January 3: The Counterintuitive Liberator
♫ Music:
Now when they had gone, behold, 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 going to search for the Child to destroy Him.” So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Matthew 2:13-15
THE COUNTERINTUITIVE LIBERATOR
This passage is part of a description of a sequence of events that occur within two years of Christ’s birth. Just before this passage, the Scripture explains the arrival of the Magi to Jerusalem, who inquire of Herod about the location of the newborn king. Herod, who is already king of the Jews by the decree of Caesar, is threatened by the prospect of another Jewish king, even one that is a small child. Hence, he makes secret plans to kill Jesus by commissioning the murder of every male child in Nazareth who is two years old and younger.
The dream that Joseph has is a divine warning about Herod and an example of God’s preemptive protection. At the same time, the danger that Joseph and his family find themselves in represents the flip side of Christ’s birth. On the one hand, Christ’s introduction to the human world is cause for celebration. Luke’s account of the prophetic anticipation and angelic announcement of Christ’s arrival speak to this explicitly (Luke 1:39-56; 2: 8-16). On the other hand, Christ’s arrival is also accompanied by a violent backlash, which is the emphasis of Matthew’s account.
Joseph, Mary and Jesus avoid the backlash, but their experience is only the beginning of the resistance that Jesus faces later as an adult. Matthew’s account reminds us that Christ’s solution to the human condition is not obvious, nor intuitive to everyone, especially for those who have tremendous stakes in the kingdoms of this world. This lesson is not lost on Herod, who immediately sees the implications of Christ’s arrival: There is no place for two kings; Christ’s lordship presumes the dethroning of any other lord. Herod’s reaction to Christ’s birth is in sharp contrast to that of the Magi and the shepherds, who witness Christ as a babe and a young child. While Herod sees Christ’s rule as the demise of his own, the Magi and shepherds celebrate Christ’s rule as liberation from the tyranny of human government.
In many ways, both reactions are a reflection of Christ’s impact on our lives. He is at once the liberator of our souls and the enemy of our carnal ways. Like the Magi and shepherds, we have reason to look to Him as our liberator, but like Herod, we see in him the demise of our self-government. Christ’s lordship can invoke a backlash, a desperate attempt on our part to preserve control over our own lives. While Christ is the obvious answer to the human dilemma, He is counterintuitive to our way of life. As a result, our response to Him must be just as counterintuitive: The celebration of His birth must also provoke us to surrender our stakes in the world, to let go of our plans, and to release our tight grip on human self-preservation schemes. The notion of Christ as king is not a reference to a metaphor, but to a real governmental force that calls upon our total devotion. Only when we stem our urge to resist Christ’s rule can we fully celebrate the beauty of His birth.
Joshua Smith, Assistant Professor of English
O God, grant that the Holy Spirit in all things may direct and rule our hearts and lives,
through Jesus Christ our Lord and Liberator. Amen
Flight into Egypt, 1304-1306
Giotto
Fresco
Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy
About the Artist and the Art
The Italian painter Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337) is often appreciated for his innovations in painting. Giotto is credited with created a first impetus for the Italian Renaissance. He imbued his figures with personality and tried to give expression to their faces and bearing, as is clearly visible from his major work: the frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, a.k.a. the Arena Chapel. Giotto may very well have been the first painter to succeed in creating unified compositions: there is unity between the figures and their surroundings and unity among the figures, interacting as they do through gesture and emotion. Giotto’s Flight Into Egypt is both quietly meditative and so full of life.
About the Music
Born into a musical family Canadian, Steve Bell has been performing and touring since he was eight years old. As Steve’s father was a prison chaplain, it was federal prisoners in Drumheller Penitentiary who taught the young boy to play guitar at an early age. Mr. Bell has created 16 albums including two specifically Christmas albums. He has toured worldwide throughout Canada, the United States, Thailand, India, the Philippines, Poland, Bulgaria, and throughout the Caribbean. The lyrics for Refugee were penned by British poet, Malcolm Guite who has collaborated with Steve on a number of projects.
Websites: http://stevebell.com/ & http://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/
Refugee Lyrics:
We think of him as safe beneath the steeple
Or cozy in a crib beside the font
But he is with a million displaced people
On the long road of weariness and want
For even as we sing our final carol
The hounded child is up and on that road
Fleeing from the wrath of someone else’s quarrel
Glancing behind
And shouldering their load
And shouldering their load
While Herod rages still from his dark tower
Christ clings to Mary, fingers tightly curled
The lambs are slaughtered by the men of power
And death squads spread their curse across the world
How terrible, how just and how ironic
That every Herod dies and comes alone
Defenseless as the naked embryonic
To stand before
The Lamb upon the throne
The Lamb upon the throne
I can’t resist the burning urge for turning
This song into a cautionary tale
The Savior whom this song has been discerning
Once occupied, the belly of a whale
To reach as deep as love could ever fathom
To rescue from the tentacles of hell
The wretched, the beleaguered and forgotten
Surprisingly
Their enemies as well
Their enemies as well