A Vulnerable Child

 

Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Christmas 2 / Year A

Recent survey results detail parent’s concerns about the health of their children, ages 1-18.  69% believe the overall physical health of this age group is getting worse.  An alarming 83% believe their mental health is in decline.  Here are their top ten concerns: 

·       Social media

·       Too much screen time

·       Internet safety

·       Unhealthy diet

·       Mental health

·       Cost of healthcare/insurance

·       Obesity

·       Smoking / vaping

·       Bullying

·       School Violence

Over half of all respondents cited these as worries.  Other factors parents regard as contributing to decline include lack of physical activity, guns, abductions/sex trafficking, poverty, child abuse/neglect, teen pregnancy, discrimination, and the poor quality of food, air, and water.  It is a sobering list to be sure. 

I suspect if you survey any country in our world today or any culture of any era of time, the results will reveal at least one consistent, common thing: Parenting and anxiety go hand in hand.  Fear for the survival of our offspring is forged into our evolutionary DNA.  We of the Christian faith also hold it is part of our spiritual heritage because we are created in the image of God, who, as Jesus teaches, is like a parent who frets for his prodigal child.

From this morning’s gospel reading we learn Joseph and Mary share our parenting anxieties.  We learn reports from shepherds of angelic songs and the adoration of eastern magi do not shield the infant Jesus from the threat of harm.  If anything, the child’s identity as the King of the Jews exposes him to a danger most parents do not have to consider (Thankfully, in 2026 America, political execution is not a top parental worry). 

I spent some time this week pondering why God’s Son became incarnate so vulnerably at a place and in a time putting him at so much risk.  My mediating led me in two directions.

The first, which the beginning of my sermon hints at, is this: Children are always at risk.  There is no time and no place when and where it is not so.  Yes, some times are more perilous than others… accidents more prevalent, physical threats more intense, medical crises more common or less treatable, and societal pressures more insidious… but never has there existed (nor will there ever be) a time when a child can be born into and raised up in an impenetrable, protective bubble.  Like every child, the infant Jesus was at risk.  Like all parents, Joseph and Mary were anxious.

This is one direction I contemplated.  Here is the other: The Word of God became flesh at a vulnerable time and place because the word of God, as it goes forth, is always vulnerable.  It is always open to misinterpretation.  It is always open to corruption.  It is always open to abuse.  You don’t need to be a student of history to know the teachings of Jesus, and the bible as a whole, have brought great wisdom and insight into the world.  Nor do you need to be a historian to know much evil has been done in the name of Christianity.  God’s word is vulnerable.

One way we see this vulnerability being exploited is through a movement in our country identified as “Christian Nationalism.”  In an article in Christianity Today, Georgetown professor Paul D. Miller makes some helpful insights and distinctions:

·       Patriotism is about love of country.

·       Nationalism is an argument about how to define a country.  It begins with the belief nations should be organized around a specific group who has in common such shared traits as language, religion, ethnicity, and culture.  It seeks to determine who is in and who is out based on certain criteria.  And it asserts the job of the government is to impose these standards to promote and protect the nation’s cultural identity.  History suggests nationalistic governments tend to become authoritarian and oppressive.

·       Christian Nationalism “is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way.”  It is not to be confused with Patriotism because you can love our country without being a Nationalist or a Christian, just as you can be a follower of Christ and Christ’s teaching without asserting the United States is (or should be) a Christian nation.

The website Contemporary Anabaptist is one of many critics of Christian Nationalism.  Here is a summary of how it believes this political ideology differs from historical, orthodox Christianity:

·       It focuses on power over spiritual integrity.

·       It advocates exclusionary practices whereas Jesus taught and exhibited radical inclusion.

·       It perverts love of Nation into idolatry.

·       It misrepresents some of Jesus’ teachings while completely ignoring others.

So, after all my musings about today’s reading, let me say two things.  First, I understand every parent’s felt need to be vigilant in their duty of protecting their children.  Are you more anxious about this than you need to be?  I hope you come away from this sermon pondering this.  Second, I also hope you will leave here more aware of how vulnerable God’s will and word is in our world today.  I hope you will contemplate how you can live more faithfully into its calling and discern ways to resist, undermine, and protest its abuse.