"The Christmas Blues"
Matthew 2:13-23
Key Verse (13-14)
Christmas is a wonderful time of the year for our family. Since we have been in ministry all of our adult lives, we have not been able to be with our loved ones very much and Christmas affords us that opportunity. We look forward to it each year and we cherish the memories we have of these times of fellowship. Now that our children have grown and left home Christmas time has become even more important. We look forward to seeing all of our grandsons (5 little boys) and making many new memories. It's a wonderful time for us but that's not the case for everyone. For millions, Christmas is not a blessing but a burden. It becomes a time for the "blues" because not all memories of Christmas are happy ones. For lots of folks "Blue Christmas" is not a song but a state of mind and a dark cloud hangs over the Christmas season. It's during times like these that we need to be reminded that for Joseph and Mary the birth of Jesus was not all sweetness and light. Their life was going to be turned upside down ... topsy-turvy. Nothing would ever be the same again. Luke simply sums up the next 12 years in 2 verses ... read Luke 2:39-40. BUT ... Matthew gives us more of a detailed description. There were some pretty difficult things that they had to deal with almost immediately. Just a few days after the joy of Jesus birth they had to flee for their lives. Our text gives us a glimpse into what life was like for them. There is much that we can learn from their experiences.
I. The problems they faced.
1. Their flight. (Egypt)
2. Their fright. (Archelaus)
3. Their light. (Joseph's dreams)
4. Their sight. (Nazareth)
Joseph didn't waste any time. He didn't wait until morning ... he got them packed THAT NIGHT and headed out to Egypt.
Think about what this meant for Joseph. He and Mary had traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem ... expecting to stay only for a few days and then return. They hadn't planned on MOVING ... lock, stock, and barrel! Their FAMILY was back in Nazareth ... they hadn't even said "Good-by". They didn't bring a wagon, loaded with their furniture, valuables, and furnishings. Joseph probably had a carpenter shop back in Nazareth ... what would happen to that?
In the middle of the night, God said "Move!" Joseph didn't argue with God. He didn't ask God for "Plan B". He didn't wait to try to figure it all out. He just OBEYED. I think that's why God chose Joseph to be the step-father of Jesus. God knew his heart ... that Joseph was sensitive to God's will.
II. The provision they found.
One of the wonderful things that we learn about God is that He is omniscient. That means that He knows everything, past, present, and future. He didn't just send Joseph and his little family to Egypt and then say "good luck!" God knew all about what their needs would be and He made all the arrangements necessary for the expenses for a trip during the night without furniture and household items and Joseph's tools and money for food, lodging and what ever else might come into play. God was not caught off guard and He never is. He planned years ahead and the Wisemen came bearing gold, frankincense, and myrrh. I'm sure that they never dreamed that they would be used of God to provide what would be needed for this trip to Egypt, but He ".....works all things together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 You and your family may be concerned about the future. Christmas may be a time of economic uncertainty for you and you don't know what the future holds, but if you know the One who holds the future then you do not have to fret or worry. Your problems did not catch your Heavenly Father off guard. His care for you is not an after thought or "an oh, by the way!"
III. The protagonist in focus.
Talk about "Christmas Blues"! This part of the story isn't usually included in plays about the Christmas story. We leave this part out. Mary & Joseph and baby Jesus running for their lives ... fleeing the country. Dead babies left behind. It's not part of our holiday picture, is it? Take a look at Herod. He was a mean, vicious person. History has a lot to say about him. Caesar Augustus was quoted as saying that it would be better to be King Herod's pig than his son. Pigs were protected by law ... Herod's family members weren't. King Herod had already killed 2 of his own sons by strangulation. He also killed one of his 10 wives ... his favorite wife ... because he thought that she had been unfaithful to him (she wasn't!). He killed his 18 year old brother-in-law, because the Jews liked him better than they liked Herod. He also killed his wife's grand-father, and her 80 year old uncle, who had once saved Herod's life. He also killed his own uncle and his mother-in-law. What are a few babies in Bethlehem to King Herod!
The slaughter of innocent children in Bethlehem was a fulfillment of prophecy (Jeremiah 31:15) -- 2:17-18. What does this have to do with "Rachel" and "Ramah"? Rachel, the wife of Jacob, was buried in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was about 5 miles South of Jerusalem. Ramah was about 5 miles North of Jerusalem. Herod took a pencil and drew a circle around Jerusalem, probably 10 miles North/South of Jerusalem, and said "Kill every boy under 2 years of age." Christmas doesn't always translate into happy memories. Some folks die, some folks get sick, some have accidents, families break up, some lose their jobs and the list goes on and on. Our adversary, Satan, was at work when Jesus was born, (killing babies is Satanic) and he is at work today.
IV. The plan comes to fruition.
It had been God's plan all along (Hosea 11:1) for Jesus to come out of Egypt ... just like His children did 1500 years before under Moses. Mary & Joseph wouldn't be alone in Egypt. By this time, Egypt was also under Roman rule ... but Herod didn't have any power there. There was already multiplied thousands of Jews who had fled there to find safety from wicked King Herod. There were Jewish settlements there ... with synagogues and a Temple. The land that had once ENSLAVED the Jews, God used to now PROTECT this Jewish family.
2:19 -- King Herod finally dies, not long after Mary & Joseph goes to Egypt. Before his death of a very painful and horrible disease ... AND ... knowing he was about to die ... he ordered all the Jewish nobility to be shut up in the hippodrome, and surrounded by soldiers. When word came of his death, they were to be slaughtered. He wanted there to be weeping and wailing at his death ... and he knew they wouldn't be crying over HIS death. He died, but the order was never carried out!
Joseph has another "dream", and the angel speaks to him once again --
2:20. "the land of Israel" -- Mary & Joseph were probably on their way back to Nazareth, by way of Jerusalem. 2:21 - "And he arose" ... no questions ... no arguing ... no problem. It's time to go back home. God had protected them, and now they could return to Israel. God didn't want His Son, Jesus, to be brought up in Egypt. God had delivered them from Egypt 1500 years before, and He didn't want His Son raised in that heathen environment.
2:21 -- Another "dream"! Joseph had heard that Herod's son was on the throne, and Archelaus was worse than his father! There was a riot in Jerusalem, and Archelaus stopped it by killing everybody in the crowd. He went into the Temple one Passover, and executed 3,000 Jews. Finally, Rome had enough, and banished him to what is now France, where he died.
2:22 -- Mary & Joseph, when they got to Judea, where Archelaus ruled, were afraid to stay in that area very long. SO ... being warned by God in a dream ... they headed North, as fast as they could, to Nazareth in Galilee.
2:23 -- This also fulfilled the prophesies of the Old Testament (Isaiah 11:1, 53:2-3). Nazareth was a small town. It was famous for not being famous. No one had ever heard of Nazareth. It isn't even mentioned in the Old Testament at all. Not far from Nazareth, the major highways running North/South and East/West crossed there. It was so INSIGNIFICANT, that in John 1:46, Nathanael said "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"
V. The precepts we find.
1. The safest place you can be, is in the center of God's will. Whatever path you take in life, God knows where it will lead. How much better it is to follow the path that He leads you down.
2. A Christian Isn't Exempt From Troubles.
3. God Is In Charge.
Dr. W. A Criswell, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas Texas, said on one occasion on an airplane flight he found himself seated beside a well-known theologian. He desperately wanted to start a conversation and they did get to talk. The man told Dr. Criswell about how he had recently lost his little boy through death. Dr. Criswell listened as he told his story: He said he had come home from school with a fever and we thought it was just one of those childhood things, but it was a very virulent form of meningitis. The doctor said we cannot save your little boy. He'll die.
And so this seminary professor, loving his son as he did, sat by the bedside to watch this death vigil. It was the middle of the day and the little boy whose strength was going from him and whose vision and brain was getting clouded said, "Daddy, its getting dark isn't it?" The professor said to his son, "Yes son it is getting dark, very dark." Of course it was very dark for him. He said, "Daddy, I guess it's time for me to go to sleep isn't it?"
He said, "Yes, son, it's time for you to go to sleep."
The professor said the little fellow had a way of fixing his pillow just so, and putting his head on his hands when he slept and he fixed his pillow like that and laid his head on his hands and said, "Good night Daddy. I will see you in the morning." He then closed his eyes in death and stepped over into heaven.
Dr. Criswell said the professor didn't say anymore after that. He just looked out the window of that airplane for a long time. Then he turned back and he looked at Dr Criswell with the scalding tears coming down his cheeks and he said, "Dr. Criswell, I can hardly wait till the morning."
No matter what happens God is in control. You are never out of his care. He never sleeps or slumbers. He has a plan for your life. He is working out that plan even now. Will you trust Him?
