December 31, 2006
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
Last Sunday we had a wonderful Christmas Sunday and Christmas Eve! We read all of the Christmas Scriptures, sang many of the carols, and lit all of the candles. And on Christmas Day, we opened presents; gather with our family and friends for delicious home-cooked food and good conversations. And the shopping! It’s almost surreal as they say. The world comes to a full stop with no school, no work for many of us, no appointments to meet. Even the evening news seems light-hearted—it’s almost like the whole world is taking a break from reality to celebrate Christmas. At Christmas, everything becomes nostalgic, comforting, and sweet.
Christmas in the Bible, as opposed to Christmas at the mall, is not like that at all. We like all of the festivities that we just experienced, but the Christmas in the old world was a shockingly bad world, where kings rage and wickedness flourished, babies are murdered, and countries who think of themselves the most civilized people in the world repressed and oppressed countries they regarded as uncivilized.
We have created a Christmas that is more like a dream, an escape from reality. But when we read the Christmas stories found in Matthew and Luke, they are filled with today’s newspaper headlines—“Saddam Hanged!” At the first Christmas, there is a massacre of innocent children, political intrigue, lies, deceit, fear, and the holy family just barely escaping with their lives as political refugees in an unwelcoming world.
We are the Empire
At the first Christmas, a poor couple named Mary and Joseph were forced by the empire’s political decrees to pack up, to journey across the countryside (even though Mary was expecting a baby), to hold up in a cow stable, all as the result of Caesar’s enrollment. The Romans had the most power and the biggest army of any Western country ever to conquer the Middle East. How are you going to keep these Jews in their place if you don’t enroll them?
So Caesar Augustus decreed, and cruel King Herod enforced, the order that everybody had to go to the city of his or her ancestors and get registered. That’s how Mary and Joseph got to Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph were Jews, under the heel of the vast Roman Empire, the greatest Empire the world has ever known, with the largest army.
Now that we have celebrated our traditional and nostalgic Christmas, it suddenly occurred to me that “we are the empire.” We are the Romans. We’re in the Middle East, doing all sorts of important things which we have worthy justification. But in spite of the justifications for our being there, it is a bit unnerving to have to admit that Imperial Rome is us. We are the empire.
This means that when we are reading the Christmas story, maybe we shouldn’t see ourselves in the places of the displaced Mary and Joseph, the poor shepherds, or even the travel-tired wise men. They were under the heel of the empire, their lives affected by imperial decrees.
If I have a place in this story, my place is in Rome with Caesar Augustus, or maybe in Jerusalem up at the palace with King Herod, a puppet king for the Roman overlords.
I’d rather see myself as one of the relatives of Mary and Joseph, or at least among their friends, if they had any, together around the manger that night in Bethlehem. I wouldn’t even mind being one of the shepherds, out working the night shift, surprised when the heavens filled with angels. I’d like to be numbered even among the poor shepherds who were the first to get the good news.
I wouldn’t even mind being one of the Magi—strange Persian visitors who have come to the Christ Child—bearing gifts.
But this is not my place in the story. My place in the story is as a member of the empire. I am well-off. I don’t live up in the palace, but I live in a home in Sausalito—with its modern conveniences and security alarm—the majority of the world’s people would call a palace.
I am not a king, but I certainly have more control over my life and more control over a number of people than most of the kings who have walked the earth in the past.
I am not a civilized and cultivated Roman (I hated the one year that I was forced to take Latin.), but I am a member of the academic establishment. I have been the beneficiary of a great Western education, and I am a citizen of a country that has dominated other countries, often without even trying to dominate other countries.
We all know that the California economy is bigger than many countries in the world. America totally dominates the world’s economy, culture and means of production. The top 50 American companies have budgets that are each greater than two-third of the world’s nations.
The amazing thing is that America has achieved most of this dominance with hardly firing a shot, without even wanting to be an empire, or at least acknowledging that it wanted to be an empire. Though we have the largest and most effective military forces the world has ever seen, most of our dominance is achieved through pure business—the spirit of capitalism.
From the perspective of a North American Christian, I don’t exactly like my particular place in the story of the first Christmas.
Good News, Bad News
When the angel appeared to the shepherds, the angel told them to not be afraid because there will be good news of great joy for all the people. For people who work the night shift, or whose job is smelly, dirty, and difficult like those shepherds, they were hearing good news.
For the wise men from the East who stare at the stars, this was good news to see prophecies come true and to follow a wondrous star to see where it will lead them. It’s always good news to go on a camel-back ride on a new adventure.
We identify with the shepherds and the wise men because of past Christmas pageant. Since they were getting good news, we want some too. We want to have warm and happy feelings and think that we are closer to God now than at any other time of the year.
We want to believe that we are the justified and rightful people to receive the good news that come at this time of the year. But aren’t we more like the people who once hearing about the coming of the Messiah that this was really bad news?
When King Herod heard the word about the first Christmas, the Gospels say that he was filled with fear, agitation, and contempt. He immediately started lying, tried to get the wise men to show him where the baby was so he could come to worship him when what he really meant was, so that he can exterminate him. For King Herod, this was bad news.
Failing to find the baby, Herod just killed all the boy babies around Jerusalem. It was horrible news for these innocent infants and their parents.
You have to at least give Herod credit. He knew bad news when he heard it. He knew that the songs the angels sang meant an attack upon his world. God is taking sides with those on the margins, the people in the night out in the fields, the oppressed, and the lowly. For the marginalized, this is good news.
But for the people who live up in the palace, the well-off, the people on top, the masters of the Roman Empire, Christmas was bad news.
Maybe, perhaps or we might guess is the reason why Christmas has become for most of us this sweet celebration about shop until we drop, eat until we are sick, and party until we hardly know where we are. Maybe this is the reason why we have changed Christmas to include Santa Claus, holiday movies, Christmas trees, decorations and family get-togethers. And let me say that there’s nothing wrong with any of these activities because if we understood the Christmas story from the perspective that we are not the shepherds but King Herod, we would have a good reason to fear. We don’t want this first Christmas story; we want the one in the shopping mall!
Five years ago when our country launched the “war on terrorism,” we lit candles on our windowsills for the war to end. Countless casualties have happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. We are fast-approaching the death of 3000 U.S. servicemen and women and even this Christmas, the war goes on. And there’re now plans to increase troop strength in Iraq. Aren’t we more like the empire?
Good News for All People
The angel said, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)
You may be saying to yourself, “Why did I get up this morning to hear this stuff that we are actually the evil empire. I should have just stayed in bed and remember the warm and nostalgic Christmas stories of last week. At least I was a lowly shepherd!”
The angel did not say good news for some people. The angel was bold to say good news for all people. All. Although the angel was singing to the shepherd, I suppose the angel meant the song for everybody, all.
Herod had difficulty hearing the song because he was safely fortified with his troops behind the thick walls of the palace. Augustus was behind his façade of classical learning and was at the wrong place to hear the good news.
But the good news for today is that you haven’t missed it. You are in the right place to hear the news. The good news is that a Savior is born for you—for all people. Your flags, your governments, your armies, your navies, cannot save. Only the baby saves. The one who is born among the lowly and the poor; only that one can save.
Like Isaiah said, “We are the people who once walked in darkness and lived in a land of deep darkness. But now we have seen a great light that has shined among the nations giving us great joy.” (Isaiah 9:2-3)
At Christmas, we believe what the prophet Isaiah said,
“For a child has been born for us, a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness
from this day onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
The Lord of hosts, God himself has done this at Christmas!
And the good news is he is born for you. He comes not only for the oppressed, not only for Israel, but also for the oppressor, that is, for all. Christ is born so that we can turn our lives around to be with the Lord. Christ is born for us to bow down before the manger, rather than before our government and pledging our allegiance to the Prince of Peace.
Jesus Christ is our prince and King. He comes to form an empire, not the way this world builds it empires. He comes to establish the Kingdom of God. And he shall reign forever and ever, and of his reign there shall be no end.
Christmas, real Christmas, is real light—God’s light coming into the darkness, the darkness in our world. This is truly Good News! For this day in the City of David is born a Savior, Christ the Lord. May the New Year of 2007 be the year of the Lord when his kingdom come. Good news for all.
Let us pray.
Almighty God, Lord of all peoples and all nations, we give you thanks for the fullness of your grace and glory that has appeared among us in the birth of Christ. Teach us the wonder of your ways, the glory of your love. Forgive us when we have tried to limit your love to our people, our country, and our church. This is good news for all people. Help us to live that good news and to share it with others. Amen.