Wadhams United Church of Christ
2569 County Route 10, Wadhams, NY 12993
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Sermon by Steve Smith
December 14, 2008 Order of Service
Once again my thoughts and reflections for the Advent season have taken me on a slightly different trajectory than the standard meditations on the usual leading characters. Today I want to look at someone I never even thought was present during the Christmas story until this year. His name was James, and he is identified in the New Testament as the brother of Jesus. There are several views on whether the person identified as James was the child of Joseph and Mary. Most Catholics, especially those who believe that Mary remained a virgin her entire life, account for the several people named as brothers and sisters of Jesus by assuming that they were the children of a prior marriage on Joseph’s part. Protestants, for their part, prefer to believe that all nine of those listed were the children of Joseph and Mary.
As one scholar points out, however, there could be some problems with both views. From the Protestant viewpoint, one would have to assume that Mary had all nine children before Joseph died (presumably when Jesus was around 12). While such a thing would have been possible, it’s much more likely that Mary would have died during childbirth. From the Catholic viewpoint, Joseph would have been coming into his marriage with a young maiden as an aging widower with eight kids in tow. There would have been a great deal of resistance on the part of Mary’s family to such an arrangement. Some folks want to slide out of the uncomfortable interpretations involved by proposing that the words we translate as “brother or sister” can actually be taken to mean “cousins.” So Jesus had eight “cousins” who lived with him as siblings.
As someone who bravely (and sometimes foolishly) plunges unafraid into the deeper and murkier waters of theological debates that have raged for centuries, I’m going to proceed with a hybrid theory that makes sense to me. Of course, if you’re going to go plunging into any deep water anywhere around here this time of year, there’s a real good chance of frostbite and hypothermia. And we all know what hypothermia does your thought processes. However, the lack of oxygen to my brain and the total loss of common sense has never stopped me before, so why cave in to it now?
What if both the Catholics and the Protestants have part of the story right? What if Joseph had a couple of kids from a previous marriage, then went on to have some more with his second wife Mary? That sounds like most of the blended marriages and families I’ve come across. Right about now, if you’re not already taking notes for my upcoming heresy trials, you’re asking yourself a question: why would I care about this fairly insignificant detail in bible history? Let me answer this question with a guilt-inducing response: people have been martyred for their beliefs on whether Mary had any children beside Jesus. And I’m not kidding about this. The answers one gives have a lot to do with how people look at Mary and her role in salvation history, and the relationship between Protestants and Catholics hasn’t always been as friendly as it is now.
And a second question could be hot on the heels of the first: what in the world does it have to do with the Christmas story? Let me answer this question as well as the first one by pointing out something that had completely escaped my notice until this year, because I’ve always been of the opinion that Mary and Joseph, like good Catholics, just kept making babies until one of them died from exhaustion. If we consider the viewpoint that Joseph might have come into his marriage to Mary with children from a previous marriage, then it changes the way things played out on that first Christmas. It changes the way we conceive of the chaotic and untimely trip to Bethlehem they were compelled to make because of an edict to enroll for the census. It changes the way we look at the holy family, because the holy family might have been a lot more susceptible to the kinds of family dynamics that we see in our own homes.
The chances are that I wouldn’t be talking about any of this if I hadn’t read an interesting book by Anne Rice entitled, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. Anne Rice has been writing books for many years, but until recently, they were always about vampires. After a long and difficult period of soul searching, she returned to the Catholic faith of her childhood and embraced a newfound faith in Jesus. Her quest brought her to some of the ancient stories that were not included in our Bible, and in order to help fill in the characters she wanted to develop in her retelling of the story of Jesus, she decided to incorporate some of the details she found in those sources.
In this seminal work, she decided to apply the techniques of the historical novel to the retelling of the story, something that people have been reluctant to do when it comes to Bible stories. The result was for me a fascinating read, an invitation to step into the world that Jesus was born into, as the people, places, and events of a familiar story took on an added depth and dimension. One of the features of the Jewish culture of that time that had eluded me was the strong sense of family that bound people together in their daily routines. Whenever I have thought of Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem in the past, I have thought in terms of them making the journey alone. But in her novel, they traveled like everyone else in that time period: as part of a larger family clan. People seldom traveled alone because of the higher risk of being attacked by thieves.
If that was the case, then it would certainly help to solve the mystery of why the innkeeper couldn’t find room for two more people. While he might have been able to squeeze a few more bodies into his rustic accommodations, there was no way that he would have been able to accommodate an entire clan of travelers. So in her novel, Anne Rice has the entire clan pressing into the barn, where they would have to jockey for space along with the other horses, donkeys, camels, livestock, and servants populating the rude structure. And if the little town of Bethlehem was as crowded as Luke says it was, there may very well have been other families forced to take shelter in the barn as well.
Two things strike me about her scenario: one is that the servants were never invited to share the living space with their masters. This was true well into the 19th century: if you belonged to that lower caste of people whose destiny was to serve others, then your sleeping quarters and living arrangements were never as nice as those of your master. A good many servants slept in the barn because the animals provided some warmth against the cold of the season. It would make perfect sense, then, to find the servants quartered in the barn, even if there had been more beds available at the inn. Those beds weren’t meant for them.
The second thing that strikes me is that there would have been precious little privacy in such a setting. While the family compound was designed to provide some measure of privacy by separating the men from the women, that kind of arrangement would have been much more difficult in this setting, if not impossible. Any and all sounds would have traveled freely through the freeform structure. I remember some of our friends at seminary talking about their apartment in married student housing. While the construction was reasonably new, apparently the seminary had saved some money by skimping on insulation between the walls. They described the creepy feeling that came over them one night when one of them sneezed, and someone from two doors down said “Bless you!” in response.
So if the family clan was crammed into the tight quarters out in the barn, sharing space with the animals and the servants who occupied a slightly higher rung than the beasts of burden, there is a symbolic power to the story: Jesus was born among those who were destined to serve, be they beast or servant. This was certainly one of the central facets of Jesus’ teaching, that he came into the world to serve the world, and not to be served by it. And if it’s creepy to think that the people down the hall can hear everything that goes on in your apartment, take that total lack of privacy out into the birth experience, where the sounds of a mother in labor would be certain to draw the interest of curious onlookers.
Here’s the most compelling feature of Anne Rice’s novel, though: Jesus had at least two brothers there who witnessed everything: shepherds elbowing their way through the animals and the onlookers to find the one the angels sang about; a bright star leading foreign dignitaries to a stable, lavishing their gifts upon the newborn Messiah. It’s hard enough for an older sibling when mom and dad come home with a new baby that’s going to get all the attention. Can you imagine how much worse it would be when the baby gets all those extravagant gifts, too? And how much harder it would be to hear the whisperings about your new baby brother being the savior of the world?
Can you imagine growing up with a brother who could literally do no wrong? With someone whose nickname would be “the sinless one”? So if there was mischief afoot, and mom and dad came looking for the guilty party or parties, they would automatically skip over Jesus and come looking for you. And if you felt like taking your frustrations out on your younger brother by tormenting or teasing him (not that this kind of thing ever happens), God help you if you did anything to the little savior child. Can you begin to see how this might have had an impact on the family dynamics of the holy family?
So if James the older half-brother of Jesus went along on the trip to Bethlehem, then he would have been there to hear the birthing grunts and groans of his step-mother Mary. He would have been there when the shepherds came bursting through the barn to find the Savior that the angels sang about. He would have been there to witness the sages from the east bowing down to give the Christ child gifts more valuable than anything he or his parents had ever seen before.
How could such an experience have left him unchanged? While his younger brother might have lived his life without sin, we have no record of the same being said of James. So it’s quite likely that he would have experienced the envy and jealousy of any older sibling who has a younger brother who shines in everything he does. It’s quite likely that his psyche would have had to develop some calluses, which usually involves a fair amount of resentment. And it’s not that much of a leap to think that James would have had to work a lot harder to gain the respect ordinarily due the first-born son.
So if James the older half-brother of Jesus was there that first Christmas morning, then the story becomes that much more real in this world where sibling rivalry is alive and well, and where life-long resentments, jealousies, and envies still have the power to pollute our family gatherings. Even as the mystical love of God became real in a very human family and eventually brought transformation to James, so the love demonstrated in the birth of Jesus has the power to transform our resentments, our slights, our jealousies, and our envies.
While we might see untold wealth or fame or power being lavished on others, more than we will ever see in our lifetimes, we can find balm for the burn in knowing that God gives us a gift far more valuable in the birth of this child. God gives us the assurance that God will be with us through it all. God will be with us when we’re struggling to do what’s right, when we’re fumbling through life wondering why some seem to have it so much easier, and when our family dynamics are anything but holy. The one who was born destined to serve hasn’t stopped serving. The one who was born as love incarnate hasn’t stopped loving. It was a lesson that James would eventually take to heart, and it still has the power to touch this jaded heart of mine.
Order of Service Sermon
14 Dec 2008
Opening Prayer
Leader: Come, Emmanuel God. Come to us in the splendor of heavenly light.
People: Be the light that guides us trembling toward the manger, that dazzles us into irrational love, and shines hope into the world’s forgotten places.
Leader: Be the light that wakes us with your dawning. Wake us up, Lord Jesus. Wake us when our expectations of you are too low.
People: Wake us when our expectations of life are too high. Wake us when we least expect it. Wake us to your everlasting light.
Leader: Have mercy on us your children, and aid us in following the path of your light, that we might be your light here on earth.
People: Be the light, O Lord, that beckons us forward. Be the light that shines for us, calling us to yourself and guiding us into service.
Leader: Little by little, give us light in its completeness until at last we see you face to face.
Hymn Family #190 Angels From the Realms
Responsive Prayer
Leader: Ever living God, we thank you for coming to earth as the greatest gift of all.
People: Help us to grow in closeness to you, to find you in the stillness of our hearts.
Leader: Ever giving God, as you humbled yourself to come as a little child to live in our sinful world, may we like the shepherds at your birth grow in wonder and love.
People: As the carol reminds us to “let every heart prepare him room”, make fruitful our time of Advent preparations.
Leader: Come to us, Lord Jesus, in the midst of our preparations, or in spite of our preparations.
People: Come, Lord Jesus, to all your children sitting in darkness and need.
Leader: We offer to you our prayers of thanksgiving for all the many blessings you have bestowed upon us, now and always.
People: Enfold us daily in your peace that passes all understanding. Grant that we may daily rejoice in the gift of God’s coming to be with us.
Pastoral Prayer, Lord’s Prayer
Hymn Family #197 Midnight Cle
Psalm 111, Isaiah 61:1-11, John 1:6-8, 19-28
Hymn Family #179 The First Noel
Sermon James the Just
Offering, Doxology, Dedication
Hymn Family #192 Angels We Have Heard on High
Benediction
Leader: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
People: Light of the World, bring us your light in our times of darkness.
Leader: Surprise us today with a star that lights up the sky, giving us hope and banishing our despair.
People: Lead us into new life, that each day will bring some sense of accomplishment, and each night will bring restful sleep.
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