Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Christmas, 2021
Homily for Christmas 2, 2021
Fr. Tony Melton
I remember my first Christmas as an Anglican. Growing up in the non-denom and Baptist world, Christmas was primarily a family occasion. There were opportunities for mercy ministries like “Meals on Wheels”, which my family did. I have great memories of that on Christmas Day. But, there weren’t generally services of worship on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. In fact, if Christmas fell on a Sunday, I remember one year where our church cancelled Sunday worship. Imagine my surprise when looking at the parish schedule I saw two services on Christmas Eve, one of them really late. Worship the next morning on Christmas! Worship the next day for St. Stephen’s Day. Worship the next day for the feast of St. John the Apostle. Worship the next day for the feast of the Holy Innocents. Then, on New Year’s Day, the feast of the Circumcision of Jesus. That’s everyone’s favorite feast day isn’t it? Not only is it grand to wake up after the parties on New Year’s Eve, but there’s nothing that gets people out of bed more than the joyful thought of circumcision. But in all seriousness, this really was a shocker for me as a new Anglican Christian. It was hard and wonderful at the same time. That was now 12 years ago. Over time, these feast days do their work. They change the way you conceive of “time off”, slowly adjusting it to the ancient concept of “leisure” which has worship at its center. They shape what you value and celebrate. Sleeping in after counting down the New Year, or…Circumcision. The choice is obvious, right?
I am so sad that we did not get to celebrate a full Christmas together this year. We did our best. The Vigil went beautifully, I thought. But there has been a spike in COVID infections both in our area and somewhat in our mission. Plus the fact that we don’t have a permanent building meant that we had what was for most of you a pretty normal Christmas. But I didn’t want it to be normal! The Great Tradition we are in is so rich and wonderful. I really wanted you to experience it. But, alas, we have new firsts to look forward to next year. To make up for the fact that we did not celebrate these feast days as a church, this homily will be a compilation of reflections on the four feast days following Christmas Day.
The Christmas season is about God coming to earth, the incarnation. It is a sweet season of joy and glad tidings, God’s good will toward men. There is also a sweetness to mankind’s reception of Christ and their goodwill towards each other and God. But, that is certainly not the whole story. Mankind did not, in every case, receive the Messiah. The world, by and large, did not return good will toward God. If Christmas is the story of God’s gift of His Son to the world, then the counter-narrative is the rejection of God by the world.
Western Modernity would have you believe that acceptance and rejection of Jesus Christ is no big deal. We can “coexist” whether or not we agree about who this infant Messiah was, or whether or not we accept Him as the Lord of our lives. But history has shown a different story. Societies or people groups that reject Jesus eventually kill those who accept Jesus. The worship in the Church is filled with songs of joy and peace in Christ, especially during white season of Christmas. But interspersed with the 12th days of Christmas are several days of red. The Church’s story is filled with White and Red. Blood and joy, persecution and peace, suffering and salvation mingle together for those that accept Jesus as Messiah.
This is why the 12 days of Christmas begin with several feasts of martyrs. As I mentioned, the day after Christmas is the feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr. The second day of Christmas is the feast of St. John, not technically a martyr, but considered by tradition a “white martyr” for giving his whole life, under persecution, to God. More on that later. The third day is the feast of the Holy Innocents, the babies who were slaughtered by King Herod. The fourth day is the minor feast of St. Thomas a’Becket, one of the most famous martyrs in history. All of these days ask the question: “Will you receive Jesus? Will you give Him your life, even unto death?”
Each feast day following Christmas reveals a different way that the Church experiences martyrdom. Each of the martyrs’ feast days shows us an aspect of what it means to “pick up our cross and follow Him” and how the world shows its hatred for Christ, and takes it out on those who follow Him.
St. Stephen
December 26 is the feast of St. Stephen. He was the first martyr of the Church. We learn in the book of Acts that he was a deacon filled with the Spirit. He preached the Gospel powerfully and the Jews of his day rejected his message. They took up stones and killed him. In the narrative, Luke goes out of his way to show that Stephen was walking the same path of martyrdom as Jesus. Listen, “And they stoned Stephen, as he called upon God, saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.’; And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” The parallels are obvious, and important for us as we trace the meaning of this feast day. Three significant insights emerge. First, the World will kill Christ wherever they find Him. Second, the Church’s vocation is to be like Christ, even in death. Third, God is very near us when we follow him in martyrdom. We honor St. Stephen because he fulfills our vocation as Christians: to preach the Gospel no matter the cost. To speak the truth clearly, even when it might cost us a lot. What does it mean to accept the infant Christ this Christmas? It is to preach the good news, even when these yuletide greetings incite a mob that seeks your blood. It is to preach the good news, and to remain innocent and meek, like a lamb led to slaughter, to forgive those who take your life, and to offer up your spirit as a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God.
St. John
December 27 is the feast of St. John the Apostle. St. John is consider a “white martyr” because he didn’t actually die by violence like St. Stephen, which is to be a “red martyr”. Jesus prophesied that John would die a natural death in the Gospels. A white martyr is someone who gives their whole life to God, generally through strict asceticism and devotion. St. John certainly fits this criterion. He was a mystic and lived in a small community of contemplatives in Ephesus with Mary Magdalene and the Blessed Virgin Mary. During his life, he suffered persecution by the emperor Dometian, but these were nothing to the disciplines he lived under by pursuing Christ daily till his death at the age of 100. St. John shows us the path to which most of are called. Most of us will not die by blood, to be “red martyrs.” But does God not require all of our lives? To pursue Christ with every moment and with ounces of our being is the our common vocation, and it is a kind of martyrdom. For in giving our whole life to God, we cannot give it also to the world. And isn’t this at the heart of what a martyr is? A martyr is a witness that we belong to God, first and foremost. If we are forced to choose clearly between God and the world, a martyr chooses God. The feast of St. John comes two days after Christmas, and it again asks us the question, “What does it mean to accept the infant Christ this Christmas?” It is to give God our whole life, each and every day, even if we live to be 100!
Holy Innocents
December 28 is the feast of the Holy Innocents. The Holy Innocents are the infants who were killed by King Herod in and around Bethlehem. It is impossible to know the exact number of babies who were killed. The Orthodox Church claims it was 14,000. Some medieval writers taught that it was 144,000, taking their cue from the appointed Epistle reading for the feast day from Revelation 14. But most historians think the number was more like 20-50 infants, as the population of Bethlehem and surrounding area at the time was only a few thousand people. These infants are remembered because they are, in a sense, the first martyrs of the Church. They died because they were “little Christs” in the eyes of Herod. He thought he could exterminate the Messiah by killing all those looked like him. Their death brings forth four important insights into Christian martyrdom.
First, the massacre at Bethlehem is emblematic of all future Christian genocide. Herod perceived that Christ was in His land. Tyrants kill those who resemble Christ in the hope that they will exterminate Jesus from their land.
Second, the Holy Innocents are an image of what a Christian life should be. As was the case with St. Stephen and St. John, these Christmas martyrs show an aspect of what a life lived completely to God looks like. In the Collect, we ask God to massacre all that is sinful in us. We ask God to give us innocency of life and constancy of faith, like these infants. We ought to be bold and spirit-filled like St. Stephen. We ought to be diligent in fasting and prayer like St. John. We ought to be holy and innocent and to count our lives as nothing, like these Holy Innocents.
Third, the massacre of the Holy Innocents displays the ever-present intention of our Enemy Satan to harm the newborn. Satan hates infants, perhaps because they are so unlike him. They are innocent and holy. He is not. Jesus came a baby, and Satan hates Jesus. This should clue us in to the immense spiritual warfare behind the atrocity of abortion. Nations that forsake the Gospel all eventually kill their babies. Our nation’s acceptance of this terrible evil is nothing short of insanity. Any rational person would be naturally repulsed by the horror of killing an infant at any stage of life. The fact that so many, including many who identify as Christians, agree with this murderous practice shows that the same spirit that moved King Herod is thoroughly at work in the hearts of American citizens.
Fourth, the death of the Holy Innocents shows the heart of God towards infants. What happens to infants when they die, either naturally or by the genocidal practice of abortion? On this feast day, the Church has always called these infants are “innocent” and “holy”. We celebrate that they are before the throne of God. There are some in the Church that are so focused on the deformity of human nature due to Sin, a deformity that is certainly shared by infants, that they forget that the Scriptures and the Church have always affirmed the innocency, and therefore the holiness, of infants. It is customary on the feast of the Holy Innocents to elect a boy from the parish and dress him in the bishop’s garb to lead a procession of children. On that day, we allow the children to sit close to the altar, receive Communion first, and enjoy their relative innocency.
What does it mean to accept Jesus this Christmas? It means many things. Cherish and protect children, and do not be ignorant of the diabolical forces that seek to destroy them. Pursue innocency of life and constancy of faith that you might become like children, as our Lord instructs.
St. Thomas a’Becket
December 29 is the feast of St. Thomas a’Becket, a famous Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the most famous martyrs in history. The first three feast days are major feast days. In your Prayer Book there will be propers listed for each of them. They are required of every church to celebrate the feast day, unless there is some good reason, like not having a building during a pandemic. In the future, we will always have a feast day on all major feast days. Because they are so important, I want you to know them. Let’s review. The first three feast days following Christmas are, repeat after me, St. Stephan, St. John, and Holy Innocents. [repeat] Now, back to St. Thomas a’Becket. His feast day is not a major feast day. At most churches, a special service would not be held on his feast day. It is optional, depending on the parish and the times. As you’ll see, he is of particular importance to our time and place.
St. Becket was not always saintly. Becket rose to power as Chancellor to King Henry II. Using his immense talent and capability, he amassed enormous wealth and power, both for himself and the King, often at great expense to the Church. As thoroughly the King’s Man, Henry II appointed Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury, supposing a completion of the plan to place the Church under the thumb of the monarchy. But God had other plans. A change came over Thomas and he became utterly devoted to God and His Church. He refused to resign the powers and rights of the Church to his friend, Henry II. Their friendship quickly deteriorated. After exile and immense political tension, King Henry sent four of his henchmen to kill the Archbishop, cutting his head in two at the altar.
The feast of St. Thomas a’Becket shows the perennial conflict between the State and the Church. St. Augustine posited that there are two kingdoms that coexist in this life: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the Man. The latter will inevitably war against the former. As Christians, we should be prepared for this conflict and always be willing to choose God, no matter what it might cost us. St. Becket is an important saint for our times, as modern governments, including our own, encroach upon religious liberty and oppress the Church. Many within the Church predict widespread persecution of the Church in the West soon. St. Becket stood against the infringement of the Church’s rights by the State. This is one of the reasons why we’ve named one of our sons Beckett. An understanding of this call to Christian witness, and perhaps martyrdom, will be essential in the decades to come. Perhaps sooner, as even within the last year our own government took the egregious and unprecedented step of prohibiting the worship of God in the Church.
What does it mean to accept the infant Christ this Christmas? More than anything, we are called to adore Him. He is tender and mild. The Light of the World. But as St. John points out in the prologue to the Gospel, “The Light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not…He came unto His own and His own received Him not. John the Baptist came for a witness (a martyr) that all men might believe.” We, too, are called to witness—a witness that this child is Light. The darkness tried to overcome Him, and the darkness tried to overcome John the Baptist. We, too, must be prepared to accept the infant Christ and all that comes with Him, both life and death. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”