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The First Sunday of Christmas isn’t all angels, carols, and gentle joy. In this Short Take, pastors and comedians Erick Williams (@comicaledubs) and Abby Evans (@itsabbye) join the conversation as we sit with one of the hardest gospel readings of the season — the flight into Egypt and the slaughter of the innocents. It’s a text many preachers quietly dread, because it refuses to offer easy comfort or tidy resolutions.

What do you preach when grief can’t be explained away, when joy feels premature, and when the Bible itself won’t let you rush past suffering? Together, we wrestle honestly with faith that doesn’t flinch, humor that knows when to step aside, and why sometimes the most faithful response isn’t to fix the pain, but to tell the truth and stay with it.

Matthew 2:13–23 (NRSVue)

[13] Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” [14] Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt [15] and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” [16] When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. [17] Then what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: [18] “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.” [19] When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, [20] “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” [21] Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. [22] But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. [23] There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Hosted by Pastor Eric Damon and Pastor Bob Schaefer.

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Music: Trickster by Phat Sounds
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/10864-trickster
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Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.