PAST SERMON 2009 #17
by Reverend Judith Alltree, delivered on Friday December 25, 2009,
at the Church of the Holy Spirit. (Christmas Day)
The Travellers
I heard on the news on Wednesday night that 11,000 people would be traveling through Union Station that day, and that 100,000 would be going through Pearson Airport. Apparently, that would be nothing compared to what railroad and airport sources suggested would happen in the days after Christmas. To move those many thousands of people effectively and efficiently in one 24 hour period seems rather monumental to me.
Consider for example: ticket checks, passport control, airport security, metal detectors, X-ray machines, those annoying wands they run all over you while you stand there with your arms out as if you have just been arrested; and my favourite: going through your carry on luggage. It seems a miracle to me that anyone even wants to travel these days, or gets anywhere on time.
Of course, for some, for many, travel is still an adventure. For others, travel is a necessity for a dozen reasons. One thing is clear: the days of “carefree travel” are well and truly over in our contemporary world. So what is “carefree” really? Compare today with what Mary and Joseph had to go through 2000 years ago, traveling between Nazareth and Bethlehem, probably on the road with thousands of other people, in a time and place where very few facilities existed for the comfort and safety of travelers. There were no airport security checks; there was no security at all.
There are two modern routes that one can take between Nazareth and Bethlehem: one is 155 kms long and takes an hour and 50 minutes to travel; the other is 166 kms and takes 2 hours and 28 minutes. Two thousand years ago, this same route would have taken three to six days, depending on the route and the circumstances. Unpaved roads, riding a donkey, nine months pregnant, thousands of people walking alongside, sleeping in the rough — my imagination doesn’t let me get very far with this picture.
And yet they did it, Mary and Joseph. According to St. Luke, who chronicled their journey, in spite of the hardships, and I believe Luke probably edited out a great deal of what may have happened to them on this trip, Mary and Joseph arrived at their intended destination, where she delivered her child. I imagine so: after a journey like that, it’s remarkable that Jesus wasn’t born on the back of the donkey, somewhere between Nazareth and Jericho.
But I need to remind myself here that God is in charge of that child, and that delivery, and those to whom he entrusted Jesus’ early life. Try and imagine what might have happened if God decided to send the Messiah to be born in the 21st century instead of the first: airport security alone would have made Mary and Joseph’s lives miserable. Picture Joseph helping poor Mary off with her shoes, as they are inspected by someone with an electronic wand waving them over the soles. And all Mary’s cosmetics, her shampoo, body gel and face crèmes would have to be the regulation size or they would be confiscated, unless some security agent took pity on this poor, young and extremely pregnant woman and just poured out the excess. Would they even let her through the metal detector? In spite of a government mandated trip to be registered in her home town, would her doctor let her travel? Would she get up to the gate and be turned away by the ramp agents? Would her carry on fit under the seat in front of her, and would it matter as she couldn’t reach it anyways?
Yes, I know these things seem ridiculous to even think about. God didn’t send his Son to be born in a century filled with the difficulties of ours; God sent his Son to be born in a century that was even incredibly more difficult to live in! And while nearly everyone in Palestine was bumping into each other on the roads, a group of shepherds, isolated as they were from the general population, were the first to hear of the infant Jesus, the Messiah, and the first to find their way to the site of this miraculous birth, guided by Heavenly Host.
It just wouldn’t work today, would it? There would be too many difficulties, too much technology, not enough faith.
Instead, in the first century, a decree went out from the Roman Emperor Augustus that everyone in the Roman world should travel to their home town to be registered. So Joseph who lived in the town of Nazareth in Galilee had to travel 150 odd kilometers to Judea to the city of David called Bethlehem, for his registration. He went with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were in Bethlehem, she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn, no bed for the child. Nearby, there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night, when an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people: to you is born this day in Bethlehem, the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!”
AMEN.