Matthew 2:13-23
“God Is with Us”
A few years ago after I delivered my Christmas Eve sermon, a nice guy who happened to be skeptical about God, faith and Christianity came up to me, all smiles.
“I’ve finally figured out why people like Christmas,” he said.
“Really?” I answered.
“Please tell me.”
“A baby threatens no one,” he said, “so the whole thing is a happy event that means nothing at all!”
“I hear you,” I said, “but if you come back this Sunday you will hear how, at the heart of the Christmas story there is a baby who poses such a threat to the most powerful people around that the King kills an entire village full of other babies in order to try to get rid of him.”
If we had had more time, I would have continued by sharing how the shadow of the cross falls over the story of Jesus Christ from this moment on.
Jesus was born with a price on his head.
Plots are hatched; angels have to warn Joseph, and they barely escape Bethlehem in time.
Herod the Great, who thought nothing of killing members of his own family, including his own wife and son, when he suspected them of scheming against him, gave orders when he was dying that the leading citizens of Jericho should be slaughtered so that people would have a reason to weep at his funeral.
This Herod wouldn’t bat an eye at the thought of killing lots of young children in case one of them would be Jesus, the “real” King of the Jews.
As Herod’s power increased, so had his paranoia—not unsimilar to dictators around the world from that day all the way to today.
Jesus was born in a land of trouble and tension, violence and fear.
Before Jesus could walk and talk he was a homeless refugee on the run from a paranoid King.
This reminds me about the reality of our world today and how for many of us, the Christmas peace, love, joy and hope we celebrated three days ago feels, now, like it was some kind of cosmic commercial break from the evil and the ugliness of life in the real world.
But this story about Herod’s evil ways—like so many similar stories being told on the news all over the world today—really is another call to remind us about why Jesus was born in the first place.
I mean, if Jesus is going to be Emmanuel, God-with-us, he’s going to have to be where the pain is.
Because there is A LOT of pain.
We would be kidding ourselves if we were to deny that the same kind of horrors that existed 2,000 years ago don’t exist now.
The horrific slaughter in Australia, the mass murder at Brown University.
As of the end of November, a total of 390 people had been killed, and 1,778 wounded in 398 mass shootings this year in the United States alone.
Something like 2 million children were exploited this year in a sinister, global slave trade.
Currently, there are around 9,000 foster children in Tennessee and only about 4,000 available homes.
All this on top of the refugees who have no where to go, cities being bombed to oblivion in the Middle East and the Ukraine and the terror and misery of the millions of people facing starvation around the world.
My point is that children—too many of God’s children—are on the run and displaced and in danger and dying from injustice and persecution and abusive power, like the modern-day version of what had Jesus, Mary and Joseph running for their lives back in the day.
So, let’s read this morning’s Gospel Lesson—that holds evil up to our face in ways we wish it wouldn’t—and let’s see a God who longs to lead and to love us in spite of it all.
Let’s read this story—as part of the Christmas story—and let’s see a God who doesn’t stay swaddled in that manger for long…
…a God who didn’t show up just to hear angels sing…
…a God who didn’t come to be coddled and cared for only when nights are silent, only when all is calm and all is bright, only when the world is full of joy and peace and good-will.
Let’s hear this story—as hard as it may be—and let’s see a God who isn’t afraid to get into the ugly, scary, death-dealing mess of our lives in this world.
To do anything else—to skip over this part of the story—is like leaving the plastic on the sofa; it’s like never using the fine china; it would be like leaving the greatest gift of Christmas—God’s presence and hope for healing, forgiveness, mercy, and new life in Jesus Christ—wrapped up and underneath the Christmas tree untouched, unopened and unshared with the world.
In our Gospel Lesson for this morning we see God as not merely guiding and directing people from somewhere up there and out there, in a galaxy far, far away.
But we see the very presence of God—the flesh and blood of the Divine—bouncing around in the arms of Mary, strapped to the back of Joseph, nestled and nuzzled at the breast of Mary and Joseph as they risk their lives—and the life of Jesus—on the run.
This is our story, as well, isn’t it.
And the good news is that God is with us through it all.
Let’s all take a moment to think about this past year.
I know it’s difficult, but think of some of the most painful times, the times you might have felt close to giving up…
…did you lift up a prayer?...
…Did you feel the presence of God even though what you were going through at the time seemed unimaginable?
Did you make it through even though you were sure you wouldn’t?
Was God with you through it all?
Could you have survived if God hadn’t been with you?
Did something, anything good come out of the fact that you stood up through that terrible time?
Are you stronger, wiser, do you have more faith?
Are you better able to sympathize with and have compassion for others who are going through similar things?
Has it made you a better person, or does it have the potential to do so?
In our New Testament Lesson for this morning the author of Hebrews writes: “It was fitting that the God, for whom and through whom everything exists, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings…
…since the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things…
…Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.”
Now that Christmas is over, we can shift our attention away from the manger, the star, the angels and the shepherds.
And we can truly marvel in the glory and the mystery of the incarnation: “The Word became flesh and lived among us.”
In Christ, God became one of us.
In Christ, God suffers with us and is able to help us in our suffering.
In Christ and because of Christ we can be freed from the fear of death.
We have a new year ahead.
For some of us, perhaps 2025 was a great year.
For others it was, perhaps, one of the worst.
One thing is true.
God was with us through it all and God will be with us in 2026.
As were reminded last week, what the Apostle Paul wrote while in prison, no less: “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Paul learned this by living and experiencing it.
I’m usually not big on making New Year Resolutions, but here is one you might want to try.
How about making a Resolution to learn more about the presence, and the suffering of God and how you can become a better person through embracing it?
Our Christian and Methodist Heritage teaches us that it is through Scripture that we get to know God best.
We have a Bible study that meets twice every Wednesday: at 10:30 am and then again at 6 pm.
We are learning a lot about God and we are becoming closer to one another as we meet week after week.
A couple weeks ago, I was having, probably, the worst day I have had in a very long time.
It was the kind of bad where you are on the brink of wondering whether you are up to making it through.
I had Bible study to teach, and so I needed to do it no matter how I felt.
When the hour was up, I found that my spirit was lifted and I had forgotten my troubles.
One of the ways we experience God with us is through other believers, and studying the Scriptures together changes our lives.
In our Gospel Lesson for this morning, Mary, Joseph and Jesus were on the run from Herod.
Jesus had a price on his head.
It wouldn’t be the last time.
All through His ministry, Jesus faced troubles, loneliness, rejection and an establishment that was trying to put him to death.
Finally, they did it.
And they did it in the most sadistic and painful way they knew how.
But even while he was hanging from the Cross, Jesus was so in touch with the Presence of God that he was able to forgive the people who were tormenting him and putting him to death.
Jesus is the pioneer of our salvation.
He has been where we are and worse.
And because of this, we can know he is able to sympathize with us and help us when trouble comes.
And it will…
…that, we can be assured of.
Remember this in the coming year—God is with Us--hold on to it, write it down.
Allow this to be your strength and confidence, your comfort and your hope as we move into another year that’s certain to be full of new struggles and celebrations…
…new challenges and new opportunities to be God’s people in and for the sake of the world.
May God’s love, born in Jesus Christ, dwell in you in 2026.
In Jesus’ name and for his sake.
Amen.
