“He Begat WHO?”1

If Matthew invites you to a Christmas party at his house, don’t go. It won’t be at all what you expect! What you’re looking for is two houses down at Luke’s place. Luke, the careful investigator, the collector of stories and traditions. Zechariah and Elizabeth are over at Luke’s place every year. They’re dropped off by the staff at the local nursing home where they live. Zechariah won’t show you pictures of his grandkids, because he doesn’t have any, but he’ll talk your ear off about his son, John.

Mary will pop by Luke’s place as well. She’ll sing her solo, it’s a Christmas tradition: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.” She’ll sing, “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.”

Luke has the shepherds, and the angel chorus - throwing their arms around each other and singing loud in the front yard. Luke has a manger in a little Bethlehem stable. Luke has Simeon and Anna, smiling and making silly faces at the babies.

And who is on Matthew’s guest list for Christmas? Joseph - all worried and wringing this hands together - wiping the fop sweat off his brow. “Should I just divorce her quietly? I should just divorce her quietly and be done with this,” he’s muttering to himself.

King Herod, paranoid with power and standing by the punch bowl - waiting for you to try it before he’ll take a drink. Signing all kinds of awful legislation with the detached arrogance of a corrupt politician. Tearing families apart and hurting children one pen stroke at a time.

The Magi - those weird, mystical kings. Astrologers from the Far East. They come each year, with their weird, foreign gifts. I mean, thanks for the Frankincense, but maybe some diapers and baby formula would have been a bit more practical?

Angels? Sure. But not like the angel chorus and Gabriel over at Luke’s party - so full of joy and hope and good news. Matthew’s angels say things like, “Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, Joseph. The child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit,” and, “Get up! Take the child and his mother to Egypt...Herod is going to search for the child and kill him.”

And the star shining brightly in the sky. But is it really soft and warm, like the glow of Christmas tree lights? Or a bit more like the stark, brilliant, light of a solitary florescent bulb - bringing everything - warts and hairs and cuts and bruises and all of it - into stark, truthful, High Definition.

On second thought, maybe Matthew’s Christmas party isn’t so bad after all. Luke reminds us that Christ comes into the world with joy, singing, anticipation, wonder, and delight. But Matthew reminds us that Christ is also born right into the midst of our messy world and messy lives. This is how the Kingdom of God begins. The Kingdom is born, like Christ, into the midst and mess of the real world. And thank God for that! Because what other kind of world have we got?

—Ben Fike

1 Adapted from a sermon originally preached at the Meadowbrook Church of Christ, September 7, 2014.