Isaiah 63:7-9
Hebrews 2:10-18
Matthew 2:13-23

Merry Christmas! It is the fifth day of Christmas tide. What did my true love give to me, five golden rings? Well the lectionary gave us this gospel text, that just oozes Christmas cheer, heh? Thanks. Nothing says Christmas quite like families taking refuge in a foreign land and massacres of innocent children by tyrants. But, this is the text we are given for this week. So, now that we’ve gotten this dissonance out in the open, let’s see what is here, and maybe even, just maybe, we can adjust our understanding of Christmas.

The truth is this section of Matthew, actually chapter 2 as a whole, is so full. I have really had to work hard at trimming to get down to a single sermon. There are just so many layers of meaning, history and symbols that are so interesting to dig into, at least for me. This morning we are going to take three quick passes through this story highlighting a different theme each time and then I will do my best to show how the three themes together can actually affect how we live as we leave today.

First, let’s get our bearings in the gospel according to Matthew. It is fairly clear that the author is writing to a Jewish audience and is concerned primarily with showing his Jewish readers that Jesus is the messiah that has been so central to the Jewish identity. The author quotes from the Old Testament more than the other gospel writers. This makes sense, because he is showing people who know those texts how Jesus is the fulfillment of those texts. As an aside, this gospel also makes my engineering brain very happy with his symmetric layout and structured argument and consistency of references. I just like it.

In chapter 1 Matthew provides a genealogy, placing Jesus in the line of King David and then introduces the family and the birth. Then chapter 2 we have the magi coming, interacting with Herod and the family (the magi story is traditionally taken on for Epiphany, which is next week) and then our text today. So we are a little out of order. But our text in verse 13 starts with, “Now when they had gone….” The “they” are the magi.

For our first pass through the story, I’d like to concentrate on how the author is concerned that the reader understand the providence of God. That is, everything that happened happened because it was what God wanted to happen. Last time I preached I brought in a paragraph from the Cumberland Presbyterian Confession of Faith. I’m going to do that again today. By saying we are Cumberland Presbyterians we are saying that we believe:

1.14 God ordinarily exercises providence through the events of nature and history, 
using such instruments as persons, laws, and the scriptures, yet remains free to 
work with them or above them. The whole creation remains open to God’s direct 
activity.

So, some shorthand phrases I use often for this are “God is Lord of creation” and “The church is God’s idea” and one I’m trying to use more “If the Lord wills, I will ….”

The author here is also saying that all of the things that happened in this story happened because of God. This text has three sections that have the pattern, (a) something happened, and (b) that fulfilled this prophecy.

13 Now when they had gone, behold 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 going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”

14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 15 He 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 called my Son.”

Here we see an example of God’s direct activity. “An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said…” He specifically acted by speaking to Joseph. And as a result, the prophecy from Hosea, “Out of Egypt I called my Son” was fulfilled. This is actually calling the game a little prematurely, maybe, but Jesus did have to be in Egypt in order to be called out. So it was a required step.

The second section is:

16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. 17 Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

18“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Weeping and great mourning,
Rachel, weeping for her children;
And she refused to be comforted,
Because they were no more.”

Here we see an example of God “using such instruments as persons” specifically Herod. The author is implying that God is using Herod for His own purposes because he said it was going to happen ahead of time and then it did. God is Lord of creation and Herod is just an instrument of His will.

In this case it is horrible, but God used it for His purpose. This is hard to swallow for me. But we will come back to this in more detail in a minute. For now, God has used Herod for His own purposes.

And the third section is:

19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, 20 “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.” 21 So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, 23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

Here is a second case of God taking direct action. Actually, a second and third case. Two dreams guide Joseph back to Judea and then on to Gallee. Because God was fulfilling what was spoken through the prophets.

Here though we have a potential difficulty. This quote from the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” it isn’t found in the Old Testament. There is no sense dodging the difficulty, the quotation just isn’t there. So what can we do with this? I’ve read a number of commentators trying to make sense of this with varying degrees of mental and logical contortions. One thought is that, Matthew may be referring to a prophecy that was in some writing or oral tradition that didn’t eventually become part of the Old Testament as we know it. Another thought is that by saying “prophets” plural, that he is adding commentary to the prophetic record as a whole. I don’t know, these don’t really make me happy, but I doubt if making me happy was part of the author’s goal.

Here is one more attempt from commentators, that while I think it is a real big stretch, might resonate with us. Through advent Grace Fellowship uses the image of “a shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse” from Isaiah 11:1 We have a four part banner. My kids all made Jesse tree crafts multiple times. My PG rehearses the stories of the Jesse tree ornaments each year. A “shoot from the stump” is part of us and our story.

Well, glossing over the details, one of the Hebrew words associated with the name Nazareth means “tender shoot.” So this could refer to that image. If it helps you work with it.

OK, back on topic. So we see three examples of how the author is showing that God is Lord of history both directly and indirectly and how the life of Jesus fulfills the prophecies from the Old Testament and again shows that God is at work.

This helps us to believe our statement from the confession that God is not far off but is exercising providence now in and around us today.

Not to be irreverent, but “So what!” What does it matter that we believe God is active in our world?

Well, let’s go through the text again and see if it has anything to say about how believing God is active can affect us.

Back to verse 13:

13 Now when they had gone, behold 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….”

14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt.

Woah! “While it was still night?” Did he stop by the jobsite and pick up his tools? Where exactly was he going in Egypt? Is there a way to make a living for a carpenter there? When is Herod going to come down here exactly? Maybe we have time to say goodbye to our neighbors and one more trip to synagogue this sabbath to say goodbye?

Nope none of that is recorded. God said “Get up!” and “So Joseph got up.”

Then in verse 19:

19 … an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, 20 “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel;….” 21 So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.

That is also very similar. They had probably been in Egypt for a while. Years perhaps it isn’t clear how much time has passed. They undoubtedly had a life setup there. The previous dream had said this day would be coming, but it hadn’t said how long.

22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, 23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth.

So Joseph gets where he is going and realizes wait this doesn’t seem right. Archelaus was apparently no better than his father. But, he doesn’t second guess God, he went to Judea and set up at least enough to have a place to sleep. And when he sleeps he has a dream and is told that yes it would be better to move further north. And so he moves. The gospel of Luke says he started there before Augustus’s census. Matthew doesn’t say that, but he apparently did live there until Jesus was an adult.

This guy Joseph, wow. Here is a man who I could do well to model myself after. We don’t get much about Joseph. After this text he pretty much drops from the scene, except for one story in Luke about traveling to Jerusalem for Passover. But in Matthew each of the times he is mentioned, he listens, and obeys, without any apparent thought about how it would look. From the story about Mary we know that he did care how things looked, even for Mary. He was ready to quietly divorse her to spare her a public ordeal.

So it isn’t like he didn’t care about the public’s view. He was prepared to act to preserve face for others. But when he was told to act by God then what people would think and how he kept his reputation of keeping his commitments ceased to be a consideration.

  • Marry a woman carrying someone else’s child. God instructs him to, so yes.
  • Drop job, housing, station and leave for Egypt - tonight. God instruct him to, so yes.
  • Return to the place you left so abruptly. God instructs him to, so he goes.
  • Return to Nazareth where the whole unwed mother wedding thing happened. God instructs him to, so yes.

The second part of Joseph’s response that stands out for me is his perspective. He had the big picture, that Jesus was God’s miraculous son and these things set big things in motion. But how do you get from leave for Egypt to that big future. There are a lot of missing steps between this decision to obey and the end. And some of those steps don’t look wise or enjoyable.

Now you might say, well he had an angel tell him to go, so that made it easier for him. Did it? It was still a dream. I’m always a little groggy in the morning, “What did the angel say? Really?”

Now I’m leaving solid textual ground here and moving to my own speculation. I’m guessing that Joseph had to practice taking steps in obedience to God in a whole bunch of little things, as practice, so when these big things come, he is ready to follow.

When Jenelle and I went to family workshops while one of our daughters was at a program, one phrase from their teaching that stood out to me, was “take the next right step.” If there is a clear step in front of you, hemming and hawing about where this step might take you is just making it harder to take the step. Here we see an example in Joseph of someone who trusts God and His provision, and without thinking takes the step in front of him.

I can learn from his example. Here is what it looks like to believe that “God exercises providence through the events” of history. Here is what it means to believe that God is actually the actor in this drama. We don’t need an angel in a dream. God works, “using such instruments as persons, laws, and the scriptures.” If I am not willing to take the step He puts before me, then do I really believe?

Just one more comment before we move on. I asked the children who is caring for the toddler Jesus? That question is for all of us. Taking the next step is always easier if we believe God is good. He says he is. He tells us He has plans for us, of welfare and not calamity. We can trust God.

Which leads us to our third pass through this text. What can we possibly do with the fact that God actually makes use of an event that is so unspeakably evil to bring about His purposes.

Verse 16 again:

16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.

I have two observations that I want to spend some time on.

First, this is another case of the present events not really making sense with the big picture. I mean, wasn’t God’s whole plan here that Jesus came to die for our sins. So why does this whole chapter of the story happen at all? Why the extraordinary lengths that God goes through to save the toddler Jesus from being killed in Bethlehem instead of the adult being killed in Jerusalem?

Well, Jesus had an earthly ministry that apparently was an integral part of God’s plan, because he made sure it happened. Besides that if Jesus had died in Bethlehem, who would have told the story? The author of this gospel account doesn’t even meet Jesus until chapter 9.

What was so important about Jesus’s earthly ministry? His teaching? Yes. Miracles like healing? Sure. Fulfillment of prophecies? Well, yeah. But was this necessary to the salvation of the world. Taken together it appears to be. And what was the result of these things?

Well, in a word, the church. God had this plan, that there would be a church, to be present while His work of salvation and redemption was taking place. There would be a church that would point to this redemption and salvation and invite people, individuals, you, me, to believe and put our trust in His salvation work.

God apparently knew that this might take some time. Like the time needed for an antibiotic to take effect. And the church, like the nation of Israel before it, was founded so that none born before the true final completion of His salvation would need to be lost.

And a second observation about the events of verse 16, isn’t this an example of the very evil that made it so Jesus needed to come? This killing of children is exactly why Jesus came.

Let’s talk briefly about this event. What exactly are we talking about here. First where? The text says, “in Bethlehem and all its vicinity.” This probably means in the village itself and in the fields and farms around the village. How many? Estimates of the population of Bethlehem are around 300 people and of the whole area as under 1,000 people. So for that sort of population the count of babies under 2 probably is under or around 20.

This is an event that would have devastated the town. And yet historians of the time don’t even mention it. But with what we know about Herod’s other acts of despotism in his later years, it may just be that a “local” tragedy like this might not have “made the headlines.”

For me, the fact that it wasn’t mentioned by other historians, doesn’t raise any doubt, but rather it shows me that the times were just that much worse. There was so much of this going on that a terrible event like this doesn’t even make the cut for recording generally.

And don’t think for a minute that we are any better now. Do we really have the nerve to say that our world now is any, any, less evil?

We like to say that we live in a progressive city. Progressing from what? To where? Do we really think that we are progressing out of evil? Really? We have a pantry downstairs every week because people can’t buy enough food for their families. Our streets are full of people who can not afford a roof over their heads. And some of them work full time jobs. California has a prison population that has grown 500% in the last 40 years. Do we have this under control? Are we progressing to a better future by our own brilliance and effort?

Why do we think that Jesus needed to come? Is his sacrifice just good for my little sins? I’ve never killed anyone. I’ve never stolen from someone. Is Jesus’s sacrifice only good enough for someone like me?

No! Jesus came because Satan and death have a real and distinct power over the world and events and us. And there is no possible way for humanity to get out from under the grasp of Satan and death on our own!

We the church are not bringing about the Kingdom of God. We have nothing to do with whether the Kingdom exists or not. We are here to point to and celebrate that the Kingdom is coming, despite us.

Jesus came to defeat Satan and death. He is the only reason we have any chance. At all. He had to come specifically because innocent babies were killed by a tyrant.

Do you ever ask how can God let that evil happen? I do. But the answer is not a reason. Ever hear someone say, “I just can’t believe in a God that would let that happen.” Yeah. I don’t either! He does not let it happen. He has done everything to bring it to an end. He came down to be a helpless babe and to die because He does not want this evil to happen. Don’t think he is idly standing by. He has acted, and the problem is so huge that the action is taking time to have full effect. Not because God is patient, or He is OK with it, but because evil is so pervasive. But that doesn’t mean evil has a chance. God will prevail. His Kingdom is breaking in. He has defeated death himself and the fullness of that is coming.

The question is not will the Kingdom of God come. The question is will I be in the Kingdom? Will I take the step put before me each time, regardless of the evil around me that makes the step look foolish or irresponsible to those who give that evil more honor or fear than it deserves.

Grace Fellowship, take Joseph’s example to heart. Get into the habit of taking the steps God puts in front of you without delay. Put in the practice so when big steps come you will be ready. Know that God is good and he is bringing the Kingdom of God to us. Live joyfully in that knowledge and point out to everyone around you God’s works of salvation that you see today. Take the next right step, not because your step will save the world, but because Jesus already is saving the world.

Preached at Grace Fellowship Community Church on December 29, 2019.