1st Sunday after Christmas
Matthew 2:13-23 Dealing with your Herod
Another year is quickly drawing to a close. The holiday season is just about over. The gifts have been opened, the food has been devoured. Now what are we faced with?
The hectic pace of the holiday season can leave us longing for a break. It can also leave us with a sense of sadness. As I mentioned last week, many people struggle with the post-holiday-blahs.
I wonder if Mary and Joseph felt some of those same things. After all the excitement of the shepherds and Magi, those things are probably distant memories for Mary and Joseph. Now they can set about the task of raising a family, and making a living; or so they thought.
And, here we are, the Sunday after Christmas, and once again the lectionary presents us with this strange story from Matthew. The text is commonly called “the slaughter of the innocents.” We don’t usually tell or hear this part of the Christmas story. For the first years of my ministry I sometimes referred to it, but never actually preached on it, even though at least once every three years the lectionary presents it to us here on the first Sunday after Christmas. After all who wants to hear a sermon on killing babies?
I’m a little ashamed of that, but I also take some comfort in the fact that I’m not alone. I’ve never seen this part of the story on a Christmas card, or heard it sung in a Christmas carol, or seen it acted out in a Christmas pageant. Oh, we do sing and tell about the wise men’s coming — we act that out. But we always cut the story short. We do not include this episode, even though what happens here is the direct result, the direct consequence of the wise men’s visit. But we leave this out!
Can you imagine what it’d be like if I insisted on including it in the children’s pageant? For goodness sake! It’s too harsh! Too gory! Dead babies and Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as refugees running for their lives! Not part of our pretty holiday picture is it?
But here they are. Right here in Matthew’s telling of the tale. And those who protest the violence are right: there’s no more gory, bloody, violent scene in the entire New Testament, unless it’s the crucifixion itself. “The slaughter of the innocent.” “The flight to Egypt.” What are we to make of this part of the tale? Why did Matthew include it in his story. Luke left it out, after all!
As we get into this scripture lesson we notice God didn’t allow the holy family to live a peaceful and quiet life in Bethlehem for very long. Things couldn’t be peaceful and quiet, because the baby they were raising was the very Son of God, the Savior of the world. Satan would try to get rid of the Savior using whatever means possible. So Mary and Joseph would have to be placed into God’s “witness protection program” for a little while. Eventually, they would move back to their small hometown up north after things settled down. There was no time for Mary and Joseph to get comfortable in Bethlehem.
It’s clear when you compare the Gospels, Matthew wants to portray Jesus as a kind of “second Moses” who delivers and frees his people. For Matthew the true fulfillment of Israel’s Exodus occurs later in the gospel, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, but this episode from the birth story is a kind of foreshadowing of that event. Matthew’s weaving of these themes in his story is evidence of his marvelous skill as a master storyteller. He connects the story of Jesus with the story of Exodus as well as the Babylonian exile.
For you and me as Christians living in the 21st century, the events we are looking at today have a great deal of significance. As we sit here, at the end of the year, as all the holiday-type things come to a close, and we ask ourselves, now what is going to happen next? God answers that question this morning, through his Word. There is much ahead, much to think about, much to look forward to, and he shows us what those things are today as we focus on these early days in the life of our Savior.
It’s easy to see, isn’t it, that you cannot fully understand the Matthew’s story of Jesus without first understanding the Old Testament. With a few simple connections, Matthew is able to call to mind the Exodus and the Exile in Babylon, the two biggest events in Israel’s Old Testament history. But in so doing he adds incredible depth and richness to the Christmas story and plants his gospel firmly in the fertile soil of the history of Israel.
So why do we shy away from this part of the tale? Why don’t we tell about the slaughter of the innocents? Why don’t we sing about it? Why don’t we act it out in our pageants? Why don’t we preach about it?
Maybe because we’d rather stay home on Christmas and forget the real world. Maybe we don’t tell this because this part of the tale is too true to life! Maybe we had rather stay a while longer, holding up our candles with their little paper protectors, in the beautiful, gentle “Silent Night” atmosphere beside the manger crib.
After all: Why should we have to be so quickly snatched away from the serenity of Bethlehem and flung into this nightmare of mass murder and narrow escape? Why should we have to face the sad reality, that if the world ever does interrupt its dirty business, it doesn’t do so for very long? Why can’t Christmas be just sweetness and light, and love for all? So lets look closer at the story to find out why.
It was the middle of the night, and Joseph was sleeping, when an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Get up, 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.” Not long before, the wise men from the east had just visited Jesus. They had told King Herod that they were on their way to visit the one who was born King of the Jews, and this bothered Herod. He was the King of the Jews, or so he thought. He wondered if this newborn child would be a threat to his throne. When the wise men didn’t return like they said they would, this upset him because he knew he had been deceived. Any threat to his position of power must be eliminated, and deception had to be punished as well. And so very soon, maybe even the next day, Herod would send his soldiers into Bethlehem to massacre all boys under the age of two. This lets us know that Jesus was probably two when the Wise Men visited, not the way we usually picture them in the Christmas cards or manger scenes.
But God had greater plans and you cannot stop the plans of God even if Satan is threatened. “Get up, Joseph,” the angel said. “Get out of here as fast as you possibly can.” Satan was behind this whole thing – this was his first attempt to get rid of the Messiah. And so Joseph got up in the middle of the night, and he and Jesus and Mary made their way to Egypt, where they stayed until the death of Herod.
Do you see the two things that happen here? Satan loses, and a prophecy is fulfilled. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” When the prophet Hosea wrote that, he was referring to the nation of Israel, God’s Son, being called out of the slavery of Egypt into the promise land. But here, the Holy Spirit teaches us in Matthew that this also applies to Jesus – just as God called the nation of Israel out of Egypt, so also God called his son Jesus out of Egypt.
It is believed that Joseph, Jesus, and Mary lived with a group of Jews that had settled in Egypt, but they did not stay for very long. Herod dies, and an angel of the Lord appears in a dream to Joseph again, and tells him that it’s safe for him to go back to the land of Israel. So Joseph and Jesus and Mary return to Israel, but something is still wrong – Herod’s son, Archelaus was in charge now, and he was just as bad as his father. Now what? Once again, Joseph was warned in a dream to leave the area. He moves north, to the town of Nazareth in Galilee, and that’s where he stayed.
Do you see the two things that happen here? Once again, Satan loses - the Messiah is safe, and a prophecy is fulfilled. And so was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.” The prophets of the Old Testament never wrote this prophecy down, but it was understood that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene, a despised person from a small town in the middle of nowhere.
The Devil went to work right after Jesus was born. But his plans didn’t work. Instead, he loses, and prophecies are fulfilled. The Devil is still at work today, and right after Christmas, it seems that he works extra hard, especially on Christians. He wants you to not only put your decorations away, but to put your joy away, and your faith away. The Devil will try and tell you, “You can stop being religious now,” And, “You can stop being joyful now. Christmas is over.” You see, the Devil attacks us with these thoughts, and unfortunately, we sometimes listen. Then what happens is we can become depressed and the birth of Jesus Christ fades into the past. And our joy disappears with the wrapping paper.
I don’t have to prove to you that bad things still happen even though Jesus was born. We live in a very evil world. Why is the world full of evil? It’s full of people who are prone to slip up.
Let me illustrate this. The old hymn "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" was written in 1757 by Robert Robinson when he was just twenty-three years old. The third verse contains a phrase, "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love." Unfortunately, this phrase was very prophetic for Robinson, because in his later life, he lapsed into sin. While riding a stagecoach, Robinson heard a woman humming his hymn. She later engaged him in conversation and asked what he thought of the hymn. Overcome with emotion, he said, "Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them in my heart still just to enjoy the feelings I had then." Since we are all "prone to wander" we need to hold each other up from the clutches of sin and the unhappiness of backsliding.
I will tell you why, because Satan can attack us very subtly when we in the Church do not even realize it. For example, if you had a copy of the King James Bible that was printed in 1716 you would have the perfect example of a subtle attack. That particular year, the printer made a flagrant mistake. In John 5:14, the final copy read "sin ON more" rather than "sin NO more." That must have been a good year for Bible sales, because it seems like a lot of people are still heeding the advice of that old edition.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. The Word of God for today teaches us two things – Satan loses, and prophecies are fulfilled; and this goes on even after Christmas is over. Think about what happened about 30 years after these events, it is the exact opposite of our story for today. Instead of Jesus fleeing from harm, Jesus would walk right into harm’s way. Instead of fleeing from Herod and the Roman government, Jesus would allow himself to be executed by the Roman government. Instead of God the Father protecting Jesus, God the Father would punish Jesus; it is the opposite of our story for today. But even there, Satan loses, and prophecies are fulfilled. All of our sins; even those moments when we buy into the lies of the Devil, and those moments of weakness; all of our sins have been washed away by Jesus on the cross. That’s why Jesus was born. And that’s what brings us joy, and keeps our joy alive, even after Christmas is over and all the lights are taken down. These two small victories of Jesus, recorded in our verses for today, are just a taste of the big victory that Jesus would someday win for us at the cross, and at the empty tomb.
And so now what? How do I respond to the grace of God? How do I say thank you? How do I glorify the God who has done all this for me?
We all need to come to the knowledge that Jesus has suffered in every way that we have and can relate to us in any way that we can possibly ever imagine. Let me illustrate this. A man put up a sign in his yard that read: "Puppies for Sale." Among those who came to inquire was a young boy. "Please, Mister," he said, "I’d like to buy one of your puppies if they don’t cost too much." "Well, son, they’re $25," the man replied. The boy looked crushed. "I’ve only got two dollars and five cents. But could I see them anyway?"
"Of course. Maybe we can work something out," said the man. The boy’s eyes danced at the sight of those five little balls of fur scampering out from their box. Just then he noticed that one had a bad leg and walked with a limp. "I see that one has a bad leg," he said. "Yes, I’m afraid she’ll be crippled for life." "Well, that’s the puppy I want. Could I pay for her a little at a time?" The man responded, "But she’ll always have a limp." Smiling bravely, the boy pulled up one pant leg, revealing a brace. "I don’t walk good either." Then, looking at the puppy sympathetically, he continued, "I guess she’ll need a lot of love and help and somebody who understands him. I sure did. It’s not so easy being crippled." "Here, take her," said the man. "I know you’ll give her a good home. And just forget the money."
Jesus is the same way. He knows our pain and understands who and what we are. So if you’ve ever asked the question, "does anyone understand what I am going through?" The answer is "yes, Jesus does." If you’ve ever asked the question, "does anyone understand my pain?" The answer is "yes, Jesus does."
Let me once again remind you, Satan will try to tell us to avoid controversy: conduct our worship services, say our prayers, have our scout troops and Sunday school parties, talk about being born again, and maybe even lend a helping hand now and again! But for heavens’ sake, whatever you do, steer clear of Herod’s palace!
The trouble is, this passage of Matthew’s gospel won’t let us do that. Matthew is saying that in order to worship the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem you first have to go through Jerusalem and upset the King Herod’s of the world.
Not only that, but Matthew also insists that if we’re going to follow this Jesus, then we too must be willing to risk Herod’s murderous anger! We’d rather not do that...
But if we are to be faithful we must do that. Otherwise the birth of that baby in Bethlehem is little more than a sugar coated bedtime story which might make you feel all warm and fuzzy for a little while.
But there’s one more thing that Matthew would remind us. And it’s this: try as he might, Herod cannot kill the hope. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the Herod’s of this world are pretty powerful, and you cannot take them lightly. He can cause real pain and suffering. He can cause you to lose your business, your friends, through all kinds of accusations. As for you, keep your focus on the one who is able to keep you from falling, and knows the pain you feel and He will bring you through when the way seems impossible. Where is your focus this morning?
