The Vulnerable Ones
Matthew 2: 13-23
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"THE VULNERABLE ONES"
Matthew 2: 13-23
The early church was fascinated by the story Matthew relates of the flight to Egypt. Many legends grew up about the Holy Family’s sojourn as refugees in a foreign land. Legends of threats turned away by God’s providential care for this vulnerable family. At the mouth of a cave menacing dragons appear, only to bow down in worship of Jesus. Later lions and leopards, otherwise so dangerous, also bow before infant Jesus in the desert. Then the idols in a pagan temple fall to the ground in homage as the Holy Family passes by.
Other legends tell of the dangers posed by humans to the Holy Family. They fall into the hands of robbers, one of whom refuses to hurt them. In the legend these two highwaymen would eventually be the same two robbers crucified on either side of Jesus. And the compassionate robber would become, yes, the “good thief” whom Jesus welcomes into paradise. Another of these legends would even end up in the Koran. Here the exhausted family is sitting beneath a palm tree and the baby Jesus commands the tree to bend down and supply Mary with dates to refresh her. In all these legends the providential hand of God protects this vulnerable family from harm.
The entire birth narrative anticipates what is in store for Jesus in his public ministry. There is both homage and persecution. A star in the night heralds the new king’s birth and magi come to bring him their gifts. At the same time, Herod the Great seeks to eliminate this claimant to his throne. So he breathes out threats against the new born king as later Rome and another Herod will conspire to crucify this “King of the Jews”. So the cross hangs over the entire birth narrative; it is the Gospel in miniature.
But it is the providential care of God that I invite you to focus upon this morning. We cannot help but recall the “amazing grace” of God’s providence: “Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” The poignant story of the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt recalls God’s providential care for an earlier Joseph taken in chains to Egypt. This Joseph was a dreamer who rises to become Pharaoh’s right-hand man. That Joseph would eventually save his family from famine and relocate his father Jacob and his brothers into the land of Goshen. Like that Joseph of old, Matthew’s Joseph would be guided by dreams that led them to safety first in Egypt and finally back in Nazareth. “Through many dangers, toils and snares.”
There are, sadly, times when vulnerable ones are not rescued. The story of Jesus’ birth occasions the “slaughter of the innocents”, those baby boys in Bethlehem Herod’s army cuts down. Perhaps this story is colored by the ruthlessness of Herod, who killed even his own wife and several of his children. This terrible incident indicates that the sword hung over Jesus from his birth to his death. Always vulnerable, always a target. We recall that initial Passover when the first-born children in Egypt met the Angel of Death. Israelite slaves with the lamb’s blood sprinkled on their doorposts were spared and led to freedom. When the vulnerable ones are not spared, however, we hear echoes of the psalms of lament. Then Israel herself cries out, “Why have you forsaken us?” Every time we lose a vulnerable one, we join that cry of lament, “Why?”
And yet there are times when our prayer “deliver us from evil” is mysteriously answered. Three stories come to mind of God’s care for the vulnerable ones. Recall the story of Abraham and his wife Sarah longing for a child. But first there is the slave Hagar with whom Abraham has a son named Ishmael. When Sarah at last does have her own son Isaac, she insists that Abraham drive out the slave girl and her child. They are driven into the desert eventually running out of water. Hagar puts Ishmael under a bush away from her and laments, “Do not let me look upon the death of the child.” Hearing her plea an angel of God guides mother and child to a well of water promising them God’s care and protection. “Through many dangers, toils and snares.”
Think of the infant Moses facing the first pogrom, Pharaoh’s command to kill the Hebrew baby boys. The mother of Moses puts her child in a papyrus basket in the Nile River only to be discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter. So Moses is spared Pharaoh’s wrath and is in fact raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, though nursed by Moses’ own mother. That is when we sing the psalms of thanksgiving, “Our times are in your hands, O Lord.” “Through many dangers, toils and snares.”
Or consider this final story in the Scriptures of God’s providential care for the vulnerable ones. The 12th chapter of the book of Revelation depicts a pregnant woman in the throes of birth pangs. She symbolizes perhaps Israel or Mary or even the church. Then a terrible dragon stood before mother and child seeking to devour her son. But this son who is to rule all the nations is lifted above to God’s own throne. Then the woman flees into the wilderness to be protected by God. In this grand vision, John paints a picture of God’s providential care for the child who was raised to the right hand of God and the people of God protected in their wilderness sojourn. Ultimately this vision expresses the powerful hope that one day in the providence of God “all will be well and all will be well.” Amazing grace!
So I invite you again to meditate upon God’s providential care for the vulnerable ones. Consider the role of Joseph and Mary, caring for their baby boy, taking him out of harm’s way. Much like present day refugees fleeing the drug ravaged violence of El Salvador’s streets. This protective love for their child drives Joseph and Mary to flee their home for refuge in Egypt. They become the hands of God protecting this child of God who will one day “save his people from their sins”.
It's what any parent would do in the face of imminent danger. Consider how our children are at risk daily throughout the world. If you are a Honduran child held at our southern border or a Kurdish child targeted by Russian jets in northern Syria or a teenage climate activist shamed in Sweden, your whole world could be turned upside down by a single Tweet from the world’s most powerful man. Consider the children living in our midst. How vulnerable they are! The unwanted and neglected child, the orphaned child, the abused child, the sexually exploited child, the child with disabilities or mental illness, the crack babies, the children of broken homes often torn by substance abuse and violence, the bullied children who at times take revenge. Upon these vulnerable ones we see how the “sins of the fathers and mothers are visited upon the children.”
Since moving to New Mexico 21 years ago I suppose no story regarding our children has impacted me so much as the Victoria Martens tragedy. You remember this ten-year old student at Petroglyph Elementary school, so full of life. How can we ever forget what happened to Victoria on August 24, 2016? Sexually abused, she is murdered, dismembered and her body burned. It is shameful beyond belief. She has come to symbolize for many of us the extreme danger facing some of our children. She has become our child, our daughter, our sister. And for her we lament and for her we seek justice. And most especially, for her we extend our arms to all our children at risk.
Which calls us to our task-to be the loving arms of God protecting and caring for the vulnerable ones, the least of these in our midst. The Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann has written a powerful article entitled, “Vulnerable Children, Divine Passion, and Human Obligation”-from which the title of this sermon is derived. This article points to God’s fierce love for Israel which the prophet Hosea describes as “a she-bear robbed of her cubs” (13: 8). God passionately wants Israel to return to her first love. This is the intense love of a mother bear who cannot endure the sufferings of her offspring.
And so it was the passionate love of Jesus. “Let the children come to me,” he insisted. Especially the children who are shunned, the ones who are pushed aside, the disposable ones. For those of us who have children or grandchildren, even great-grand children, we know something of God’s great love. We are called to extend our love to those who “are precious in God’s sight.” In our congregation at the baptismal font we vow to help parents raise their children in the faith even as we have long cared for our city’s children in A Child’s Garden. More recently, we have reached out to needy children at Longfellow Elementary to provide them something to eat on the weekends. What else is God calling us to do for our children? What is God calling you to do?
These are all children of God who need us to embrace them with the loving arms of God. Could we become the Josephs and the Marys for our children-the dear ones of our own families and the vulnerable ones in our community? In whatever way we respond, we must never forget the “amazing grace” of God’s providence: “Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come. Tis grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.” Amen.