Opening Verse of Scripture Psalm 148

Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the world;  Young men and women,  old and young together; let them praise the name of the Lord. For his name only is exalted, his splendour above earth and heaven.

Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray

Almighty God, who wonderfully created us in your own image and yet more wonderfully restored us through your Son Jesus Christ: grant that, as he came to share in our humanity, so we may share the life of his divinity; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was circumcised in obedience to the law for our sake and given the Name that is above every name: give us grace faithfully to bear his Name, to worship him in the freedom of the Spirit, and to proclaim him as the Saviour of the world; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

God in Trinity, eternal unity of perfect love: gather the nations to be one family, and draw us into your holy life through the birth of Emmanuel,

our Lord Jesus Christ.

First Bible Reading

Numbers 6.22–27    (Naming and Circumcision of Jesus)

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them. NRSV

Isaiah 63.7–9  (Second Sunday of Christmas)

I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord, the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, because of all that the Lord has done for us, and the great favour to the house of Israel that he has shown them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he said, ‘Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely’; and he became their saviour in all their distress. It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. NRSV

Second Reading

Galatians 4.4–7  (Naming and Circumcision of Jesus)

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. NRSV

Hebrews 2.10–18   (Second Sunday of Christmas)

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying, ‘I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.’ And again, 'I will put my trust in him.’ And again, ‘Here am I and the children whom God has given me.’ Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.  NRSV

Gospel Reading

Luke 2.15–21  (Naming and Circumcision of Jesus)

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. 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. NRSV

Matthew 2.13–23  (Second Sunday of Christmas)

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’ When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’ When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’  NRSV

Post Communion Prayer

Eternal God, whose incarnate Son was given the Name of Saviour: grant that we who have shared in this sacrament of our salvation may live out our years in the power of the Name above all other names, Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen

Post Communion

Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son shared at Nazareth the life of an earthly home: help your Church to live as one family, united in love and obedience, and bring us all at last to our home in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary

Having been to Bethlehem and seen the cave which Christians venerate as the birthplace of Jesus, I am struggling this year with trying to understand what happened that first Christmas night. We are told that Mary and Joseph had to leave Nazareth and go to Bethlehem, because it was the home town of Joseph and the Roman were conducting a census. So off they trekked across the desert from Nazareth. When they arrived, Mary was about to give birth to the baby Jesus. Imagine that you were Joseph in this position. Your wife is about to give birth, what do you do? I suspect that we would all go to the home of our very best friends and beg a favour. We are told that there was no room for them at the inn. 

The word used by Luke which we choose to translate in this instance as ‘inn’ is ‘katalumati.’ Later in the Gospel (22:11) Luke will use the same word to describe the place where the last supper will be held, there it is often translated as ‘guest room.’ We all have pictures in our minds of nativity scenes in which a friendly hotelier takes pity on Mary and Joseph and finds them a place. The truth is probably very different. The phrase ’ there was no room’ might be intended to convey a much more cruel fact, that not even the friends and relatives of Joseph wanted to provide shelter for him and his disgraced wife. Had the news of the pregnant Mary reached Bethlehem before the couple arrived? There is nothing jucier than a bit of gossip about an unmarried mother, such news travels faster, even in an age deprived of the telephone. The fact that there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the ‘katalumati’ whatever one of those was, gives a huge insight into the attitudes of their friends and family. We can be sure of the fact that the place of birth was one which was not desirable, it was chosen because there was ‘no room’ in the place where Joseph and Mary would have chosen. This place was a place devoid of the usual comforts, because the baby Jesus was laid in a manger. Babies are not normally put into feeding troughs, a mother would only do this out of necessity. It is a striking point and no wonder that Luke mentions it three times in his nativity story. 

So here we have a rejected couple, giving birth in an undesirable place, finding no suitable hospitality in the home town of Joseph. Little wonder that in the passage from Matthew today we read that Joseph decides to escape to Egypt. Given the lack of hospitality which Joseph has received in Bethlehem there is little reason to suppose that the couple will find protection. Any protective father would feel equally fearful for the family. 

Those of you who know your Old Testament will remember that Pharaoh also gave orders to kill male Hebrew infants because he was warned in a dream of a new born Hebrew who would be threat to his kingdom. If were to examine the language used in Exodus and in Matthew we would see remarkable similarities. There can be no doubt that Matthew has in mind the story of Moses as he tells the story of Jesus, Pharaoh becomes Herod, whilst Moses becomes Jesus. Moses saved the people from bondage and slavery, now Jesus will save the people from their sins. 

Such similarities between Old Testament passages and the nativity stories in Matthew have resulted in the passage from Matthew being seen as Christian midrash. Midrash was a way in which rabbis at the time of Jesus interpreted scripture in manner very different from our literal understanding of truth. It involved story telling and interpreting truth in new ways from previous events. This is not to say that these events never took place. We know that killing babies was exactly the kind of thing which Herod would have done. 

Herod was enraged that the Magi hadn't "reported" back to him and he was prone to fly into a rage. Herod ruled from about 37BC until 4BC, (due to errors in the calendar we believe that Jesus was born about 6BC!), the Jewish historian Josephus records that Herold's later years were full of attempts to defend his throne against the Jewish Hasmoneans, the descendants of the Maccabees. This was a man who had ten wives, executed his own wife Mariamne and three sons Alexander, Aristobulus and Antipater. He had an elaborate network of spies, and he often executed people for real or imagined conspiracies against his throne. He slaughtered 45 Sadducees most of whm were members of the Sanhedrin and confiscated their property. Josephus (Jos. Ant 17.6.6) even talks about a plan, never carried out, to have all the Jewish nobility slaughtered at the time of his own death to ensure that everyone would be mourning when he died !

So we read in Matthew that Herod had a fit of rage and ordered that all of the male infants in Bethlehem under two years of age be killed. Early Christians tradition reported that perhaps 14,000 (Byzantine) or 64,000 (Syrian) babies might have died. The number is actually much smaller. Bethlehem was a small town of only perhaps 500-1,000 people, so it is possible that between 4- 20 babies might have been killed. Nevertheless such a slaughter was a most dreadful action which would have brought enormous fear and mourning to the town. We need to remember that this is the reality of that first Christmas. It will never appear on our Christmas cards and yet it is much more a feature of the birth of Jesus than the idyllic scene of ‘cattle lowing’ and a waking baby Jesus who doesn’t cry. Mary and Joseph are refused hospitality, they and the baby are now in real danger of being killed in the ensuing bloodbath. It was a very brutal Christmas in the present context of slaughter in places like Darfur, Zimbabwe and Iraq it perhaps has more to say to our world than we are prepared to allow.

We are told by Matthew that eventually the family return and go to live in Nazareth. Such a detail is also important. I love the fact that wherever I go I bump into people with whom I have an instant affinity, because we immediately recognise our origins in Merseyside. Being born in Liverpool means that you belong to a very easily identifiable group, the cheery disposition, and charming accent are just two of the qualities inherent in the Scouser. Liverpudlians love nothing better than sharing their good nature and friendly humour with others who have not had the benefit of such a birthplace. However there is a also a flip side, there are those who think that anybody who comes from Liverpool must be horribly vulgar, steal cutlery and can't pronounce 'grass.' We are seldom intimidated by this behaviour and we have expressions which characterise these ignorant people, these would be most inappropriate for Parish News. 

I say this because if Jesus was born in England, I think that he would have been born in Liverpool. For this reason alone the 'Liverpool Nativity' which was on television over Christmas was very appropriate. Let me explain, Jesus grew up in Nazareth in Galilee. Nazareth was not far from the major commercial trade routes, only several miles from Sepphoris an important city. Yet this was a place despised by many Jewish people at the time. It was just as unlikely that a Messiah would come from Nazareth as it was for Anakin Skywalker to come from Tatooine. If a Messiah was to come from anywhere it would be Jerusalem, not the uncultured North. 

Quite a few things about Jesus and the Gospels start to make sense when we understand this In John1:46 we read that Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote it is Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." The response of Nathaniel was "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?"

People from this northern region stood out. When Jesus was arrested and Peter was accused of being with Jesus by the servant girl, (Mark 14:67) she said "You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus’. We all know that Peter denied any contact with Jesus, but as soon as he opened his mouth Peter gave himself away, because he would have spoken with a Northern accent! So we are told Peter is accused himself of being ‘a Galilean.’

Jesus never argued about the title, he would never shake it off, and presumably people would know where Jesus came from every time he said ‘grass.’ Jesus seemed to bear the disdain of others about his roots throughout his adult life. So it was that Pilate would have thought it a kind of joke to write ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’ 

So the hopeless scene of an asylum seeking Joseph and Mary wandering around the streets of Liverpool is not too far from the truth. How could Jesus be born anywhere else, a messiah from Tunbridge Wells would just be too ridiculous. Charles Royden 

Meditation

The people of Ancient Rome thought there were many gods, and the month of January is named after ‘Janus’, their god of doors and gateways, of beginnings and endings. In Rome, the temple of Janus had doors facing east and west for the rising and setting of the sun, the beginning and end of each day. Between those doors stood the statue of Janus with two faces, looking in opposite directions. As we start the New Year, looking both backwards and forwards, we can think of the new year as a gate - an opening to what we choose to do in the future. The darkness of winter and of past mistakes will give way to the light of spring and of new opportunities. 

‘I said to the man who stood at the gate of the Year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” 

And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.’ 

May that almighty hand guide and uphold us all.

Hymns

• Come Down O love Divine
• Unto us a boy is borne
• O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
• Go tell it on the mountain
• Love came down at Christmas
• Thou didst leave thy throne 

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

Lord Jesus, at this time we can look back to the old year, and forward to the new. We give thanks for the blessings of the past year, and we place into your hands the mistakes we have made. As you are “the Light of the world”, take away the darkness in our lives. As you are “the Way”, lead us in the year ahead. As you are “the gate of the sheepfold”, protect us from danger. We entrust the past to your mercy, Lord, the present to your love, and the future to your providence. Amen.

Let your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, O Lord, be our defence. Let your mercy and loving-kindness in Christ Jesus be our protection. May your true and faithful Word be our instruction and guide; and may the grace of your life-giving Spirit be our comfort and strength, to the end and in the end, now and for ever. Amen.   John Knox, 1513-1572

O most loving Shepherd, in the deepest of all waters we will trust you. In the darkest of all valleys we will rejoice in your presence. In the worst of our days we shall rest at peace in your arms. In the most troubled of our nights we shall be comforted by your saints. Amen.

Archibald Campbell Tait, 1811-1882

Preserve us, O God, in the faith of your saints, a faith both tried and trusted. May we enjoy both now and for ever the eternal love of the Father, the abiding love of the Son and the indwelling of love of the Holy Spirit, one God in glory and majesty, world without end. Amen ;

Hilary of Poitiers, 315-367

O Lord, whose way is perfect, help us always to trust in your goodness, to walk in the way of faith, and to follow in the path of simplicity. Teach us to cast our cares on your providence, that we may possess a quiet mind and a contented spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 

Christina Georgina Rossetti, 1830-1894

Additional Material

Matthew and the birth stories

Matthew presents Jesus as the "new Moses." He shows events from the life of Moses which find parallels in Jesus. The number five is clearly important for Matthew. There were five books of Moses, hence he delivers 5 'books' in Matthew, each one prefaced by words from Jesus.

Matthews tells us that there were five dreams and there are Old Testament fulfillments. 'Out of Egypt I have called my son' is taken from Hosea, it is not about Jesus but a commentary on Exodus. (Hosea 11: 1-4) However Matthew uses it to point to Jesus, who will liberate his people just like Moses. 'Ramah' - This is from Jeremiah 31:15 and relates to the Exile into Babylon c. 600 BC. Rachel who is the mother of Israel weeps because her children are deported.Ramah is where the Israelites gathered for the march to Babylon) 

Matthew vaguely cites "the prophets" as saying that "h e will be called a Nazarene." He couldn't specify a particular prophet since none had ever spoken of Nazareth. In fact, the word "Nazareth" does not appear in the Old Testament at all. Matthew did have to get Jesus to Nazareth since everybody knew that Jesus was, in fact, from Nazareth.

Matthew presents the birth of Jesus as a recapitulation of the history of Israel. He survives assassination, as did Moses. He goes to Egypt, as his people once did, and comes out again, as his people also did. He is afflicted by Herod, as Moses was afflicted by Pharoah. Rachel, the mother of the nation, is his mother too. 

Thus, he is a fitting "Messiah," one who encapsulates the history of his people, and one who will lead them into a new relationship with God, with each other, and even with their enemies. 

Meditation

“When I die I shall see myself as I’ve never seen myself before, I shall see myself in the light of God’s truth. That may not be very comfortable at all. Sometimes I feel afraid of it. All can do is trust that God already sees that truth and already loves me. So even when I see myself in the most unattractive light, God is still love. Can I accept that? We’ll see when I die.” 

Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Church of England. 

Commentary 

I recently visited the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. It is the oldest surviving church in Europe, it was saved from the destruction which involved the invasion from Persia, this was because the invading army saw in the church a picture of the Magi. Recognising them as coming from the same country they decided not to destroy the church, which survives to this day. 

In our reading to day we hear of the reaction of Herod the Great to the birth of Jesus. Herod has all the infants in the Bethlehem area killed because he fears that Jesus may succeed to his throne, rather than a son of his. He is completely opposed to the birth of Jesus and will persecute the Holy Family as they set off to escape to Egypt. Hence Jesus becomes a member of a persecuted family chased by soldiers who wish to see him dead. This is the kind of God which we worship this Christmas time, one who lives alongside us, sharing in the most vulnerable and difficult of human circumstances.

The "Wise men from the East" by contrast come to Herod asking "'Where is the child that has been born king of the Jews?'" They subsequently visited the child with Mary, paid him homage and offered him gifts. Now at Christmas time many people will discover some of their spiritual roots and make the annual pilgrimage to church. They are not against Jesus, but neither are they committed to the challenge of the Christian faith either. They are somewhat ambivalent and most probably just too preoccupied with other things.

There are many people who will speak of the decline of morality and the breakdown in society, but who have given up the practice of attending church. Our failure as a nation to hold on to our spiritual values is affected deeply by the decline in church attendance. The problem is that it is impossible to be a Christian in isolation, the Christian faith is about community, being called by God to belong to a Christian family. Since people have stopped going to church, they are culpable in whatever breakdown of morality they perceive there to be in our community. Not only have they become cut off from their spiritual roots, they have contributed to the decline of the church and its influence in society. If people cease attending church then they will wither, just as surely as the Christmas trees which are cut off from their roots and are now dropping their needles all over the place. Moreover if we all ceased going to church, then churches will increasingly close as we can only afford to pay for fewer and fewer clergy, and church building will literally crumble. I am assuming from experience that these people do not have standing orders with the local church to help it to pay its bills in their absence! So the next time somebody tells you that they are a Christian but that they do not go to church, please alert them to the financial facts of life.

It is important that we are prepared to be engaged in the important spiritual act of witness, as we too go to worship the Christ child. We take our stand with those wise people and shepherds who were prepared to stand up and be counted. Each time we Christians enter our church during these special holy days of Christmas and then on throughout the year, we declare to the whole world our belief. We demonstrate our firm conviction that, at a certain point in history, the one and only God entered into the constraints of space and time, was clothed in human skin, felt the warmth of a mother's love. We say that our very God took on flesh and then took tools into his hands and worked for a living, rejoiced at wedding receptions, cried at the death of a friend, fed those who were hungry, healed the sick and raised the dead. He who was a baby refugee, still walks as God with us.

In this holy season we celebrate the doctrine called the Incarnation. This teaches the mystery of God entering into human flesh; the doctrine from which flows our conviction that, there is nothing...nothing in this world that escapes the loving embrace of God. as we come together and worship as a Christian community so we proclaim Christ to our world. Charles Royden