All of this for a child, just for a simple child. In this Post-Christian era that we live in, we continually repeat this amazing story of the birth

Transcription

1 1 All of this for a child, just for a simple child. In this Post-Christian era that we live in, we continually repeat this amazing story of the birth of a child that took place in the days of Caesar Augustus while Quirinius was governor of Syria. We have come to celebrate just a child that was born in Palestine during the time of Roman rule. In reality, it was only a province of Syria that had control of Judea through their puppet king named Herod. The Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus had decreed that a census was to take place throughout the Roman Empire, and this process required that all men register in the place where their family lineage began. That Roman Imperial decree was very unpopular at the time, especially in Judea, because the Jewish religion considered this type of census, any census for that matter, to be unholy. However, who was going to say no to Caesar? Or Quirinus, the Legate assigned by the Emperor of Syria to administer the census for that particular geographical area? This fellow Quirinus, a friend of the Emperor, was Roman by birth and his job was to monitor Herod who was not fully trusted by the Emperor. It was also because of this Roman Imperial decree that Joseph had to leave the town of Nazareth where he lived and to head south with his pregnant wife, Mary. At the time Joseph was betrothed to Mary and they were forced to take an 80-mile trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem. (A little bit of biblical minutia: there is no biblical record that says that Mary rode a donkey). She probably walked or perhaps Joseph had the money they needed to rent a donkey. The trip probably took about a week and by the time they got to Judea, the city of David which is called Bethlehem, it was time for Mary to give birth to a child. During this time period, Hotels.com or whatever they used back then to make reservations didn t exist. They couldn t Yelp or Air B&B a spot in the neighborhood. Hence, they found themselves out on the streets at a very inconvenient time.there were not any rooms at the Inn precisely because of the census that was taking place all over the Roman Empire, so they ended up in a stable where Mary gave birth. It was a very unpleasant place amid the stench of manure from farm animals mixed with the cold air of the Judean desert. However, it was there where Jeshua, the son of Mary and Joseph, was born. That s why you and I are here tonight. Because of this child, just a simple child born over 2,000 years ago in

2 2 Bethlehem, in the Province of Palestine under the control of a puppet king named Herod, while Quirinus was governor of Syria and Caesar Augustus was the Emperor. All of the beautiful worship and hymns and decorations that we have, all of this Christmas liturgy that we keep doing around the world throughout the centuries, all of it is because of that child. Just a simple child. I wonder if Joseph and Mary knew what was going to become of that child when they saw him for the first time.maybe they began to get a hint when the shepherds showed up and began to relate the story of what they had just seen and heard from the angels. The Bible tells us that Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. A few days later, three Magi from the East, probably from Persia, turned up and bowed down to worship the child and present him with their gifts. Just a child, just a simple child and everything that the shepherds and the three Kings did for him connects to all of this that we do in this Cathedral and around the world. We do it all just because of Him. We believe that the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. I am sure that Mary and Joseph were astonished with all the attention that their little baby boy received. Indeed, Mary treasured all of these things and pondered them in her heart. But I wonder if she actually knew what was going to become of her baby boy. In reality, all the parents around the world don t really know what life has in store for their baby boys or baby girls at the time they are born. We wish them the best, but veritably, we don t know what will become of them. After reading this story over and over, I began to think of my good Methodist mother in Havana when she saw her baby boy for the first time. I doubt that she could have imagined that I was going to end up being the Episcopal Bishop of Southeast Florida preaching in this beautiful Miami Cathedral. I am sure that it didn t pass through her mind. Not so much because I was to become an Episcopal Bishop in another country, but she would have been appalled of me becoming an Episcopalian. She was never sure that we were going to make it to heaven because of all the drinking and smoking that, to her dismay, was allowed in our church. Think for a second, though, what about you? Do you think that your mother and father had an inkling of what you were going to become? Did Archbishop Desmond Tutu s parents know what their baby boy was going to become? Or Mother Theresa s parents or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Could they have imagined what their children were going to become?

3 3 You see, when a baby is born, they are just fragile, in need of love and protection, they need to be fed, be taken care of constantly. That is exactly what took place when that baby boy was born, not only during their Bethlehem days but afterwards when Joseph and Mary took their child to Egypt and they became exiles, refugees. Maybe if we look carefully we could find parallels between the Holy Family and the new wave of refugees searching for a haven in our midst. Here in South Florida we know what that word means. Exile. Refugees. I was one of them; as a teenager I came to America as many other Peter Pan boys and girls did at the same time. Throughout the years we have seen the many boys and girls coming from all over the world escaping death and persecution. We see them in their rickety boats and rafts coming to our shores or in the death train coming from Mexico trying to make it to the border with the United States. Sometimes we welcome them, but at other times we deny their entry. If we find them with no papers, we kick them out in the middle of the night like the Obama administration keeps doing. In reality if you look at history, we see that this is something that has happened over and over around the world. To my shame Cubans, which were welcomed into this country after 1959, just 20 years before Cubans denied in 1939 the entry of 908 Jewish refugees escaping Nazi s persecution. It was not only them. To our shame as Americans the United States also denied the entry of those same passengers of the MS. St. Louis in 1939 and sent them back to Europe. Historians estimated that a quarter of the 908 men, women and children eventually died in the Nazi s death camps. But wait, you may be asking now what does this has to do with Christmas and that baby boy born in Bethlehem? Well, I think that it has to do a lot with that baby boy. You see eventually he grew up and began to teach, and because of what he said he was crucified. What a coincidence that in this shameful time of our history, Syria is also involved. Today it may be President Assad or the leaders of ISIS, but two centuries ago, it had a lot to do with a man named Publius Sulpicious Quirinus, the Legate of Syria that was obeying the command of his Emperor to carry on a census in order to asses Judea for taxation purposes. This was a very unpopular decree coming from this Quirinus fellow of Syria. Yes, we are familiar with King Herod but the orders came from Quirinus, who was Roman by birth with a job was to keep an eye on the Middle East.

4 4 Maybe it is a coincidence that we today in our country composed of refugees from all over the world, including those who came in the Mayflower and people like me that came with Pan American Airways, all of us are again involved in a struggle and a major debate to determine if we should welcome people escaping from Syrian persecution, or Haitians or Cubans and children from Central America, doing the same Now the Roman Empire and Augustus, and Quirinus and Herod, they are all gone. Nevertheless the hatred, the killings, the xenophobia, the persecutions have not changed a bit since then. North of us the Canadians welcomed thousands of Syrians refugees; the Germans, even the French, are reaching out with a helping hand, but when it comes to us here in our beloved America, we are into closing our doors. We have been eager to close our borders from children coming from Central America escaping hunger and persecution. Plane loads of those children have been returned to their countries already. It is something that we naturally do. We did it to the 908 Jews in Those deported children are facing today not only hunger but death and persecution. Luckily for baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary Mr. Trump had not built a wall in the border with Egypt. The Holy Family was granted asylum and lived there in peace until it was safe to return to Palestine. You see we just don t know what these Syrian children knocking on our doors are going to be. They are just children, just simple children. But let me tell you about one Syrian baby boy in particular. A child, just a simple child. Abdul Fattah Jandali, a Syrian from the city of Homs, was a refugee and a political migrant to our country. That Syrian father didn t know what was going to become of the son that he gave up for adoption. You see this Syrian refugee was the father of Steve Jobs, the boy that grew up to be the founder of the Apple computer. He would help allow the world access to the personal computer Mac, IPhone and IPad. Today in our country we have an opportunity to welcome the strangers in our midst. Why? Because that baby boy from Bethlehem taught us that we must love God above all things but we must also love our neighbor as ourselves. On these two commandments, he said, hang all the laws and the prophets. Jesus, that baby boy in the stable, asked his followers to care for the least of these and that applies especially to all immigrants and refugees. That is why we welcome all to our church,

5 5 with no exceptions, because it is the teachings of that simple, baby boy born from Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem in the days of Caesar Augustus, when Quirinus was governor of Syria. You and I have an opportunity tonight to really keep Christ in Christmas besides signing these beautiful hymns and partaking in Christ s body and blood at Holy Communion. We have two options. We can take this opportunity today to say there is no room in the inn and become enslaved by the xenophobia that is engulfing our nation. On the other hand though, we can really make Christ the reason for this season and welcome the strangers that are suffering and invite them in. If we do the latter, we will really be keeping Christ in Christmas and have a real reason to celebrate the birth of that child, just a simple child who is the Messiah, the Lord. He is the Word that became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Merry Christmas to all of you. Amen.