2 Christmas

January = 4, 2009

Rev. Ken Wratten at S= t. Stephen’s, San Jose

Jeremiah 31:7-14= &nb= sp; During Babylon exile-Israel is redeemed by God’s love, not their efforts.

Psalm 84:1-8&nbs= p; &= nbsp; Happy are the people whose strength is in you! whose hearts are set on the pilgri= ms’ way (to worship God).

Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19a Paul prays for God to let us know what is the hope to which He has called us.

Matthew 2:13-15, 19-2= 3 Joseph follows ‘dreams’, Herod kills innocents.

How do you l= ook at life? Do you believe in fate or de= stiny, where there is really very little in life you can change? Or at the other e= nd of the spectrum, do you believe that when things come together around you, = it is coincidence?

Example of destiny; After my dad being RCA/Whirlpool sale= sman, insurance, restaurant, real estate, police justice, he began our RV busines= s; Kirches camping; I met Ruth. Was it destiny?

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After Jesus&= #8217; birth, Joseph and Mary might have been planning on a peaceful few weeks in = Bethlehem, and then a return trip to Nazareth to settle back into their life and car= pentry business, and raising their boy. But the world was too full of frightened and evil people who would s= ee Jesus as a potential threat to their power. So Joseph found himself counsel= ed by angels and led by God to keep his family safe, and to fulfill God’s plan.

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After the Wi= se Men had visited Jesus to present him with their gifts, Joseph had a dream… the angel told Joseph in the dream to go to Egypt, because Herod was trying to kill Jesu= s. Joseph didn’t waste any time to react. He didn’t even wait until morning … he packed up THAT NIGHT and headed out of town. In the midd= le of the night, God said “Move!”= Joseph didn’t argue with God. He didn’t ask God for anot= her plan that would be easier. He didn’t take time to try to figure it all out. He just OBEYED. Joseph was listening to God’s will.

God was prot= ecting Jesus that night. Let’s review just how evil Herod and his son Archel= aus were. The three verses that w= ere skipped in today’s Gospel tell of Herod’s anger when he found o= ut that the wise men had deceived him. Herod issued an order for all of the male children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under to be killed.

History proves that Herod was a mean, vicious person. He had killed 2 of his own sons… he had them strangled. He killed one of his 10 wives…= his favorite wife… because he thought that she had been unfaithful to him (she wasn’t!). He killed his 18 year old brother-in-law, because the = Jews liked him better than they liked Herod. He had killed his uncle and his mother-in-law.

King Herod died soon after Mary & Joseph went to Egypt. Before his death, knowing he was abou= t to die, he ordered all the Jewish nobility to be shut up in the hippodrome, and surrounded by soldiers. When word came of his death, they were to be slaughtered. He wanted there to be weeping and wailing at his death …= and he knew no one would be crying over HIS death. He died, but the order was n= ever carried out!

When Herod died Joseph had another “dream”; the Lord told him to= return now to “the land of Israel”. He ‘got up’… no questions… no arguing…= no delay. It was time to go back home.

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When they go= t to Judea, Joseph and Mary were afraid to stay i= n that area very long. Joseph heard = that Herod’s son Archelaus was given the throne in Judea, and he was actually worse than his fa= ther! There was a riot in Jerusalem, and Archelaus stopped it by killing everybody in the crowd. He we= nt into the Temple one Passover, and executed 3,000 Jews. Later, after six years of this brutality, Rome had enough and banished Archelaus to w= hat is now France, where he died.

So with Archelaus in power, Joseph had ANOTHER “dream” (that ma= kes four encounters with angels)! He was warned by God to leave Judea= , so the Holy Family fled north to Nazareth.

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In an OT pro= phecy (Hosea 11:1) God said, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out= of Egypt I called my son.” It was God’s plan all along = for Jesus to come out of Egypt… just like His children did 1500= years before under Moses.

Destiny? This story could have ended quite differently if Joseph wasn’= ;t a faithful listener for God, ready to act. I’m not sure about predestination or fate; but I am sure that God has a plan for humanity, and= for St. Stephen’s, and for you personally. But we need to be faithful listeners for God’s voice, and we need to be ready to = act; like Joseph did. God has a plan; but we have to choose to be part of it.

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Example of coincidence; engineering wk flourished during semi= nary, instantly stopped at my ordination. Was it coincidence?

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Matthew and = Luke tell the story of Joseph and Mary, and the birth of Jesus. They knew these events were not luck or chance. They were not co-incidence; these were God-incidents. If you believe in coincidence, you miss the chance to see Go= d at work, and maybe lose the chance to have God work through you. Look for the God-incidents happening around you. And then be ready to respond to GodR= 17;s plan for you.

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On Christmas= morning and the days that followed, God acted to make clear that God’s own son was among us. The message to us is about listening, trusting, and acting= , to fulfill God’s purpose for us as individuals, as members in this fa= ith family, and as part of the body of Christ in the worldwide church.

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My meeting R= uth was not destiny. There are all so= rts of ways our relationship could have been damaged by me. I don’t see it as fate or de= stiny. But I do believe that my meeting Ruth is God’s plan for me. Having a successful consulting busi= ness which financed my seminary education was not coincidence. Having that busin= ess shut itself down when I was ordained was not luck. It was God’s plan.=

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This is the = time to challenge the notion of living by fate, where there is only one path through life and nothing can be changed; and this is the time to challenge the noti= on of co-incidence, overlooking the evidence that God is actively working in o= ur life and in the world. Seeing the God-incidents at work around you means you see God in action, and you make yourself available to be part of God’s plan. This perspective on your life has the power to change your life.=

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Do you belie= ve that? Paul said summed it up very well in his letter to the church in Ephesus, “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, m= ay give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to w= hich he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe.”

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Joseph chose God’s plan over fate or coincidence. It is yet another reason for us = to celebrate this season. For the last time this season, Merry Christmas.