Christmas 2
Mt 2:13-23
1/3/16
Most of you know that Good Shepherd
member James Peterson is a student in his first year at Concordia Theological
Seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN where he is studying to be a pastor. There have been
many changes for James recently since he married Michela in December 2014, then
graduated in the spring of this year from Concordia University, Nebraska and
then moved to Ft. Wayne to begin work at the seminary at the start of this
school year. The changes will keep coming this summer when Michela gives birth
to their first child.
The changes will continue, but when
it comes to the location of his life,
James will soon find that other people
are going to tell him where to go. It
was James’ decision to go to Seward, Nebraska and attend Concordia University. It was James’ decision to go to Ft. Wayne and
attend Concordia Theological Seminary.
He could have gone anywhere he wanted to do his undergraduate work. He could have chosen to go to St. Louis, or
even St. Catherines, Ontario to do his seminary studies.
But at the end of his second year at
the seminary, James will attend a vicarage assignment service, and at that
service the seminary will tell James where
he will live for the next year as he serves in the parish setting under the
oversight of a pastor – basically an internship year. At the end of that year James and family will
return to Ft. Wayne for his fourth, and final year at the seminary. Then at the end of that school year he will
attend a Call Service, and at that service the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod
will tell James where he will live
for the foreseeable future as he receives his first call to serve a
church. He won’t have any choice. The church will tell him to go to that location and serve as pastor, and so James
and family will pack up and move there.
As we listen to today’s Gospel
lesson, we are reminded that at the beginning of their life together, Joseph
and Mary were told where they were to go on several occasions. Their location was not a matter of their
choice. By all appearances their
movement was dictated by powerful and dangerous leaders. But we learn that in the midst of it all, God
was in charge working out his plan. It
is a plan that is surprising. Yet in
this surprise God worked for our salvation … and he still does today.
Luke’s Gospel tells us that Joseph
and Mary were form Nazareth, in Galilee – the northern part of Israel. Their first change of location was a result
of the Emperor Augustus telling them where they had to go. Augustus had unified
the empire and ended civil war … by defeating all challengers. He was calculating and had no problem using
force to get what he wanted. It was
under his rule and authority that a census decree forced Joseph and Mary to
travel to Bethlehem. He forced them to
go, but when Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ in Bethlehem we see that God was
at work because it fulfilled what the prophet Micah had written.
The appearance of a star in the
east, and then after a visit to King Herod in Jerusalem, the guiding of a star
had led the Magi to the Christ child.
Herod’s plan was to use the Magi to locate Jesus and kill him – that was
his way of dealing with any perceived threat to his crown. But God had warned the Magi in a dream not to
return to Herod and so they went home a different way.
Now, in our text, we learn that once
again Mary and Joseph are told where they are to go. And once again the
location is dictated by a powerful and dangerous man. Matthew tells us that an angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, 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.” Joseph obeyed. He arose, and took Jesus and Mary in the
middle of the night and departed to Egypt.
If we step back and look at it,
things really don’t seem to add up. Jesus
is supposed to be the incarnate Son of God.
He is supposed to be the Christ – the Messiah – the true king of Israel
whose rule has no end. And yet we find
Joseph fleeing with the child and his mother under the cover of darkness as
they seek to escape the murderous plan of Herod the Great – Herod, who is
nothing more than a petty king under Emperor Augustus’ thumb.
We are left to wonder: This is God
at work bringing forgiveness and salvation to Israel and all people? Is this the best God can do? It is a question that is not limited to this
one moment narrated in the biblical text.
It is a bigger question that continues to confront us when we look
around. We see the Church as she is
being persecuted around the world at levels that have never been seen
before. We see our culture which
embraces and imposes a view of
sexuality and marriage that is completely contrary to God’s ordering of
creation and the revelation of his Word.
And we see lives of those who believe in Jesus Christ that are still
lived in the midst of great pain, and weakness and sorrow. We can end up
doubting God and wondering, “Is this really the best God can do?”
In our text we learn that while the
trip to Egypt was prompted by Herod’s evil, it was God who was still working
out his purpose. In fact, it was God who
had guided the history of the nation of Israel, because he would do this
through his Son. Matthew tells us, “And
he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and
remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had
spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’”
The prophet Hosea wrote these words
in the eighth century B.C. as he described Israel’s history and how she had
been unfaithful. But Matthew tells us
that there is actually something much
bigger going on here. Yes, they
describe Israel in its failure. But they were written because they describe
what Jesus Christ, who is Israel reduced to One, would do in his success. Matthew
tells us clearly that Jesus stands in the place of the nation. But where Israel
failed to carry out God’s will as a light to the nations, Jesus succeeded.
We learn that what we are seeing in
parents fleeing with a child in the middle of the night is God’s powerful act
of salvation. It may look like the evil
kings are running the show. It may not
look like what we expect. But in fact it
is God who is in charge and he is
doing things in his way.
We find this when Joseph and Mary
are again told to change location.
Matthew tells us: “But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, ‘Rise, take the child and his
mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are
dead.’” It is God’s command through the
angel that called his Son out of Egypt.
Joseph obeyed and took the child and
his mother and went to the land of Israel. But then he heard that Archelaus was
reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there,
and with good reason – Archelaus was not playing with a full deck. Even the Romans concluded this when they
eventually removed him from power and turned Judea into a Roman province. Again, Joseph received direction as he was warned
in a dream. He withdrew to the district of Galilee, and the family went to live
in Nazareth.
Yet this too was part of God’s
plan. Matthew tells us that this took
place “so that what was spoken by the prophets
might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.” Now there is no clear prophecy in the Old
Testament that the Christ would live in Nazareth. It is notable that here Matthew uses the
plural – he refers to “what was spoken by the prophets.” It appears that
Matthew’s reference is a more general one, and that the statement takes up the
connotations of Nazareth.
As Jesus is on trial a maidservant
accuses Peter of being with “Jesus the Nazarene.” It’s location in Galilee is looked down
upon. In John’s Gospel Nathaniel asks
Philip, “Can any good come out of Nazareth.”
Later when Nicodemus asks the Pharisees to give Jesus a hearing, they
reply, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from
Galilee.”
Galilee in general and Nazareth in
particular were held in scorn. And this is the place where God’s Christ
grows up. It is not where you expect to
find the Messiah. It is a place that
causes some to reject and deride him. And yet we learn that this is how God
works. This is how he will work the salvation of the world through the
Messiah. He will not do it in power and
glory and success. Instead, he will do
it in weakness and lowliness and rejection.
He will do it through suffering and death.
And this too is God’s plan. Jesus will go to the cross as Israel – the
Servant of the Lord. He will go as the
suffering Servant who bears the sin of all.
He will go as the One who was was pierced for our transgressions and was
crushed for our iniquities. Just as he
said during his ministry: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus died in weakness and lowliness and rejection. He was buried in a tomb. But on the third day the final goal of God’s
plan became clear. In his resurrection,
Jesus emerged in power and greatness. He
has been exalted to God’s right hand and when he returns on the Last Day he
will have the last word against all who have rejected him.
This is now what must guide our
understanding of the life lived by the Church and Christians. We live as those who are in Christ – those
whose lives are defined by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. This means that in the present our lives will
often be characterized by circumstances of weakness and lowliness and
rejection. These things do not indicate the absence of God’s love and care.
They do not reveal God’s failure to be involved with the course of our life.
Quite the opposite – we have seen in
Jesus that God works in unexpected ways.
He works in ways that appear the opposite of what they really are. It is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that gives us the ability to
believe this. We have seen God work our
salvation through the cross. As those
who have been joined to Christ through baptism, we will find that the Christian
life is often characterized by the cross.
But Easter assures us that the cross
always leads to the resurrection. It
always leads to victory. That is God’s
plan, and it will be fulfilled for his Church and for you. That is the faith he sustains by his Spirit
through the Means of Grace. You may
experience weakness and lowliness and rejection during the course of your life.
But when you do so, you are following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, and you
already know where that path leads. God
has revealed his plan for you in his Son.
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