By Scott Dickison
In this column [https://baptistnews.com/opinion/columns/item/29670-a-matthew-kind-of-year] around this time last year, I noted the differences in the Christmas stories told by Matthew and Luke.
Luke’s is the one remembered in specials on TV and Christmas cards. It’s full of babies leaping in the womb, shepherds watching their fields by night, choirs of angels, and baby Jesus being born in a manger. It’s the one you just can’t have Christmas without.
Matthew’s is quite different, to say the least. There is no nativity scene; in fact, the event of Jesus’s birth is mentioned almost as an afterthought. It comes on the heels of Joseph’s decision to stand by his betrothed, and just before the scene jumps some months into the future with the arrival of the “wise men from the East,” a familiar and easily celebrated part of the Christmas story that is unique to Matthew. But what is more rarely celebrated is what happens in the wake of the wise men.
Herod, embarrassed that they have foiled his plan to learn the whereabouts of this newborn king, orders the slaying of all children two and younger. Today, Dec. 28, is the day in the church calendar when this massacre is remembered. It’s called “Holy Innocents Day,” or “Childermas,” short for the “Children’s Mass.”
But Herod’s plan fails. The holy family learns of it in a dream and escapes to Egypt under the cover of night. Meaning that while the nativity scene that we keep on our mantle this time of year is precious, we neglect an important part of the story if we fail to note that it ends with Jesus spending his toddler years as a child refugee in a foreign land. You can’t have Christmas without this part of the story either.
Last year, December of 2014, I wrote this:
Perhaps you’re like me in thinking this has been more of a Matthew kind of year.
By some accounts, 2014 has been one of the worst years for children [http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/12/08/369381830/2014-a-year-of-unspeakable-brutality-for-children-in-conflict-zones] in recent memory. Millions displaced and caught in areas of conflict across the globe, hundreds killed in attacks at schools (both here and abroad), tens of thousands recruited by armed groups, and the list goes on. … No, 2014 has certainly been a “Matthew” kind of year. Here’s to hoping 2015 will see a little more of “Luke.”
Well, so much for that.
2015 has been declared [http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=50929#.VoAwUDYqQ3Q ] “the year of fear” for children, this from Gordon Brown, the UN Special Envoy for Global Education. “This is not the year of the child but the year of fear, with 2015 already the worst year since 1945 for children being displaced, the worst year for children becoming refugees, the worst year for children seeing their schools attacked, with rising numbers of girls and boys at risk from conflict in Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Burundi, South Sudan, northern Nigeria and from natural disasters in Nepal.”
Oh, and he said that back in May. Since then terrorist attacks in Paris, San Bernardino and Beirut have captured worldwide attention, though so many others happen with regularity around the world. On top of this have been the many other acts of gun violence we’ve seen in this country, punctuated by the horrific shooting at Emmanuel A.M.E, an event many see as another act of terrorism.
And at least from where I’m sitting, the discourse around all of this has ranged from the disappointing to the downright appalling. Perhaps you’re like me and wonder if we as a nation are even capable of having a serious discussion about any of it — terrorism, refugees, religion, racism, guns — you name it. And if the primaries are any indication, I’m not optimistic that the presidential campaign will make it any easier or more likely.
At first glance — and maybe second and third — 2015, like 2014, seems to have been another “Matthew” kind of year.
Which is why it’s so critically important to remember you can’t tell the story of Christmas without both. I’m not sure any one year is more “Matthew” or “Luke” than another. Depending on where you are in the world and in your own life, Matthew and Luke are both everywhere. But the gospel witness is that God is present no matter which gospel you find yourself to be living at the moment. As Frederick Buechner put it: “Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things happen. Don’t be afraid.”
So I’d like to amend my hope from last year that we see a little more “Luke” in 2015. My hope for 2016 is not for more “Luke” and less “Matthew,” but that people of faith would see the presence of God in it all. And not only would they see it, but also find the courage to be the presence of God.
The Christmas story is so powerful because it isn’t bound within the pages of Scripture; it’s alive in the world today. My prayer is that the same be true of the Incarnation, and that people of faith everywhere be evidence of it.