Christmas Day, Proper 3: Head of the class

Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 98; Hebrews 1:1-4(5-12); John 1:1-14

The final set of texts for the Nativity departs from the Mark texts generally used throughout Year B and goes to the quasi-philosophical Gospel opening, John's discourse about the Word being made flesh and dwelling among humans. I once preached on this text, describing how the author(s) of the Fourth Gospel used a word from philosophical Greek to explain how a new world had come about through this odd, upper-middle class itinerant preacher from Galilee. A note, though, on "upper-middle class." While at first this sounds like an anachronism, it is much better to describe Jesus the Nazareth carpenter as an upwardly mobile member of society than with the term "peasant," which in today's English conjures up the image of a laborer working solely for the benefit of a superior, without any hope of advancement beyond meager, subsistence conditions--and sometimes even worse conditions than that. In earlier usage, "peasant" simply meant "country dweller," or one who did not live in the larger cities or in and around the castle or manor house. Such persons could be very wealthy indeed, in relative terms at least, and especially someone in skilled profession such as scribe, blacksmith, tanner, vintner...or carpenter.

I can illustrate this difference with reference to my own situation. Compared to my country of origin, the salary I am paid is nothing near what I should expect to earn in a similar position, even coming in with no experience. However, in comparison to the average salary in the Philippines, I am near the top, though certainly not at it. Nevertheless, I am a "peasant" in the old sense of the term; although I live near Manila, I am definitely not involved in the centers of power. And I am a worker whose job requires a specialized skill and set of knowledge, just like a vulcanizing shop, an auto mechanic, an information technology person...or a carpenter. It is a matter of perspective. Something has been lost in the equation of "peasant" with unskilled, subsistence labor. And while Jesus was not at the center of power, he was definitely familiar with it. He was of course quite versed in the ways of the Pharisees--again, people who had a specialized skill, and who were thus "upper-middle class" type of people, but not necessarily involved in the central operation of things. If Jesus was not himself a Pharisee (which argument I believe can be made) then he knew enough about how they operated, or the Gospel writers knew enough about how they operated at any rate, to be able to criticize them exactly at the point where they had gotten off the track: emphasizing the smallest points of the law and thereby, in the American idiom, missing the forest for the trees.

The text from Isaiah 52 is written to those who are about to come back from exile, indicating that Yahweh is returning to Zion. It is natural to see this as a Messianic text, though that was perhaps not part of the original intent. In the Christian confession, Jesus is the son of Yahweh, and indeed Yahweh himself in the flesh (John 1:1, 14). So Yahweh, the LORD, has indeed returned to Zion--but not in the way people would expect. Part of the reason why Jesus angered so many people, as should be well known by now, is that he quite simply failed to live up to the expectations of a Davidic/militaristic Messiah, ridding the nation of the presence of the pagan Romans and reestablishing the Kingdom of David as it should be. It was all very post-colonial, this Messianic expectation, even though I realize that applying a term from late-twentieth century political philosophy and cultural criticism is a rather large anachronism. But for all his familiarity with the skills necessary for the work of a carpenter, for all his familiarity with the ways and means of the Pharisees, for all his better-than-prescient understanding of his earthly mission (and I think that at least some of this is historically probable), Jesus was at the head of the class. He was not JUST a carpenter, even though being just a carpenter was quite an honorable and lucrative position. He was not JUST a preacher and interpreter of the law, although being just a preacher and interpreter of the law also garnered a person a rather well-thought-of place in the society of 1st century CE Jewry; this is in spite of Jesus' rather persistent disclamations of his own authority and position. Near the end of his life, he again says to Pontius Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world, for if it were, his followers would be conducting a military operation not only to free the boss from the clutches of the Roman procurator, but also establish the kingdom by force with Jesus himself taking his rightful place. The Triumphal Entry was not triumphant at all; but, if Jesus' kingdom were of this world, then it would be. The Entry would then be every bit as pompous (in the positive sense of that word) as the entry of the victorious, newly crowned Caesars into Rome. But it was not this way, not for this King.

For this king, as the author of the book of Hebrews maintains, represented a new initiative on the part of God toward the people of the earth. In many and various ways God spoke to the ancestors by the prophets, but now he has spoken to us by a Son. The word has become flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of an only begotten Son, full of grace and truth. This is something new. Yahweh has demonstrated his victory over sin in the sight of all the nations. Whereas Psalm 98 is talking specifically about a military type of victory, as it stands in the context of these other readings for Christmas Day it is given a new kind of meaning, an explicitly Christological one at that. Jesus was just a carpenter, of which there were many. Jesus was just a preacher, of which there were many. Jesus was just an interpreter of the law, of which there were many. Jesus was just a prophet, of which there were many. Jesus was just a messianic claimant, of which there were many. Jesus was just a man, of which there were many. But he was more, so much more. He is the exact reflection of God's very being (the Greek word in Heb 1:3 is character). And, Phil 2 tells us, he did not consider equality with God something to be exploited, or even though he had the very nature of God at his disposal, nevertheless he humbled himself--not divesting himself entirely of his divinity, as if he were even able to do such a thing--and identified himself with us in our weakness. Jesus took on our class, living as an upper-middle class, skilled laborer, preaching, teaching, interpreting the law, healing the sick...and showing us how to live in a way that was not merely subsistence, that was not merely turning over all the gains of our labor to a superior and then walking away with nothing. This was a new way to live, and we are still today figuring out the implications of this message. I shouldn't think we will ever master it. Amen.