Sermon for the carol service at St Edward’s, 19 Dec 2025. I began dressed in long green cloak and a fake fringe!
Can anyone guess the theme of my talk this evening?
Of course, it’s Traitors, or even Celebrity Traitors. Who has seen it?
Just in case you haven’t, The Traitors is a TV show — a murder-mystery-psychological-warfare extravaganza, set in a castle in the wilds of Scotland. A group of people gather, and secretly, three of them are chosen to be the Traitors.
Everyone else is a Faithful. The Faithfuls have to work out who the Traitors are, while desperately trying not to be ‘murdered’, no pressure, right?! So basically it’s a show full of lies, deception, paranoia… and surprisingly good knitwear. Traitors pretend to be Faithful. Faithful pretend they’re not paranoid. Everyone eats dinner together while silently thinking, “I know it was you. Pass the potatoes.”
So really… it’s like Christmas with your extended family. Just with fewer Brussels sprouts and far better cloaks.
And then add into that a bunch of celebrities, and you’ve got a show that’s even more dramatic than my family WhatsApp group.
But what has all that got to do with Christmas?
Well, actually… a lot. Because The Traitors revolves around one huge question:
Is this person really who they say they are?
And that same question sits right at the heart of the Christmas story. Let’s look at the key players…
Mary
Definitely a Faithful. She gets handed the biggest heavenly plot twist imaginable… and she says yes. No hesitation. No conferring in the corner as to whether she should do it. Just a faitthful, YES.
Joseph
Also a Faithful, I mean, eventually. At first he’s not convinced… a bit like someone around the round table who thinks they’ve spotted a traitor, only to be totally wrong. But an angel speaks to him, the original round-table persuader, and Joseph makes the right choice.
The Shepherds
Faithfuls, yes. But I like to imagine their conversation:
“Did you see that angel too?” “Are we sure walking toward the giant glowing sky-being is a good idea?” “Dave, last time you followed a star we ended up in a ditch…”
But they go, so definitely, faithfuls.
The Wise Men
The academics. The thinkers. The Jonathan Ross/Stephen Fry big dogs energy of the nativity. Following signs, studying the stars, turning up late but with excellent gifts. Defintely Faithful.
And then… the baby. Jesus.
Two thousand years ago, the Jewish people were waiting for a mighty Messiah, a political leader, a warrior king, a powerhouse personality. Basically, the Stephen Fry of messiahs.
But instead, they get a baby, vulnerable, born in an animal shelter, to ordinary parents. If you were casting for a ‘Saviour of the World’ gameshow, he wouldn’t have made the shortlist. He might not have made the long list.
It’s interesting how often we think the biggest and shiniest and brightest things are the best. But, appearances can be deceptive as we saw a lot in Celebrity Traitors. And meanwhile, in the shadows, is the real traitor: King Herod. An actual king who pretends to be faithful, politely telling the Wise Men he wants to worship the new baby, while secretly plotting murder. He’s basically the first-century Alan Carr saying, ‘I’m a faithful. No really. Honest’, giggling, while everyone believes him.
Herod, completely misses who Jesus really is. He thinks Jesus is after his throne. But Jesus isn’t a traitor. He’s the ultimate Faithful.
And God steps in, sending angels giving Joseph and Mary the equivalent of a shield, a warning about this traitor, so they can all flee to safety.
And here’s the heart of the Christmas story:
Jesus is the ultimate Faithful. A Joe Marler type mybe, faithful to the end?! Jesus is the one you can truly trust. He doesn’t wear a cloak, doesn’t hide who he is. He doesn’t deceive. He grows up and tells people, I am the Way. I am the Truth. I am the Light, of the World. No cloak, no hidden motives or gameplay, just pure honesty and love.
In The Traitors, you win big money by excluding people; in God’s kingdom, you win love by including people.
The story of Christmas is that everyone is welcomed. Just look at the nativity scene, the rich and the poor, academics and shepherds, humans and animals, all gathered around Jesus, and we are invited too. The angels announce good news for all people. No one left out, No one forgotten.
Christmas is God’s way of saying: ‘You are welcome. You matter. I choose you.’ Not because you’ve played well or behaved well or stayed faithful all year, but because God is faithful.
Jesus doesn’t banish, Jesus invites, he invites us all to be part of this wonderful story.
Amen
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