You may have noticed back at the beginning of December we moved back to Series A of our three year Lectionary readings. With our return to series A, for the most part I will be using the Gospel readings for our texts. In Series A of our Lectionary readings, our Gospel lessons will come mostly from the Gospel of Matthew. As we hear these Gospel lessons from Matthew, listen carefully, because quite often you will hear Matthew say something like this, “these things happened to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet.” Matthew is quite intent on helping us to see that Jesus is the one about whom the prophets were speaking. Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament. Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of the world.
In our text for today Matthew tells us the history of what happened after Jesus’ birth and how these events were not random, coincidental, just having happened events, rather they were events which showed the hand of God continuing to move in human history. Matthew tells us of the trip to Egypt picking up at verse thirteen, “13Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ 14And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’” (v. 13-15).
Matthew tells us that after the wise men came to visit, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. And just an aside here, as you have heard me say many times, always go back and see what Scripture actually says concerning the events of which we speak. Going back to verse eleven, the wise men brought gifts to Jesus when He was between one and two years of age and living in a house. He was not in the manger nor in a stable by the time the wise men came. Also, as this is the Lord speaking to Joseph a second time in a dream, here we need to be reminded that this is not God’s usual way of dealing with us. God does not usually come to us in visions or in dreams. God’s usual way of dealing with us, of coming to us, His usual way of speaking to us is through means, namely through the means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments. That does not mean that God cannot use His unusual means, because He does as we see here, but not too often.
One observation from this text, did you notice that the Child is mentioned first. Matthew mentions Him first because His well-being was of utmost importance. The salvation of the world was dependent on this Child, for He is to be the Savior of the world. And all of Holy Scripture is center on this Child.
God sends the Child, His mother, Mary, and His father Joseph to Egypt. Interestingly enough, Egypt is not a foreign place. There were other Jews living in Egypt. The Jews had a history with Egypt. Jesus going to and coming out of Egypt is what we call an antitype. It is an antitype of another event, that other event being the children of Israel and their bondage in Egypt. In other words, as the Lord once saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, so He now saves the world as He calls His Son out of Egypt to save the world from their bondage of slavery to sin.
Our text continues with the terrifying account of Herod’s envy and jealousy and why all Jerusalem was upset when they heard about the birth of a king. Picking up at verse sixteen, “16Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: 18‘A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more’” (v. 16-18).
The reason Jesus was born, God in flesh, is vividly seen in the sinful actions of murder by King Herod. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, the earth is cursed and sin continues and this is the very reason for Jesus’ birth. And yet, we continue to see the hand of God as He cares for His Son and protects Him and His family.
Matthew recalls God’s hand in these events as he relates the account of the return trip out of Egypt to Nazareth. We read picking up at verse nineteen, “19But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20saying, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.’ 21And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: ‘He shall be called a Nazarene’” (v. 19-23).
Matthew tells us that Herod had died and the angel of the Lord appears again to Joseph in a dream. Again, this is not God’s usual way of coming to us, but God uses the ways that He knows are best for us. This is now the third time God has spoken to Joseph in a dream.
The angel comes and first instructs Joseph to go back to the land of Israel. The angel does not tell Joseph specifically where to go, just to go back to Israel. Joseph obeys and takes his family back.
Unfortunately, when Joseph reached the land of Israel he heard “that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod,” and so he was afraid for his Child’s life. The Lord sent the angel to Joseph again, telling him to go to Galilee.
Joseph went to Galilee, and Matthew tells us, “so was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: ‘He will be called a Nazarene.’” Interestingly enough, this saying, this prophecy is not a written prophecy, at least not one that has been found, rather it was a spoken prophecy. Look it up, you will not find it written in the Bible, because it was one of the unwritten, spoken prophecies.
As we read Matthew’s Gospel, especially as we read how he shows us that God’s prophecies are being fulfilled, we see God’s hand working in the lives of His people. We also see how God’s hand is working in our lives, because we too are God’s people.
Matthew reminds us that God worked in human history to save the world. God intervened in human history. Of course we have the advantage of being able to look back and see how these prophecies have already been fulfilled. We also have the advantage of looking back over a lot of human history and seeing how God’s hand has been working in our human history many times. Why do you suppose America was discovered right before the Reformation? Could it be that God knew that His people would need some place to go to avoid persecution? Why do you suppose persecution came to Jerusalem following Jesus’ ascension? Could it be that was the only way He could get the people and the good news of salvation out of Jerusalem and to the rest of the world? If you look close enough at the events of history you may come to notice God’s hand working quite often in human events.
As we continue with our reading in the Gospel of Matthew we will see how Jesus is the fulfillment of all the prophecies of the Old Testament. We will see that Jesus is the promised Messiah. We will see and come to believe without a doubt that Jesus is who He says He is.
As we come to see that Jesus is the fulfillment of all these Old Testament prophecies we will be strengthened in our faith in Jesus as our Savior. As we see how God worked through other events in human history to care for His people, we will also come to see that God still works through events in our own lives and see how He cares for us and protects us.
Being strengthened in our faith in Jesus as our Savior; being strengthened in the ability to see God’s hand working in human history, we can also see that God is still working in our lives to guide and direct us even today.
As God works in our lives, coming to us through His Word and His Sacraments, we are strengthened in our faith. At times God also allows for us to experience certain trials, trials and struggles that are meant to strengthen us in our faith. When trials come we can either blame God, and fall away from Him, or cling to Him as the source of all comfort and hope, knowing that He alone can bring us help, comfort and strengthening.
If we blame Him and fall away from Him we become bitter. Of course, many people will not say that they blame God, but they will do so in their hearts. Maybe you know someone who blames God for all that has happened in their lives and can see how it has made them bitter.
On the other hand, if we recognize that God is testing us we may be drawn closer to Him. Please understand, it is okay to question, to ask, “Why God?” It is okay to struggle. It is okay to get angry, but in our angry we are not to sin. It is okay to say, “Why are you letting this happen to me, God.” Because in a way with those words we are praising Him. Think about it, when we say, “Why are You doing this to me?” We are acknowledging that God is the one who is in control. No, God is not necessarily making bad things happen to us, that is not His nature. He does however allow for us to experience trials in order to test our faith, in order to strengthen us, in order to draw us closer to Himself. And with the testing He has promised to give us the strength that we need to bear up.
God uses many and various ways to accomplish His purposes for us in our lives. We can either receive these from the Lord, or turn against Him in anger. Look at the example that we have in our Gospel lesson for today, the example of Mary and Joseph and the trials that they faced being the parents of the Savior of the world. Look at Mary. Ultimately she had to face the death of her Son on the cross.
God is a God of love. Remember, He created us to love us. His usual way of dealing with us is the Gospel and the means of grace. It is not God’s usual way of working with us by making bad things happen to us, because God would not want any of these things to happen to us. God is a God of love and only has the best in mind for us. Bad things happen to us because we live in a world of sin. When bad things happen, it is better and more accurate to say that God makes good things come out of the bad things that happen to us as we live in this sin filled world. Wednesday we begin a new calendar year. Many people like to make resolutions to do things differently, or to be better in the coming year, to start over in a way. Praise the Lord that each and every day we can start over, because everyday we are reminded of our baptism and the forgiveness we have so that every day we can begin again, and with the Lord’s help, live our lives to His glory. God grant it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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