Christmas Eve Homily 2005
Matt 1:1-17
A Holy Family Christmas Dinner
Although researching the geneology of the family is intensely interesting to some, I suspect that reading through Jesus geneology does not really peak your interest tonight. I would imagine that you have come to imagine the familiar stories; to see the frustrated knit in Joseph’s brow as he is turned away from the inn, the beautiful swell of Mary’s belly, reminding many of you of the joy of expecting your first, and the pain, in your back, in your legs, the constant need to pee… you know what it is like to be Mary. I suspect you have come to Envision an angel choir, to traipse through the underbrush with the sheep-smelling shepherds, to hope that as you leave tonight, you might catch a glimpse of a beautiful bright star to guide your way…
But there is a story in Matt chapter 1 although it is not a familiar one. A story that I imagined would best be told if we together imagined the first Holy Family Christmas dinner…
There is the clatter in the kitchen as Mary whips the potatoes and the creak of the oven door as she checks her turkey.
Joseph, she calls, did you finish setting the table.
I don’t know why we have to invite so many people.
Couldn’t we use Jesus as an excuse not to invite some of these freaks,
I honestly lose my appetite having to sit near them…
Joseph, shame on you, they are your family…
They are an embarrassment… he runs to the window in the dining room,
Glowing golden with the light of the Christmas tree…
I hope the neighbors don’t see everyone come in the front door…
Maybe I should put a sign out telling them to come in the back,
So they don’t ‘wake the baby.’
Mary begins to re-arrange the silver ware that Joseph has placed all wrong…
He paces in the living room, picking at his finger-nails,
then pours himself a drink…
Joseph, Mary calls, did you remove a place setting…
Joseph tips back his glass and drains the wine…
Couldn’t we just tell Grama Tamar that we don’t have enough food, or room
Or that she scares the baby
with her green eye makeup and long red finger-nails?
Joseph, you know what it is like to be told there is no room for you… she is your grandmother…
Yes, but she dressed like a…
Like a…
Well, you know, like a… floozy!
And honestly, the years have not been kind.
No woman should wear her skirts that high
And her neck-line that low…
But at her age… everything is
Pulled down by gravity now…
Your nephews quite enjoy grama Tamar’s look…
Well, there 12 so no wonder… and all they do is laugh at her anyway…
Joseph, she’s family…
Yes, but she and Grandpa Judah only see each other once a year…
And he is so embarrassed about how she tricked him into getting her pregnant that he drinks half the wine by the time dinner is served and tells lewd jokes the rest of the night…mostly about her…
I know honey, says Mary, but they are our family, Jesus family…
Without Judah and Tamar, we wouldn’t be here, Jesus wouldn’t be here…
Oh, and then Uncle David shows up…
Honestly, Goliath gets taller every year…
He was 50 feet tall…
This year Goliath will sprout wings and breath fire…
And he insists on bringing Bathsheba
And she always wants to have a toast to Uriah, her first husband that David had killed
Because he got her pregnant while she was still married…
Honestly its so embarrassing to think that this is my family…
Well, Uzziah’s boys will be here… they were kings of Israel…
Yeah, the kings that led us into the Babylonian Exile… they ruined the kingdom completely
great kings they were…
still always talking politics… just make peace with Rome…
They say, when in Rome… that is why God sent us into exile…
They have no back-bone, no pride in their country
We shouldn’t even invite them to sit at our table…
But they are Jesus family…
I know, but I don’t want him to turn out like them…
Traitors, cheats, murderers, ladies of the night…
Honestly Mary… are you blind?
We don’t want Jesus to grow up like them…
And he pours another larger glass of wine…
Dinner is served and Joseph can hardly eat.
David tells more goliath stories and Mary has to stop Joseph from throwing the carving knife.
Rahab’s 15 children all decide to eat under the dining room table…
All with different father’s mind you…
she was one of those women too…
Anyway, they only decide to sit at the table properly
When Tamar starts to show off the tattoos she has on various parts of her body…
Bathsheba spends the night weeping into her wine glass
Judah sings raunchy bar songs so loudly that he wakes
A sleeping baby Jesus…
Joseph runs to get him
He picks the infant up… Jesus smiles immediately
And grabs at daddy’s nose…
They walk into the living room again…
The crying, singing, hair-pulling all stops
Jesus offers a toothless smile to everyone and even seems to wave
Suddenly Joseph sees a very different family around his table.
Both Tamar and Rahab, now seem like strong survivors, courageous women
Who could not change the life they were given, but could adapt
And keep on living and hoping that God would come rescue them…
They hold baby Jesus, tickle his round red cheeks and as he smiles at them
Joseph seems to see the real Tamar and Rahab,
the way God sees them.
Bathsheba stops crying…
Jesus pulls at her hair and giggles as she makes faces…
And as Jesus giggles, Joseph can see a very sad woman
With guilt and regrets… who finds a moments joy…
from his boy…
David has to throw Jesus up in the air,
Which mary hates but will never say…
But jesus yanks on his beard and they both laugh
And Joseph sees a man with weakness
But also with courage and strength…
And Joseph suddenly realizes…
Jesus wouldn’t be without these people
Jesus was born for their flaws
And for their beauty…
Because he is,
All the wrong people have a place at the table with God
When Jesus smiles on them…
The image of God which Joseph couldn’t see because of his
Judgment, shines through…
And he can see them as they are before God…
David pulls out his harp
His fingers are bent with arthritis,
But he can still play a tune…
He begins to sing
God rest ye merry gentleman
Judah lets out a cheer and sloshes wine all over the table
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan’s power we were gone astray
Bathsheba weeps, so do Tamar and Rahab
but with joy, they have held Jesus, and they is no longer astray
Oh tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy…
As Mary hold’s Jesus, and the whole table smiles back at him
Joseph can see the family resemblance
He can see a little of them in the face of his son
But because of his son
He can see a little bit of God
In their faces…
And Mary’s question still rings true tonight…
Without you, all of you, the bold and the broken, the flawed and the fair
could Jesus be reborn among us tonight?
I suspect not…
God rest you in these Tidings of comfort and joy…
Amen
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