1-10-10

Text: Matthew 2:13-23

● As a child, I remembering hearing about “the flight of the holy family to Egypt”, but it was presented more like a family road trip than the desperate escape efforts of some Jewish refugees. Apparently, this did not make for the best flannel-graph lesson.

● In Matthew’s gospel, we learn that the celebration of Christmas in not so romantic or idealistic. We learn that life in this world can be dangerous and cruel. In one moment, we hear the beauty of the songs of the angels from heaven, and before the echo has diminished, we hear the wailing sounds of mothers whose children had been slaughtered by soldiers.

● It’s ironic, isn’t it, that Matthew proclaims that Jesus is Emmanuel – “God with us”, but now we see "God-with-us" running for his life. We see the "savior" needing to be saved from Herod's anger.

Ken Gire writes, “Unable to understand anything but the language of his mother’s face, and already Jesus is an enemy of the state. Unable to talk, and already he is targeted for assassination. Unable to crawl, and already a fugitive, fleeing for his life”.

● Needless to say, these images don’t fit our joyful celebration. After all, Christmas is supposed to be a temporary reprieve from reality, right--- all of the violence and power-struggles which fill our world and overwhelm our senses? But, “Messiahs” are born into (or arise out of) conditions of violence, tension, fear and hopelessness.

I guess we are often left wondering, “Why Matthew would even include such a brutal scene in his account?”

Matthew is clearly attempting to establish some form of ‘correspondence’ between the scriptures (OT) and the experiences of Jesus.

● To say that Herod was a complex figure is a grand understatement. Racially, he was an Arab; religiously, he was Jewish; culturally, he was Greek; politically, Herod was Roman.

        Historians tell us there were no limits to his thirst for power nor his paranoia.  He married (10) women. Sons born to him were often viewed as political rivals, so he had (3) of them put to death to squelch any thoughts of usurping his authority. He killed his uncle, his mother-in-law and would eventually have his favorite wife, Mariamne, killed due to suspicions concerning her certain rumors of infidelity.

● Herod knew only too well, that upon his death, no one would weep for him, so his last order was to command his troops to arrest thousands of notable citizens and herd them into the stadium in Jericho. The order further outlined that upon Herod’s death, the notables were to be executed so that there would be mourning in the land when the King died. Fortunately, the order was not carried out, but amidst all of the paranoia and brutal insecurities, it is not hard to fathom that Herod would be capable of ordering the senseless slaughter of these children in Bethlehem.

       So, we find Matthew, first, linking the escape to Egypt with a quote from Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, I loved him and out of Egypt I have called my son.”

● Matthew’s recollection of Herod’s murderous decree calls to mind another son being preserved from the brutal actions of a tyrant leader [Pharoah's anger and the killing of male infants in Exodus 2:1-10].

● Next, in verses 16-18, he connects the killing of the children with a quote from Jeremiah 31:15 concerning the weeping of Rachel for her children: Rachel, the favorite wife of Jacob and grandmother of Ephraim and Manasseh, the two most prominent of the northern tribes. Ramah was a town, north of Jerusalem, that the Israelites would have passed as they were being taken off into captivity. But, it is really a passage concerning God’s renewal of the covenant, bringing Israel back from exile.

● Then, in verses 19-23, he speaks of the return from Egypt to Nazareth, which although never specified by any prophet, seems to portray an image of a Messiah who would be despised and rejected (Nazareth was synonymous with rejection). Some scholars believe that the reference to Nazareth is a ‘word-play’, developing from the word ‘branch’ (“nazir”) utilized in Isaiah 11:1 where the prophet speaks of a “branch that will spring forth from the root (stump) of Jesse”.

Amidst all of the misunderstandings, Matthew continues to insist that this is the scripture--- this is their story, being fulfilled.

● For Matthew, the continuity between Jesus’ life and their story is more than just a bit ‘ironic’--- it’s accomplishment; fulfillment. Understand that Matthew is not ‘journaling’ the life of Christ here, but being chronologically removed from the circumstances, he, as well as others, are beginning to piece this thing together.

“Virgin will be with child… ‘Emmanuel, God with us’ [Isaiah]: “Bethlehem… out of you will come a leader to shepherd my people, Israel…” [Micah]: “Out of Egypt I have called my son…” [Hosea].

● Matthew utilizes quotes from the OT at least (47) times, and most of those passages are “Messianic”--- pertaining to Messiah and his role. Just as Israel has been identified as the ‘son of God’, Jesus is being presented as the ‘son of God’. He is Israel personified, succeeding and becoming obedient to God in all the ways that Israel had failed.

● So, as we track with Matthew’s account of Jesus, for those familiar with the story, you cannot help but notice that he is portraying Jesus as the ‘new Moses’.  Matthew is inviting us to watch as Israel’s new exodus begins.

Egypt is where we begin to discover our sense of mission.

● In the story, it’s the place we are called both ‘out of’ and ‘back to’. For years, people who research our faith tendencies have noticed a disheartening trend which happens within the first few years of one’s determination to become a student of Jesus: we tend to ‘disengage’ from the culture; within the first few years we tend to ‘isolate’ ourselves from the culture for fear of being tarnished.

● Moses, thoroughly schooled in the ways of Egypt, would have been the best possible candidate to return with the message of deliverance.

● Most often, no one is better suited to return than you. You speak the language; you know the practices; you are aware of the emptiness. It is where people are daily exposed to the process of transformation in our own lives. It’s where people see ‘our righteousness’, our ‘good deeds’ and notice our God.  

God calls and often leads us back to those places so that, having once been part of the brokenness, we might now become part of the restoration process.

The story is not just about the human dilemma, but the divine dilemma as well. 

            Evil is more than just the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into, but the frustration that God feels over the disruption and distortion of all of his good creation, and the pain that he feels with us as experience the inevitable consequences of such disorder [“evil” (Gr.)--- ‘not as it ought to be’]

● I will never forget the words from a CNN commentator, post 9-11, as he stated: “… our kids are beginning to think we live in an evil world…” Evil cannot be confined to some radical religious group, rather, it is a condition, a spirit, an environment that permeates our world.

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!” John 16:33

● These words of Jesus keep us firmly planted in the world. They prevent us from romanticizing our faith. They prevent us from the fanciful notions that leave us assuming that our faith in Jesus has left us ‘untouchable’ when it comes to evil. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Has Jesus life, death and resurrection decidedly dealt with and passed sentence upon the issues of sin and evil and brokenness? Yes. Do we still live in a world which daily ‘groans’ over the painful effects of the presence of evil? Yes.

Ours is to be conscious of all of the ways that our lives are either contributing to the disorder (evil) or actually helping to restore things to the way they ought to be (good).

In the background of the nativity is always the shadow of the cross.

● Bookending Jesus’ life were the atrocities of the ruling powers associated with his birth, and the brutal display of evil carried out at his crucifixion.

Jesus’ life, from beginning to end, portrayed the type of evil, brokenness and disorder that he came to redeem/restore. It reminds of the vulnerability of God and his willingness to enter our world, not to hurriedly usher us out of it, but to overcome all that leads to such destructiveness and restore us within it.