us of Herod’s attempt to murder Jesus by slaughtering all the young boys in the Bethlehem area. Jesus is saved from this by Joseph’s obedience to the angel’s command to go to Egypt. So you see, in a way, Jesus was a refugee.

·       Think through the other incidents in the Gospels. Jesus was misunderstood by his family who came to take him home, thinking that he might be troubled in mind, to put it mildly.

·       He was hungry and thirsty. He became frustrated with his disciples at times. He went off by himself to pray and to think and probably to recover from the demands of a crowded life in the silence of the wild places.

·       He was troubled by a number of things, such as illness and suffering, and showed it sometimes in how he spoke to those who suffered as well as to the diseases and even to the evil spirits.

·       He felt tremendous compassion for those around him and even cried at the death of his friend, Lazarus.

·       He was lied about, being called a “glutton and a drunkard” because he didn’t behave like John the Baptizer, whom those same people considered to be insane.

·       He saw his friends turn against him and even betray and deny him… just as many of us have.

·       He got in trouble with the authorities of his day, both secular and religious. To them, he was a troublemaker who was eventually made into an example “for the encouragement of the others.” Why else would Pilate have posted the accusation on the cross?

·       Jesus even suffered death. Death for our salvation, of course, but death none-the-less. The immediate difference is the Resurrection, which Jesus experienced and we have yet to know.

·       From birth to death and everything in between, Jesus experienced what we have all experienced. The details differ, but at the deepest human level, the experiences are so much the same.

·       When “the Word became flesh” as John would say or as the writer of Hebrews put it “he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect…”, our nature as human beings is raised up. The emptying of Jesus in his incarnation, his becoming-human, gives us both a God-given bridge to the divine and a savior who is one of us while remaining one with the Father.

·       What can we not bring before him? What of our lives could he not understand? What pain of ours would be alien to him? What of our joys could he not share? And he is as close as our own thoughts and our own hearts. We need not be afraid of leaning on him for what we need.

Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.