BETHLEHEM ROAD
Matthew 2:1-11
“When
they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star
they
had seen at its rising.”
In
November 1994 Isobel and I attended a conference at Tantur, a Roman Catholic
ecumenical centre situated about half way along the road between Jerusalem and
Bethlehem. At that time there was
growing tension about the new Israeli settlements which were encroaching on
nearby Palestinian land, something we could see from where we were staying. Palestinians working at Tantur also told us
about the difficulties they were daily facing as they came to work in the
morning and returned home in the evening. At the same time there was some hope
that peace between Israel and Palestine would be soon achieved, so the atmosphere
was more relaxed than it had been for some years. In fact, one day Isobel and our friend Nyla
Rasmussen, walked from Tantur to Bethlehem.
It was quite a distance, but they managed well and except for a minor
police check point at Rachel's Tomb along the way, they had little sense of a
country under military occupation. That
is, until they got to Bethlehem itself and saw the large presence of the
Israeli army in the town. But even that
was nothing like it is today in Bethlehem.
Tourists don't walk along the Bethlehem road any more, like the Wisemen
of old or the many pilgrims through the centuries since.
I
regularly receive news from Bethlehem sent by a Palestinian Christian of
Bedouin background, who is a professor at both at the local university. He inevitably describes how oppressive the
situation has become on the West Bank, and especially in Bethlehem since the erection of
the huge security wall overlooking the historic Manger Square and the Church of
the Nativity. In his
most recent newsletter, he tells that because
of this, Christmas in Bethlehem this
year was still a very special and meaningful time. Not just because of the services held in the
historic churches, but because nowhere on earth is Christmas experienced in the
same way. "Nowhere," he wrote, "do people pray that the wall
suffocating them is dismantled then watch and listen to Christmas carols from
around the world... Nowhere can we hear the same singers mix Christmas and
patriotic songs in the Manger Square and the Shepherds’ field." Tourists and pilgrims by the bus load still
visit Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas.
But theirs is a fleeting visit, no more than a day or two. They don't live there, under the shadow of
the security wall. They can take the
road to Bethlehem in safety assured that they will return the same day back
along the same road to Jerusalem. But
that is not true for the Palestinians who live there, many of them Christians
for whom life has become exceedingly difficult,
and travel on the Bethlehem road an arduous and humiliating journey.
Some
roads mentioned in the Bible immediately remind us of important stories or
events. The road from Jerusalem to
Jericho brings the parable of the Good Samaritan to mind; the road to Damascus
reminds us of Paul's conversion; and the via Dolorossa is the road to the
cross. But the road to Bethlehem does
not get a mention even though travelled by the three Wisemen from the East who
came from afar to find the baby born to be king. We miss the point of that magical story if we
debate whether or not they were kings or astrologers, whether a star literally
led them to the manger, and what might have been the significance of their
gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. It
has to do with the whole world, and not just Jews, coming to worship the
Christ; and it has to do with their
journey along the road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, from the court of King
Herod to the stable of King Jesus..
We
sometimes forget that Jesus was born in a town occupied by a foreign imperial
power, Rome; a town ruled over by King Herod who did Rome's dirty
work, keeping the populace under control and putting down resistance when it
occurred. Yet it was to Herod that the
Wisemen went in search of the new born king, for where else would you go on such
a quest than to the palace in Jerusalem? But Herod “and all Jerusalem,” so Matthew
tells us, were scared out of their wits by this enquiry. After all, Herod had to please the Romans, so
any talk of the birth of a king was immediately threatening to his position as
it was to state security. Worried by the
enquiry and scheming how he could deal with it, Herod got all his court
scholars together to ask their opinion.
And they informed him that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Herod
then told the Magi, and slyly asked them to return and tell him so that he too
could worship the new born king. So the
Magi got back on their camels and continued their journey, but now on the road
to Bethlehem. And “there ahead of them, went the star they had seen at its
rising,” its light growing brighter as
they drew near to Bethlehem confirming that at last they were on the right road.
In
going down Bethlehem road, the Wisemen literally turned their backs on King Herod
and his court in Jerusalem, just as they later disregarded his instructions to
report back to him. In order to find the
king of kings, they had to leave the citadel of oppressive power, with all its
corruption and greed, and travel down a
winding dirt track to an insignificant village.
Even then nobody could give them directions -- they had to be led by a
star to find the cattle stall in a backyard where God's anointed one had been
born already some time before. What a journey! But do you get the point? For Matthew's first readers the story was
revolutionary! A king born in a stable; God's
anointed weaned amidst smelly animals by a peasant woman... Real authority and power, the authority and
power God exercises through human agents, Matthew is saying, is something very different from that of the
mighty ones of the earth whether in Rome or Washington, Bethlehem or Pretoria. Jesus' birth is, in fact, a direct challenge
to the powers that oppress human beings, the walls that are built to keep
people out and provide false security to those inside, and to all rulers who
subject their people to tyranny. That is
why Jesus is such a threat to the principalities and powers of any time and
place, and why Mary with remarkable foresight knew in her heart that her son
has brought down the powerful from their
thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good
things,
and sent the rich away empty.
If we
want to follow Jesus we first have to take the Bethlehem road along with all
other wise men and women, all other true pilgrims, through the ages, turning
our backs on false power in order discover that God is revealed in the weakness
of the manger and the cross, in loving service, compassion and the struggle for
justice. All sages, all wise people have
found that the light which leads them to discover God's love, truth and grace,
always takes them down the road to Bethlehem.
This is the road we should take as we journey into a new year, in fact,
like Palestinian workers today, it is the road we should daily walk as a
reminder of whom we follow and serve.
John de Gruchy
Volmoed 2nd January 2013
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