Santa Claus v. The Heavenly Host: Part XII

I remember how hard it was for me when the Christian fish symbol was taken over by creationists and I had to give it up. You know. This one.

I really liked that fish. It was a First Century symbol used by Christians and it was a handy little acrostic of Christian doctrine.[1] But I came eventually to feel that no matter what it meant to me, what it meant to everyone else was something I didn’t want to be part of. The Creationists took it over and now it means “Creationist and Proud.” to everyone else. Not on my bumper! I’m starting to feel that same way about Christmas. Well, I’m not starting. It’s been going on for a while. But it is getting steadily worse.

So I’m giving up Christmas as something to care about on its own. I have nothing against presents and eggnog and Christmas trees and Ho Ho Ho, but I don’t invest in them either. More and more, it is Advent that moves me. Nobody’s going to make a lot of money at Advent, probably, or at least not enough for them to start pushing it up before Thanksgiving.[2]
With that distinction made, I have found my way to some questions that have interested me for a while, but which seemed…oh…divisive. Not really part of the spirit of the season. But they really are divisive and are fully a part of the spirit of Advent. So, I’d like to think about that division a little and I would be glad for your company.

Stan Freburg did a little skit many years ago called “Green Christmas.” It was funny, but it was also a protest about the commercialization of Christmas. Mr. Scrooge, the Chairman of the Board, couldn’t see what the point of Christmas was if it didn’t move the merchandise.[3] Bob Cratchit, who runs “a little spice company over in East Orange, New Jersey," protests. He just wants an ad that says, “Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men.”

It’s a heart-warming sentiment, but is foreign to the Advent story Luke tells. If you consult people to whom the language matters and to whom the intention of the author matters, it is less a jolly inclusiveness and more the beginning of a tempestuous and cataclysmic ministry. I’ve been reading Raymond Brown again this year (The Birth of the Messiah, but just the half about Luke) and also Joseph Fitzmyer, author of the Anchor Bible Commentary on Luke. They both say that the message of the angel went like this.

“Do not be afraid. Look, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people.”

The “whole people” the angel has in mind is Israel. God’s people. What it means for any other “peoples,” the angel doesn’t specify, but “the nations” (everyone else) is not what the angel has in mind. But there is more. The angel isn't done yet.

Glory to God in the highest Heaven
And on earth, peace for those He favors.

We could have a discussion about whom God favors, I guess, but it doesn’t seem to be everyone. It isn’t Cratchit’s “Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men.” Not quite “the Christmas spirit”. But oddly, it seems to be entirely in keeping with Luke's notion of Advent.

We might get a further clue by looking a Mary’s response to the greeting of Elizabeth. This is the justly famous Magnificat. Here is the part I was thinking of.

…the Almighty has done great things for me,
Holy is His name
And His faithful love extends age after age to those who fear Him
He has used the power of His arm,
He has routed the arrogant of heart
He has pulled down princes from their thrones and raised high the lowly,
He has filled the starving with good things, sent the rich away empty

So Mary—where we got the notion there was anything “mild” about her still mystifies me[4]—celebrates God’s faithful love in his routing of the arrogant of heart (Brown has “He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.”) and in pulling down the princes and in sending the rich away hungry. Ho Ho Ho. This is good news, truly, for the lowly, who are raised high and who are filled with good things. No shortage of Christmas spirit there, I guess.

Old Simeon was at the temple in Jerusalem when Jesus was circumcised and presented to the Lord as a first-born. He embraced the baby and proclaimed the lines we call Nunc Dimittis. Then he has some words for Mary.

Behold, he is set for the fall and rise of many in Israel
And for a sign to be contradicted—
Indeed, a sword will pass through your own soul—
So that the inmost thoughts of many may be revealed.

On the one hand, that doesn’t sound as vindictive as the quoted lines of the Magnificat. On the other hand, it cuts right to the heart of Jesus’ ministry. “Set,” in this passage means “set as a foundation stone is set.” Maybe builders have a technical word for that. This is the stone over which some stumble and on which others will build.

The child is set “for the fall and rise of many in Israel.” Some will rise; some will fall. It wouldn’t be too far afield to imagine that those who will fall will not be entirely entertained by the experience

.
The child is a sign to be contradicted (Fitzmyer translates, “A symbol that will be rejected.”) Fitzmyer’s choice of words calls to my mind Isaiah 53:3, “He was despised and rejected of men,” but that may be only because I have been listening to Handel’s Messiah for the last week. I don’t know what it brought to Luke’s mind.

These inmost thoughts that Simeon referred to are “bad thoughts, doubting thoughts, vain thoughts” says Brown on the grounds that all thirteen uses of this word in the New Testament (the word is dialogismos) are pejorative. The rejection of this sign will, Simeon says, reveal the inner anger and rebellion of many. And the truth is, you don’t have to read much farther in Luke to see that beginning to happen. In fact, Luke 12 would be a good place, where Jesus says,

"Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you: rather division; for henceforth in the one house of five they will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother.”

We don’t know what old Simeon saw, but if he saw the vision contained in that saying, you can see why he wanted to have a word with Mary privately. In short, the Christ Child is not good news in the same way that Santa Clause is good news. Or Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. But the texts are there and they say what they say. It doesn’t seem quite right to ignore them. Not at Christmas.

[1] For the record, the Greek letters spell out icthus, or “fish.” and can be read as “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”.
[2] Bette did remind me that if you are going to buy an Advent calendar, “before Thanksgiiving” is the only sensible time to do it.
[3] It almost goes without saying that Freburg himself played Mr. Scrooge.
[4] It does rhyme nicely with “child,” which is probably why it is used.