Some time ago a man whose name I do not know
went to China to be a missionary. He was what you
might call an agricultural missionary. As a gardener,
he taught people how to raise different kinds of
vegetables, how to feed their children better, how
to raise a cow and have milk. He also told stories
about Jesus, and he translated some of them into
Chinese. He was perfectly at home there. He
adopted two Chinese girls that he found in a trash
can. And when he did, they arrested him. "Why?" he
asked. "You're dangerous!" they said. But this man
couldn't kill a mouse! He was incapable of violence.
Yet they said, "He's dangerous!" Well, he was. He
was dangerous because he didn't know how to love
just a few. He should have known that you've got to
watch whom you love. If you love the wrong people,
it will get you into trouble! It's hard to accept that
the gospel has enemies, that good news has enemies,
but it does.
This Sunday is known in the liturgical church as
Epiphany Sunday. I don’t have a liturgical
background, so I never paid much attention to
Epiphany Sunday. But it’s a day we should
acknowledge as special. Basically, the word epiphany
means “an illuminating discovery.” But when we
speak of The Epiphany, we’re talking about something
specific—the revelation of Christ to the Magi—the
first Gentiles to realize that Jesus is the Son of God.
It makes sense to believe that the coming of Christ
into the world is something that the world should
celebrate. But not everyone saw the coming of
Christ as a blessing. Herod pretended that he
wanted to worship the child. But underneath that
phony appearance of worship, Herod ordered the
slaughter of all boys aged two and under, in and
around Bethlehem.
It's hard to believe. It's hard to accept that the Good
News has enemies. It's hard to accept: Rachel crying,
refusing to be consoled. "They've killed my children!
They've killed my children!" Why? Because Jesus Christ
our Lord is born! It's hard to accept. It's hard to accept
that good news has such enemies.
But what's even more difficult to accept is that
announcing the Good News creates enmity. But we
shouldn’t be too surprised at that. After all, God did
say he would put enmity between the seed of the
serpent and the seed of the woman. And yet, we can’t
help but gasp in horror at Herod’s evil act. All the
wise men said is, "Where is he? All we want to do is
worship Jesus." They weren't revolutionaries. They
didn't call for activism. They didn’t call for a march
around the city. All they said was, "We want to
worship Jesus." But that’s when trouble broke out.
The great revolutions have not been started by
revolutionaries, but by people who said, "All we want
to do is love and worship." Do you know how to
release Serpentine hatred in the world—how to stir
that diabolical thing in such a way that it crawls up
from the floor of hell and wreaks violence on the
earth? Just start loving everybody, and he can't stand it.
Do you know how to strengthen and increase the
network of lies and deception in our world? Just set
your heart on worshipping Christ. That's all it takes.