Sermons
Human Beings
“Human Beings” based on Matthew 2:1-15 and UMC Social Principles on Migrants, Immigrants, and Refugees
I spent the week processing the coup in Venezuela, in hopes of being able to offer a faithful pastoral response to it. Thank God for Karyn doing that work last week. And then Renee Nicole Good, an American Citizen engaged in peaceful protest, was murdered by ICE and lies were told about her death. My capacities for faithful processing are not as fast as the crises coming at us.
So, I’m going to revert back to the original plan which was to preach on the Epiphany and combine it with the Social Principals statement on Migrants, Immigrants, and Refugees. We’ll come full circle but when I’m struggling to make sense of the world, I’ve discovered that the Bible can actually be remarkably helpful, particularly because it was well aware of abuses of power and the threats of violence.
In particular, let’s start with King Herod. He was an awful man. Paranoid, murderous, tyrannical, and power hungry, he was overseeing the Jewish homelands for the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus’ birth. We don’t have any historical documents that verify the stories of Matthew, and I suspect they didn’t happen exactly as they’re told. They deserve to be heard as meta-truths and emotional-realities for incredible meaning making, but we hold that without assuming they actually happened.
Given that King Herod was power hungry man with paranoia, he is the sort of guy who would have tried to trick innocent gift bearers from the East. Given who he was, he would have tried to gain knowledge of any threat to his power and eliminate it. And, by placing him in this story Matthew clarifies the conflict between the ways of Jesus and the ways of the Empire quickly and succinctly. And in Matthew Jesus will be crucified under a sign that reads “King of the Jews.” The accusers mean it to be ironic, Matthew means it to be true. So starting with a paranoid King of the Jews is pretty on point, his power IS threatened by the birth of Jesus, even if he didn’t know it.
This year I find my energy isn’t much on the Magi. Of course I love that the represent that the life of Jesus had an impact larger than to just the Jewish people. And of course I love the energy around what it means to follow a random sign because you just think it is yours to follow, even if it means others will not understand. And more than anything I love that they “left for their own country by another road” and in doing so ignored the direct order of the King because it was unjust and because God doesn’t require us to follow unjust laws.
But this year it is the energy around the Magi that draws me. The story of King Herod freaking out and being duplicitous, but NOT getting him what he wants. The stories of dreams and messengers of God being a part of preventing the monarch from successfully harming God’s plans. We read a little further than usual this year, because it isn’t only the Magi that leave by another route. According to Matthew the holy family travels to Egypt to keep Jesus safe. Now, the biblical scholars among you know that this works incredibly well as a literary device to set up Jesus to be “the new Moses” and help the initial hearers of the story make sense of the Jesus story.
But the more I thought about it, the weirder it seemed that the holy family would FLEE to Egypt when their PRIMARY faith story was about God’s actions to free them from oppression in Egypt. Right? I mean, talk about migration and being refugees, the whole story of the Ancient Israelites and the exodus was successfully fleeing a regime that was out to kill them! So, I went to my books ready to have my awesome insight about how weird it was to flee to Egypt affirmed and read, “Egypt, a traditional place of refuge” and was pointed to verses which read:
Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam; but Jeroboam promptly fled to Egypt, to King Shishak of Egypt, and remained in Egypt until the death of Solomon. 1 Kings 11:40
Then all the people, high and low, and the captains of the forces, set out and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans. – 2 Kings 25:26
And then King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt. Jeremiah 26:21, etc.
So, there goes that theory! Instead, what we have is more complicated. Egypt was both the place of oppression and a place of refuge. Because, it turns out, life is complicated.
In Matthew, the holy family is said to be political refugees, seeking shelter from a violent regime where they couldn’t survive much less thrive. The layers of truth in that include that human beings and human families who are migrants, immigrants, and refugees are holy and sacred people of God. So too were the Magi, visitors from another land and sacred human beings beloved by God. Sacred too are the people who are migrating around the world trying to survive, including those in the United States – with or without official paperwork, AND, so to are those who show up to be allies to migrants, immigrants, and refugees.
This week’s visible ICE murder of a woman who was an American citizen was an unusually direct act of violence seeking compliance. In our country a very small group of elite white men and their conspirators are committed to minority rule for their own benefit. They see some people as targets and other as obstacles and wish to eliminate both. Historically there has been some restraint, some pretense of an agreement that we don’t simply kill those who peacefully protest, or that we don’t simply take over other countries. The restraint is slipping.
People are being eliminated because they’re getting in the way of the goals of the few.
We are living in a violent time, where a well-organized and protected group of elite men and their conspirators are working hard against the needs of the majority. Far too many people believe their propaganda, and the things we are seeing are abominable.
And, I believe that these are the death throes of our old system of elite white men and their conspirators running our country. They wouldn’t be working this hard for power if they didn’t see it slipping from their grasp. The work of God to take care of all people, to engage in the work of shared humanity, to distribute resources for the common good, to be in sacred kinship relationships is having an impact. The system that benefits the few is scared and lashing out with violence, but in the END it is not going to win.
The Roman Empire was massive, powerful, and nearly indestructible.
The Magi were just a few outsiders who refused to follow the kings dictates.
Jesus was a poor man born to poor family who spent most of his life talking to peasants and listening to God.
But, like Matthew, we know that King Herod was a lot less important in the annals of history than Jesus was. Matthew tells us of a paranoid, murderous, tyrannical, and power hungry king who would stop at nothing for self-gain. And Matthew tells us of a refugee family struggling to survive in the midst of political and economic upheaval. And it is the refugee family that ends up mattering. Thanks be to God. May we follow God’s values on the sacred worth of all human beings, and be faithful along the way to God’s ends. Amen
January 11, 2026
Rev. Sara E. Baron
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she/her/hers
