The Escape to Egypt
13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, 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.” 14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20 “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” 21 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23 There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”
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This sermon was originally preached to a certain people in a certain time in a certain context, but we believe in a God who transcends time and space, so I hope that this word might speak to you here. You can read the manuscript below or watch the sermon at this link.
Merry Christmas! No? This doesn’t feel like part of the Christmas story? I’m going to be honest, this is not one of the stories I remember from the Christmas pageants of my youth. And I can pretty much guarantee that this story is not depicted in any of my two year old’s Christmas books. Yikes.
There is a reason why many congregations forgo this Sunday’s gospel text and have a service of lessons and carols instead. This is not the jolly, peaceful nativity story we heard just a week ago.
But I would argue that it is one of the most important parts of Jesus’ childhood. And this week especially, as we begin the new year, this story has so much to teach us about our God who choose to be with us in this world.
King Herod was considered “King Herod the Great” by people in his time and for centuries afterwards, and if he didn’t exactly earn that title, he certainly seemed to insist upon it. He was an extremely powerful and wildly feared ruler. He was appointed by Caesar Augustus, and immediately upon taking office, he executed hundreds of Jewish leaders.
He was hungry for power and it did not seem to matter much who was in his way or what consequences his actions might have, he held onto his power with a death grip. So much so that as his own sons got older he accused two of them of high treason and had them sent off to be murdered. Can you imagine a ruler feeling so threatened that he would endanger and kill those closest to him?
The 1st Century historian, Josephus, even writes that Herod was so worried that no would mourn his death that he orchestrated for a large number of men across Judea to be executed at the time of his death so that everyone in the kingdom would mourn. He was, as history tells it, a violent, murderous, jealous, feared king.
He ruled out of his own fear and fragility. And although he seemed to wield incredible amounts of power in the kingdom, he also always seemed to be grasping for more. Even if it meant killing innocent people and those who would never present a real threat to him.
So this most powerful man in the empire hears rumors that a new king was born in Bethlehem, to the house of David. More than that, he hears that this baby might be the messiah. Talk about a threat to his kingdom! He felt so threatened by a tiny baby and the possibility of losing his power that he would weaken his entire kingdom by killing an entire generation of baby boys in Bethlehem.
Of course, we skip over that tragic part of the story told in the three verses between the holy family fleeing to Egypt and coming back to Galilee. We wouldn’t want to be too depressing during Christmastime. And I think we do that on purpose so that we can focus more on how God delivers the holy family through an incredibly violent situation and keeps them safe. And that is important— it is especially important to our gospel writer Matthew, who wants to be sure that all of the old prophesies are clearly fulfilled in the telling of the story.
But what I think is even more incredible in this story is that it gives us a very jarring contrast between two kings, two kingdoms, and two rulers.
Herod’s power, as we can see, is rooted firmly in his own fear and then projecting that fear onto others and making people afraid of him. He does not hesitate to sacrifice many innocent people, including babies, to hold onto his fabricated power.
But the opposite of Herod’s fragility is vulnerability— which is exactly what God uses for God’s purposes in God’s kingdom. God’s power is seated in incredible vulnerability. So much so that God was vulnerable enough to come into this world— the world where a violent Herod was ruler, where Jesus would be in danger from the very start— yet God decides that it is worth it to live among God’s people.
This is the broken world, the very time and place and manner in which God chose to show up. That God chose to take on flesh. These are the people and the situation in which God chose to dwell. To grow up. To learn. To live among. To love.
God decides that vulnerability is worth the risk of even death. Unlike Herod, who quickly sacrifices many to save himself, God chooses to sacrifice Godself for the sake of the world.
I think this story is also a proclamation of hope to the world today as we confess the very sad, but real ways in which are still fractured, broken, and desperate for healing. Still today, power is abused at every level of authority and people suffer. War rages and families are torn apart.
And yet we cling to hope. Hope in a God who promises to dwell among and chooses to be with us. Hope in a God who made a home not in the highest of towers or the lineage of earthy royalty, but hope in a God who chose to be among the suffering, the vulnerable, the lost, the forsaken, the discarded, the dying, the victim, and the hopeless.
The good news of Christmas and the reminder this day is that God chooses to be in the world - the deep, dark, dangerous cracks of a fractured world. Because that’s what God does and has always done. And continues to do today.
God is steadfast, and in the Emmanuel, God is with us— in the raw, unprepared, unwelcome moments— God is with us. God has been there and will go there again, to lead us to the promise of new world, a world of deep holy vulnerability, fully healed. Merry Christmas, indeed.
Amen.
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