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"THE GOSPELS' MESSAGE OF THE BABY IN THE MANGER STANDS OVER
AGAINST EVEN THE BEST PAGAN EMPIRES, INVITING US TO CONTEMPLATE
THE RADICAL & TOTAL REDEFINITION OF TRUTH, PEACE, POWER & GLORY." |
In light of the fact that Christmas as we celebrate it today has little to do with Christ (see "
Christmas Ambivalence"), one of the tasks of a preacher at Christmas time is to put some distance between Christmas and the birth stories in Matthew & Luke. Those stories tell a very different tale (see "
Putting Christ in Christmas").
Rom Phra Khun readers who would like to pursue this might take a look at a recent posting by the British New Testament scholar, N. T. Wright, entitled, "
The most dangerous baby." Commenting on the story of the angels singing to the shepherds, for example, Wright concludes that, "Suddenly, Luke's scene ceases to be a romantic pastoral idyll, with the rustic shepherds paying homage to the infant King. It becomes a clear statement of two kingdoms destined to compete, kingdoms that offer radically different definitions of what peace and power and glory are all about."
The preacher's unenviable task at Christmas, then, is to separate the Christ of the gospel stories who was destined for the cross from the sweet baby who beneficently blesses our mundane social holiday of good cheer, which drives the economic engine of the nation. The point is not to preach against Christmas, but to take the opportunity to remind parishioners and Christmas drop-ins that the gospels tell a very different story from the one they think it tells. Amen.
