Matthew 2:1-15
Holy Family Flight
Have you ever wondered what God was up to? Or whether he would help you? Or when he would answer your prayers? If so, then today’s story is for you.
I love the wise men of Christmas. Don’t you? These mysterious travelers from afar, representing a whole world in need of Christ, and following a supernatural star that guides them right to the house where the Christ child is. That word “house,” along with the word “child” (instead of “infant”) tell us that the wise men technically don’t belong in the manger scene. Personally, I still like them there, but these magi didn’t find Jesus in a manger as the shepherds did. The wise men arrived on the scene months or a year later. Jesus was so no longer an infant and his family now lived in a house.
JOKE: I read this week that if the wise men were women, they would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought practical gifts! But in their defense, they did stop once and ask for directions. In fact, I think this is the only recorded time in history when men have done such a thing.
In the story of the wise men and the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt, I see God’s tender care and his personal involvement in our lives down to the finest detail. Today I have three suggestions from the story: First, stay under God’s protection. Second, count on God’s provision. And third, watch for God’s plan. So let’s begin with our first point, which is to ...
1. Stay under God’s protection. God is our ultimate security. Sure, you can buy house alarms and car alarms. You can purchase travel insurance. You must have health insurance. But ultimately, anything can happen, as some of you know. There are no guarantees in this life, except for Jesus. The Bible says, “All of God's promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding ‘Yes!’” (2 Corinthians 1:20, NLT). When God promises to protect us, Jesus keeps the promise by giving us eternal life. People can hurt us. Words can attack us. Businesses can steal from us. Disease can ravage our bodies. But “if God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). What’s the worst thing that could happen? We could die ... and then we go to heaven. That’s not so bad, is it?
In today’s story, note how God protected the Holy Family. He got them out of town when the evil King Herod plotted their destruction. History tells us that Herod murdered his wife, two of his sons, his mother-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle, and lots of others, including all the children under two years of age born at the time of Jesus’ birth. That’s why Herod wanted to know the timing of the star. Yet God intervened and saved Jesus and his family.
But note that God did not stop the other infants and toddlers in Bethlehem from dying. I’m sure the grieving families that day wondered where their Holy Protector was. In the eternal perspective of Christianity, those babies got an immediate promotion to heaven. They didn’t have to grow up in this sinful world. Now I wouldn’t recommend telling that to a parent who just lost their child; they probably wouldn’t be ready to hear it. But the truth is, our ultimate protection is found in our eternal security as children of God. The Bible says once you are truly saved, no one can pluck you out of God’s hand.
We cooperate with God’s protective plan as we abide with Jesus our Savior. When we rebel against this love relationship with our Lord, we set ourselves up for unnecessary worldly harm, as sin’s consequences catch up to us. But when we abide, when we remain with God in prayer, in scripture each day, we begin to catch God’s perspective and to have our anxieties quieted by his protective presence. We learn that God is not only our creator but also our sustainer.
That word, “sustainer,” brings us to our next point. Stay under God’s protection, and secondly ...
2. Count on God’s provision. There is an old saying: “Where God guides, God provides.” When Moses complained that he couldn’t speak adequately to deliver God’s people from Egyptian slavery, God gave him Aaron who would speak for him. When God calls you to a task, he will give you the means to carry it out.
Now the Holy Family was poor. They offered the poor person’s sacrifice at Jesus’ baby dedication, so we know they didn’t have many assets to their name. Their First Nazareth Bank account was perilously low. How in the world were they going to fund an international trip to Egypt?
Where God guides, God provides. God provided three special gifts from the mysterious travelers from the East. Yes, the gifts pointed to Jesus’ ultimate roles: gold for a king, frankincense for a priest, and myrrh for a prophet. Jesus is our king, our high priest and prophet. Yet, the gifts also were practical: they would fund travel for the Holy Family. After all, last-minute airline tickets are not cheap!
My initial calling in church ministry was to small group ministry. I trained in seminary to become an education minister. I was terrified of preaching. Then, one day our senior pastor resigned. It surprised everybody, most of all me. Suddenly I was preaching three times a weekend, and slowly I improved and actually enjoyed it. Later I became a senior pastor myself. When I interviewed here, I asked the search committee, “What will the congregation value most from their new pastor?” And they told me, “Bold preaching and love.” Well, I knew I could love, but I wasn’t so sure about the bold preaching part. But I must say, I have never enjoyed preaching as much as I have with you. You draw the best out of me. And I can say without a doubt, where God guides, God provides.
If God calls you to a task, God will give you the resources to accomplish the task. This is one way you’ll know you are in God’s will, as things come together to accomplish what God wants from you. And that leads us to our third part. First, stay under God’s protection. Second, count on God’s provision. And third ...
3. Watch for God’s plan. Now the Bible tells us God’s ways are not our ways; God’s plans are so much higher than our plans (Isaiah 55:8-9). But at times God opens up our eyes to what he is up to, and that—according to author and pastor Henry Blackaby—is our invitation from God to join him in his work.
A great Old Testament story illustrates this. The prophet Elisha found himself surrounded by enemy forces out to kill him. His servant looked around in despair and said, “What are we going to do?” Elisha replied, “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are greater than those who are with them.” Then he prayed, “Lord, open his eyes so he can see.” Suddenly the servant could see hundreds of horses and chariots of fire between them and the bad guys. God’s plan became evident when Elijah helped him see it, and the two were delivered safely from harm.
The problem is, sometimes we’re too close to the problem to see God’s solution. We’re worried about the cancer, or stressing over the bills, or concerned for the grandchild out of control, or mad at the lazy staff member. We want to react to the situation when what we should really do is take a step back and pray, “God, open my eyes to your plan here. I need your God-sized perspective.”
As we consider the movements of the Holy Family, God’s plan must have seemed a little crazy. First, he says, “I’m going to move a pregnant woman 70 miles from her Nazareth home so she can deliver in an obscure village and use a feeding trough as a bassinet.” Then he says, “After sending shepherds in the night and strange dignitaries from afar, I think I’ll move this family under cover of darkness to pagan Egypt.” And finally, “Time to move them back to another obscure place, their little village of Nazareth. That’s where my son will grow up!”
Joseph and Mary must have felt like some of you, dizzy from a yearly PCS move! But the interesting thing the gospel writer Matthew helps us to see is that each of these moves fulfilled ancient prophecy. The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem – Micah 5:2. “Out of Egypt I will call my son” – Hosea 11:1. “He will be called a Nazarene” – perhaps a wordplay reference to the branch from the house of Jesse referred to in Isaiah 11:1.
Bible scholars have identified over 300 Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Mathematicians calculate the probability of one person fulfilling so many prophecies as one chance out of 10 to the 157th power. That number has a lot of zeroes!
But the interesting thing is, Jesus’ own disciples didn’t get his plan. They thought Jesus would militarily deliver them from Roman rule. Peter, the future leader of the church, advised Jesus to stop talking about the cross, prompting Jesus to reply, “Get behind me, Satan!”
Sometimes, in the middle of God’s plan, it’s hard to see God at work. I’m sure there were times when Joseph and Mary wondered, “God, what are you up to, moving us around so much?” Joseph may have prayed, “Help me to know these dreams are not just my imagination run wild but really are from you.”
Today God still speaks through dreams, but he also speaks through his unchanging word the Bible, through prayer, through advice of godly people trying to follow him, and sometimes through circumstances. When all of these start to line up, we begin to grasp the possibilities of God’s plan. And our job is simply to participate as best we know how, and hold on for the grandest adventure of all: walking with God!
In this new year, may we trust God like Joseph and Mary, no matter what crazy adventures lie in our path. Let’s pray about it together:
Lord, thank you that you do offer us ultimate security in eternal life through Christ our Lord. If someone today has not yet invited Jesus to become Lord of their life, please help them to do so today. Lord, thank you that you do provide for all of our needs. Help us to watch this new year for how you want to guide us into your grand plan. You are our God and we are your people. Help us to be fully committed to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
