Sermon preached on Sunday 1st January 2012 (The Feast of
the Holy Name) at Ascension, Munich.
If today was a person, he or she would be suffering
from a multiple personality disorder. It is of course New Year’s Day, the first
day of 2012. It is a Sunday, a regular feast day of our Lord Jesus Christ, to
quote the BCP. And it is the Feast of the Holy Name or as it used to be called,
the Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord, which as we heard in the gospel reading
was the purpose of the ceremony.
Why did its name get changed? Was it perhaps because
the men in the pews got a little uncomfortable at the mention of circumcision?
A more sinister explanation might be that it was part of that denial of Jesus’ Jewishness
that has had such terrible consequences, especially in the last century. For this
passage is another important reminder that Jesus was Jewish. Just like
Abraham’s son Isaac, Jesus’ cousin John, or the Apostle Paul he was circumcised
in accordance with the law (Leviticus 12:3 or Genesis 17:12) “and formally
stamped as a member of God’s chosen people”.
Perhaps though, the Church simply felt that Jesus’
naming was more significant. Luke, the only evangelist to give us this particular
story, does focus more on how Jesus is named and names do play a big role in
the Bible. Knowing someone’s name is often a sign of power and control. So God
does not disclose God’s name to Moses, and the name YHWH is never spoken by
devout Jews. God names or renames people, giving them a new identity and a new
role. Abram becomes Abraham as Father of all, Jacob becomes Israel as Father of
that nation …..Today too a new name stands for a new or second identity: the
writer’s nom-de-plume, the monk or nun entering a monastery, a spy, a witness needing
protection. Names used to really mean something. John means God has shown favor;
Gabriel means God is my hero; Emmanuel means God is with us and Jesus means God
saves. Here too it is not Mary or Joseph who choose their baby’s name, but God
through an angel (in Luke by Gabriel to Mary or in Matthew by an unnamed angel
to Joseph), and the name ‘God saves’ tells
us who he is and what he will do.
But today’s reading is not just about Jesus’ naming
and circumcision, there is more to it than just verse 21: “after eight days had
passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name
given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” The five verses that precede it must be
important too.
The shepherds had been told, by an angel and the
whole heavenly host, so pretty impressively, that the one born that day was a
Savior, the Messiah and the Lord. This was motivation enough for them to dash
off to Bethlehem, find the baby in a manger as the angel had said, AND to tell
“all who heard it” what they had seen and been told about the baby. They
did not just see and speak to Mary and Joseph. We went to see the display of
crèches, of nativity scenes at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum last week, and some
of the scenes show whole crowds of people watching and listening to the
shepherds! Not surprisingly “all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds
told them”. After all both the way the message had been transported, by angels,
was pretty exceptional, but so was the content. The baby was the Lord, in Greek
Kyrios and in Hebrew Adonai, which in the Hebrew Bible is a word
used for God, it is in fact the word the Jews used instead of YHWH. That it was
Good News, evangelion, was equally significant
as that was what really important Roman proclamations, ones about the accessions
and victories of Emperors, were called.
So what happened next – did ‘all who heard it’ start
proclaiming this Good News to their friends and neighbors, did they all head
off to the nearest provincial capital to make known what they had heard and/or
seen? No they didn’t. The shepherds returned to their fields,
admittedly “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen”, the
anonymous onlookers and bystanders went back to their homes, and no reaction at
all is recorded of the witnesses who would have been present at the
circumcision. As for Jesus’ parents, although they now had further confirmation
that what they had been told about Jesus by various angels was true, and not
just some strange dream, all we are told about their reaction is that Mary “treasured
the words and pondered them in her heart”.
For we know, as did Luke, that when Jesus’ ministry of
teaching, preaching, and healing began there was no chorus of adoring
believers treasuring the memory of the marvels of his birth! He had to start
from scratch. And later, after Jesus’ short earthly life and ministry, after his
resurrection and ascension? In the letter to the Philippians we also heard today,
Paul quotes a hymn: God highly exalted Jesus and “gave him the name that is above
every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend
and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. But
they didn’t and they still don’t. In his letter to the Romans Paul writes of
the great sorrow and anguish in his heart for his people, because so few
were willing to accept Jesus as the Christ. We too hear the Gospel, the Good
News every Sunday, and whenever we celebrate the Eucharist we experience our
redemption through Christ’s life, death and resurrection. But do we all go with
haste into the world to proclaim the Good News when the weekend is over?
What we consider ‘normality’ resumes very quickly. After
Jesus’ birth not a lot seemed to happen for the next 30 years. The angels did
not keep on coming back. Later an Infancy Gospel was even invented to fill in
this ‘gap’ with all sorts of fanciful and supernatural events from Jesus’
childhood. Then, when Jesus’ adult ministry actually started it was not what
many had expected, it was not triumphant, there was no call to arms, the Romans
were not overthrown, and the Messiah died.
When nothing spectacular happens we, like the
shepherds, tend to return to our ‘fields’. Day to day cares and worries suddenly
seem overwhelming: how can we keep this church running with only one priest?
Where will we find enough volunteers for all the ministries and roles? How do
we cope with the serious illness of a loved one, or worries about our jobs… Oh,
why can’t God just be a bit more direct and come down and sort things out, why
can’t it always be Christmas?
Because that’s not what our God is like I’m afraid,
that would be a misunderstanding of God’s message of unconditional love,
forgiveness and freedom. God has modeled how we can live and love
through the incarnation, God has wiped our slate clean and will do so again and
again when we need it. But the primary way that God acts in this world is in
and through us, with God’s guidance whenever we ask for it in prayer or look
for it in Scripture. God really cares, that is what Jesus’ birth, life and
death tell us, but God also gave us this world to nurture and all its people to
our mutual care.
We do not have to be ashamed if we do not always get
the message or if we need a lot of time to understand the significance, we are
in good company. Mary did not understand the full significance and meaning
straight away and she was there! The events around Jesus birth were only the
beginning of her journey of faith, one that included a lot of cares and worries.
Many more things happened that she had to ponder and to reflect upon, even her
son’s death, before she was able to interpret everything correctly.
Today is also New Year’s Day, the start of a
new calendar year, traditionally an occasion to start anew and with fresh
vigor. Like the shepherds you have heard what the Lord has made known: God came
to us as Savior, Messiah and Lord. Now “go
with haste and make known what you have been told about this child”
so that
“one day every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”.
Amen
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