Dec 3 2021 Day 243 Matthew 1:1–2:23

 "..and they shall name him Emmanuel,” 

I am grateful to be in the New Testament, although I’m very glad to have actually read the Hebrew Scriptures from Genesis 1 through Malachi 4. And I’m very glad to be through it. I need a break from all of the bad things that God either caused or allowed to happen.

Except beginning with Matthew, it turns out that’s not just a trait from the Hebrew Scriptures. Within the first two chapters of Matthew, we have numerous accounts of God’s past and continued permissiveness about crummy things happening.

In the genealogy, we hear of the 42 generations from Abraham all the way to Jesus. Reading through the names, we are reminded of the horrid things that happened in God’s name – Abraham offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice, Jacob cheating his brother out of his inheritance, David having Uriah killed. And then there are the very few mothers mentioned or referred to in this lineage, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba. The genealogy of Jesus is probably like all of ours, a little shady in parts. And Matthew’s including this narration fixes Jesus in a long line of humanity including the good, the bad and the ugly. That’s just the quick recount of the Hebrew Scriptures part of Jesus’ story.

Continuing, we have Joseph betrothed to a teenage girl who it turns out is pregnant. He was going to ‘dismiss her quietly’, so as to not cause her shame. In a dream he was told to go ahead and marry her, and name the child Jesus. We’ve heard this part of the story enough times that we gloss over the hard things here. To be a teenage girl, unmarried and pregnant could have resulted in Mary’s death, or certainly Joseph’s abandonment of her. What a difficult position for both Mary and Joseph, that God put them in.

Then there’s Herod. He tries to use the wise men to lead him to this new threat to his kingship. Luckily God warned them about Herod’s plans, so they did not return to Herod as directed. Meanwhile, God warns Joseph of Herod’s dastardly plans so Joseph takes Mary and the infant Jesus to Egypt, a little over 400 miles. This would have been a very difficult journey by whatever means they had, for this young family. They were fleeing their country for fear of death – the very definition of refugees, and sanctuary seekers.

As if that wasn’t enough difficulty, God allowed Herod to order the execution of all infants under two years old, hoping to wipe out this unknown threat. In my tradition, we commemorate this day as the commemoration of the Holy Innocents, always on December 28. It’s always a bit of a downer, coming so quickly after the Feast of the Nativity, but it helps ground me in the darkness that persists.

After this Joseph takes his family back to Nazareth, still afraid of the Bethlehem drama. That would have been an equally challenging road trip for the young family.

And all of this happens in the first two chapters of Matthew. Bad things continue to happen, either at God’s direction, or with God’s permission. And yet there’s a difference, a difference that we attribute to Jesus’ victory over sin, evil and death. I’m reminded of something that happened at the memorial for Princess Diana. Being a good Anglican memorial, it was full of joyous music and peeling bells. A commentator asked why the service seemed happy, almost like a celebration. The response? We know how this story ends.

This sense of hope is repeated in the prayer that’s read for the commemoration of the Holy Innocents. It reads, “We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord”

It ends with Jesus establishing the rule of justice, love and peace. Even in the sight of all of the horrible things that happens in this world, Jesus comes to remind us that in the end, God wins. Love wins. I am eternally grateful for being reminded how the story ends.