José y María, Everett Patterson
Joy for the Poor
Homily delivered at Trinity Parish Ashland (Oregon)
24th December 2019: 6:00 p.m. Said Mass, 11:00p.m. Sung Festal Mass
24th December 2019: 6:00 p.m. Said Mass, 11:00p.m. Sung Festal Mass
The Rev. Fr. Anthony Hutchinson, SCP, Ph.D.
We thank you, God, for the wondrous incarnation of your
Word,
Your child who saves us from all we fear.
Give us joy in our hearts and generosity for others.
Help us to come to your holy place,
Be it manger, temple, or all the majestic world you created,
With poverty and hunger in our hearts, that we may
Be filled always with the good things you give us,
And be instruments of bringing them to others.
Amen.
I have heard many times advice that preachers
should stick to the Gospel and stay away from politics. I am always a little flummoxed when I hear
this. I try to preach only the Gospel.
Granted, this is the Gospel and scriptures as I understand them, but it
is the Gospel and not partisan advantage that I seek to preach. But here’s the rub—the Gospel is about all
of life, and embraces everything that matters to us, and inevitably will
touch—roughly or gently—on topics that are grist for the mill of partisan
politics.
This is true even in today’s Gospel from
Luke, the joyful story of our Lord’s birth.
It begins with a reference to Caesar Augustus, intended not only to
place these events in a specific time and place, but also to say something
about Jesus and how he contrasts with the rulers of this age. Augustus (“the Majestic One”) was the throne
name of Gaius Octavian, the adopted heir of Julius Caesar who conquered all
other competitors for power and founded the Roman Empire. Julius Caesar had been declared a god by the
Roman senate after his assassination; when Augustus ascended to the role of
First Citizen, he quickly accepted what was to become his favorite title: divi
filius, son of a god. This was
because he honored his adopted father Julius as a god as well, and liked the
sound of the title. His propaganda
machine over the years added other terms to make sure everyone understood who
Augustus, the son of God, was: Savior (soter), Lord (dominus or kyrios), and
High Priest (pontifex maximus). Augustus, who brought in the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace, to make Rome the greatest nation on
earth, wanted everyone to know that he was great, smart, rich, powerful, the
ultimate winner where other Roman politicians and generals were losers. The propaganda machine in the eastern
provinces went even further: the birth
of Augustus had been miraculous and marked with signs in the heaven and divine
announcements. In becoming Emperor,
Augustus was merely receiving his due.
He was quality, and had name recognition to beat the band. It was not civil war that brought him to
power, but divine will.
The gospel writer who places the
birth of Jesus against the backdrop of the rule of Augustus is making a
point. It is this little baby born in
a stable who is Son of God, Savior, Lord, and High Priest, not Augustus. The focus in this story is not on the rich,
the powerful, and those who claimed they were quality. The focus is on the lowly of the land: the
poor. The angel choirs and heralds
announce the birth, just as the divine Augustus’ birth had been announced, but
they do so to shepherds in the fields.
The ones who greet the baby Jesus are not the rich, famous, and
powerful. Shepherds come to the
stable. The prophets Simeon and Anna
later in this chapter are both elderly retirees who spend their days in the
Temple. There is not a ruler in sight,
nor a master of commerce. It’s just
poor people. In this Gospel, when Jesus
has grown up and finally gives his first sermon, he starts his ministry with
these words: “The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor” (Luke
4:18).
One of the reasons Luke’s infancy
story is so warm is that it focuses on those who accept and love Jesus, and
these are generally people on the margins of society, the poor.
Contrast this with the story in
Matthew: Jesus’ people reject him at his
birth, but mysterious magi (wizards) from the East bring him expensive gifts fit
for a King and a Priest. King Herod
hears of the birth of Jesus from the magi, and along with the rich and mighty
of Jerusalem high society, trembles in his boots. He is afraid of a contender for the title
King of the Jews, and begins plotting to rid himself of this unwanted
competitor. Herod lived in a Palace and
fortress named after him, the Herodium, just south of Jerusalem--dare I say, "Herod Tower?" Driven by his own fear of becoming a loser, he
orders a massacre of children. The
family of Jesus has to flee to Egypt, become refugees and immigrants to save
their lives, and later have to take up a new residence in Nazareth because
Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Judea are no longer safe.
But in Luke’s story, the poor
welcome Jesus, and he is able to lose himself in the mass of poor people, and
return with his family to grow up in his home town Nazareth, where he
“increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor” (Luke 2:52).
The angel says “I bring you news of
great joy to all people.” Such an euangelion is an announcement of good news of a royal
birth, normally addressed to the elite ruling class. When the angel says “all” here, he lays a bit
of stress on the word "all," meaning, “including you, the poor.” But he says “joy to all people,” all the
same. This announcement of good news is
not just joy for the literal poor, the rich are included. All are called to rejoice, including the
wealthy and the powerful. But in order
to experience this joy, we must in our hearts feel the need and the open-handed
sense of expectant hope of most of the poor.
I have lived in several third world countries and seen poverty. Some of the most perfectly beautiful acts of
generosity and sharing I have ever seen were performed by the poorest of the
poor. We see it in our homeless shelter
here in Ashland: apart from a very few
disturbed and occasionally belligerent people, most who come are grateful,
generous, and bring as much to the evening as they get out of it. This is the heart of the poor the angel song
seeks.
In order to accept and receive Jesus
as Lord, Savior, High Priest, and Son of God, we need to question the claims of
such political leaders as Augustus and Herod in this broken and unhappy world,
as well as those who would challenge them with the same old weapons. We must find solidarity with the poor, the
marginalized, the alien, and work hard to help them, bring justice to our
social and economic arrangements, and end exploitation and abuse of any and all
of our siblings. We must turn aside from vainglory, self-aggrandizement, and
lying. We must live simply, not abuse
our earth or each other, and live joyfully knowing that because God now has
taken on our flesh, our very bodies and souls are now made holy, and the Reign
of God is in our midst.
In the name of Christ, Amen.
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