Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 * December 30, 2007 * Christmas 1 * Pastor Leyrer

Dear Friends in Christ,

Some of you may already have your Christmas tree down. Or if you don’t, it won’t be too long. And a month from now, it will only be the serious and/or year-long celebrators who have any visible signs of Christmas in their house.

Perhaps there is a “cautionary tale” embedded within this yearly process.

Because the birth of Christ is preceded by that four week period of anticipation known as the Advent season, and because the event itself is so spiritually significant and personally meaningful, there may be a tendency to consider Christmas as a terminal event. It happened, it’s been celebrated, but now it is over.

But it isn’t. Because Christmas, so rightfully celebrated and revered, was and is a historical event. And history is linear. It marches on. So will we on this first Sunday after Christmas. We are all gratefully aware of Baby Jesus in the manger. What happened next will be our focus this morning. Our text for today might simply be called

THE CHRISTMAS STORY, CONTINUED…

One preliminary remark before we begin. Last Sunday (December 23) the Christmas story as recorded by Matthew served as our text. At that time we mentioned that what makes Matthew’s account different from the longer and better known account in the Gospel of Luke is the fact that Matthew reports things from Joseph’s perspective. Matthew also provides us with some insights on his personality and character. That perspective continues throughout our text, and we’ll make note of that. In the process we’ll learn to further appreciate Joseph for who and what he was.

Actually, the second verse of the hymn we sang just moments ago pretty well summarizes the life and spirit of Joseph we know it from Scripture. It bears repeating:

All praise, O God, for Joseph, The guardian of your Son,

Who saved him from King Herod When safety there was none.

He taught the trade of builder When they to Naz’reth came;

And Joseph’s love as father Blessed God the Father’s name.

The line, “Who saved Him from King Herod when safety there was none,” links us directly to our text. Let’s turn to it now and briefly work our way through it.

¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” After the Wise Men left, God directs Joseph to flee with his family to Egypt.

In the Bible there are a number of rulers named Herod. None of them were good, but this one was the worst. Historians refer to him as “Herod the Great” because of his political accomplishments, but he was also great in terms of bloodshed and cruelty when it came to protecting his own interests.

After all, this was the man who engineered and ordered the slaughter of the babies in Bethlehem. (Historical note for the sake of an accurate picture: based on the size of the town, historians estimate this to be anywhere between 6 and 20 children). As monstrous as this was, it was actually quite mild in comparison to some of his other massacres.

Historically the church has considered these babies to be the first Christian martyrs (that is, those who died because of Christ) and has even set aside a day in their honor. December 28 is the minor church festival of “The Holy Innocents, Martyrs.” Our text for today skips over this sad and terrible event, but we remembered it in another verse of the hymn we just sang. That verse, too, bears repeating:

Praise for your infant martyrs, Whom your mysterious love

Called early from life’s conflicts To share your peace above.

O Rachel, cease your weeping; They’re free from pain and cares

Lord, grant us crowns as brilliant And faith as sure as theirs.

¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” It is telling of his character that Joseph as the head of his house acts on God’s directive immediately. The Holy Family doesn’t wait until morning. God spoke – and Joseph obeyed without delay.

We’re also told why they fled to Egypt. In doing so they fulfilled one of the many Old Testament prophecies made concerning the life and work of Christ. This particular prophecy came from the prophet Hosea (11:1). Originally it referred to God’s calling the nation of Israel out of Egypt at the time of Moses. But here Matthew, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, applies these words to Jesus. Just as Israel went down to Egypt as an infant nation, so the child Jesus went there. And just as Israel was called out of Egypt by God, so was baby Jesus and his earthly family.

¹⁹ After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰ and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” We don’t know how long the family was in Egypt. The best guess from historical sources puts it at less than a year since Herod the Great died the same year Jesus was born. Sometime after Herod’s death Joseph receives another angelic revelation and is given the green light to return home.

²¹ So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³ and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.” Once again, the first thing to note is Joseph’s unquestioning obedience to God’s command.

It would appear that Joseph probably intended to go back to Bethlehem where they had stayed some time before this latest turn of events. Perhaps they had relatives there, or maybe Joseph had found employment. However, Bethlehem was only five or six miles from Jerusalem. When Joseph learned that the new ruler, Archelaus, was a son of Herod the Great, he was frightened of what could happen.

That being the case, for a third time Joseph is warned by God in a dream and told to stay away from Judea (the southern part of the Holy Land). So Joseph and family headed up to Galilee, the north country of the Holy Land. There they settled in the small, obscure hometown of Joseph and Mary – and now, Jesus – named Nazareth. And in this relocation process Matthew informs us that more Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah were fulfilled.

So far the text. What can we learn from it? How does this speak to us today? I believe there are three lessons we can draw from “the Christmas story, continued” and apply to our lives…

First has to do with the apparent contradiction of the coming of the Prince of Peace and the wickedness that still remains in this world, as evidenced by the actions of King Herod. How do we reconcile the angels’ message of “peace on earth, good will to men” with an act of barbarity like the slaughter of the innocents?

The modern day rendition of that question is one most likely we’ve all heard. If God is so good and powerful, why does He allow evil people to have their way? Why doesn’t He do something?

The answer is, He did. But in a bigger and deeper way than we would have ever imagined or come up with ourselves.

You see, when man messed up God’s perfect creation by introducing sin into it, God didn’t elect to engage in a cosmic “do-over.” He chose to allow evil and hardship and the messiness of life and the consequences of sin to remain. This is something every human being has to deal with. There will always be Herods in life, and there will always be painful reminders that we live on a planet that continues to traffic in atrocities.

Rather than eliminating hardships, what He did was give us the means to transcend them. That means is Jesus. “In this world you will have trouble,” Jesus told His disciples and us the night before His crucifixion. “But take heart, I have overcome the world.” In the perfect life, sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of Jesus the greatest evil – sin and its damning consequences – has been overcome. For those who embrace Him in faith “there is no condemnation” says the Apostle Paul. Sin has been defeated. The future is bright indeed.

Yet on this side of heaven the residue of sin remains. Is there pain and hardship in this world? Yes. But it will not last. Temporal life on earth will soon give way to eternal life in heaven. Remembering this puts our lives in perspective.

The second lesson has to do with God and history. Is it not interesting that God chose not to hijack history, but to work through it? So He doesn’t have Baby Jesus pull rank on Herod and blow him out of the water; rather He sends the Holy Family in flight to Egypt. If you think about it, that must have been hard for them. Again we might wonder, why didn’t He play the God card and make life so much easier?

And again we are reminded that God became one of us all the way. He went through the same pain and struggles as we go through. Which means He can identify with us.

This also reminds us that just as God worked through the history of the world to bring about the redemption of our souls, so God also works through our personal history to make us who and what He wants us to be. The things that happen to us – whether positive or negative – come from the hand of a loving God who uses all things to fashion and form us into His ever-growing disciples.

So if we think our personal history is hard, or if we are enduring a chapter of it we’d rather skip, let us remember that God is authoring our life for His purposes – and our eternal benefit.

The third and final lesson transcends the other two. It has to do with Immanuel. That of course is the descriptive name for Jesus we find in Isaiah the Prophet. It means, “God with us.” And it reminds us that we are never, ever, ever alone. Each of us can echo the words of King David in Psalm 139 (vs 8-10) and personally say:

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

If I settle on the far side of the sea,

Even there your hand will guide me,

Your right hand will hold me fast.

No matter where we go or in what circumstances we find ourselves, we are never alone. All because we have Immanuel in our lives.

So the Christmas story continues. Today Baby Jesus and the Holy Family flee to Egypt and later settle in Nazareth. There our salvation history will continue to be worked out according to the linear time line God chose. Jesus the child will become Jesus the Man, who will eventually present Himself in our behalf on the altar of the cross.

Therefore on this Sunday “after” let us again rejoice in the ever-unfolding and personal message of Christmas. Amen.