Christmas 2

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Christmas 2
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 3, 1999

TEXT: Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 - 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." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod.

ISSUE: Matthew carries on his emphasis as to how Joseph and Jesus are like many of the figures in the Old Testament. Their greatness is realized in their faithful obedience to follow the direction of God. In extreme difficulty, Joseph heroically continues to protect the child in order that his destiny might be fulfilled. The passage calls all of us today to a faithful obedience to God against the world, and to careful protection of our own children that they may fulfill their destiny as the children of God.
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This morning's Gospel reading is a continuation of Matthew's telling of the birth of Jesus. It is quite different from the more pastoral scene of Luke which includes shepherds and singing angels. Matthew's account is certainly more traumatic. Early on in the story, according to Matthew, Jesus and his family are faced with significant hardship and dangers. But as Joseph follows the direction of God, the child is protected to the point that he will fulfill his destiny as the anointed of God. It is also clear that Matthew continues to associate Jesus with his Jewish background, fulfilling scriptures and associating him with some of the great leaders of the Old Testament.
Once again, Joseph the father of Jesus, is portrayed to much like the Joseph of the Old Testament story. Joseph of the Old Testament had endured significant hardship and persecution. He had be sold into slavery by his brothers. He had been emprisoned for something he had not done. But inspite of all he remained faithful and listened for God's help in this dreams. Through his dreams and his ability to interpret them, Joseph became as leader of Egypt the facilitator of the plan of God. In Matthew's account of Jesus' birth, Joseph the father figure who listens for the voice of God in his dreams becomes the great facilitator of God in protecting the child who shall become the realization of God's plan for the redemption and salavation of the world.
When Jesus was born Herod was the king. Herod was as evil and wicked at they come. There was a saying that it was safer to be Herod's pig than to be one of his own sons. Anyone who threatened his power, including his own children were routinely slaughtered. Matthew indicates that Jesus is a threat to the powers of the world. Thus, Herod is portrayed as jealous of the child and eager to murder the child. Supposedly, Herod ordered the slaughtering of male children in Bethlehem. Joseph in a dream is directed to take the child Jesus and go to Egypt out of Herod's jurisdiction. He is to remain there until, Herod dies. Then his return will be fulfillment of the prophecy of Hosea 11:1, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and called him out of Egypt as my son." (The passage has little or nothing to do with Jesus returning to Nazareth, but Matthew is not concerned about that. Matthew wants Jesus to be seen as part of God still acting in the history of his people.) The whole idea of Herod's persecution of Jesus is reminiscent of male Jewish children being slaughtered by Pharaoh. Moses the child is saved by the Pharoah's daughter and fulfills his destiny of leading the Jews into the promised land out of slavery. Matthew wants his readers and hearers to see Jesus every bit as grand a Moses ever was.
Once the evil Herod dies, Joseph has another dream and God directs him to take the child back the Holy Land. However, Herod's territories were divided up by this three surviving sons. Archelaus receives the Judean territory, and Archelaus was about as wicked as his father, so Joseph does not return to Bethlehem, but goes to Nazareth in the Galilean territory where the son of Herod, Herod Antipas rules, and where it is safer to live. The reason for this says Matthew is to fulfill a Scripture that says, "He (Jesus) will be called the Nazorean." Repeatedly Matthew associates Jesus with Old Testament events and prophecies. However, there is no specific O.T. passage which says exactly that the messiah would be a Nazarean. It could be a play on words, taken from Isaiah 11:1, "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." The Hebrew word for branch is nezer. Jesus is then the branch which comes from King David, son of Jesse. Another thought is that the meaning is that he shall be called a Nazarite, associating Jesus with the strength of Sampson. Whatever, Jesus is being depicted with Israel's great men: Moses, King David, Sampson, etc. Matthew unquestionably directs his gospel account to convey that God is still acting in history and Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One of God deeply rooted in Israel's history and propetic hopes. A nation that has had many difficult times, will know the salvation of God through faithful obedience.
Now as we grapple with this passage in our time, it comes across to us as gentile Christians as interesting that Matthew wants to associate Jesus with his Hebraic roots. Matthew we believe was addressing by and large a community of early Jewish Christians. But there is more to the passage than just its message to these early Christians. It is about faithfulness and obedience. While Luke emphasizes the poor and the place of women in the New Testament Scriptures, Matthew stresses the place of men. Joseph is the real hero of the birth story. He listens to God. He has dreams that he interprets as God speaking to him and directing him. Joseph's faithfulness and obedience in keeping Mary as his wife, and following the direction to move from Bethlehem to Egypt and return to Nazareth are all obedient actions that lead to the protection of the Child who is to become the redeemer of the world. God's plan is revealed not only through Jesus, but through Joseph in a harsh and violent world.
In our world today there are many wicked and evil things that can destroy our children and our future generations. Drug pushers and dealers are more insidious today, than Herod ever was in his day. There are those persons in the world today that in the interest of making money think nothing of wiping out any generation of children. There are destructive elements in our society that threaten and terrorize the youth of today. There are distractions, cults, fads. and schemes that lead children and adults as well into beliefs and ways that are not in keeping with the ways and teachings of the God of forgiveness and love. Wise parents, parents who themselves are steeped in the knowledge of God will stay close themselves to the ways and teachings of Jesus and his church, and will encourage their children to do the same. We are all quick to believe that a good self-esteem, a good education, a good job, and an abundance of money, being a power figure in the community is important, and being self-made persons who can take care of themselves are the great values of our time. We like to think of ourselves as tough, rugged, macho, pwerful. These are the great American values. But the values of God are different indeed. They are the values of service, servanthood, caring about others, concern for the of the community, and being loving and forgiving human beings. Values of God say that we put our trust and faith in God, not in ourselves or the great American dream. Being truly human and in the way of God is what we are all about. Joseph is seen as the great protector of the child who will reveal the way of God.
Our concern today for all of us might well be what is the destiny of our children in terms of their being aware and knowledgeable of God. Some may say well my children are all grown up, or I don't have any children or grandchildren. We have to consider who raised Jesus? Naturally we would say that it was Mary and Joseph. Actually that is only partly true. In the time of Jesus families were extended more than today. Small children were raised by their cousins and aunts. In their later years the boys were trained and taught by their fathers, and uncles. It was an extended family responsibility, in which the whole family played role in raising children. Quite often in our culture it is only mothers that play a significant role in raising children and giving them their religious training and values. Fathers in our culture seem to have relinquished their roles of raising children in the pursuit of making a living and seeing that as their only major role. To some degree the whole American Family that sees both mother and father working so hard that religious values are increasingly neglected among our children. This issue is one that maybe all of us in our time have to consider if we are concerned about the destiny of our children and what place they will have in the future of God's world.
As mothers and fathers, as aunt, uncles, as friends of people with children we might consider and re-evaluate our place as a people who are obedient and aware of what it is God is calling us to do and be so far as we relate to the children around us. We may well consider what kind of witness we are making as mature adults, what moments and time do we give to allowing our selves to be addressed through visions and dreams, and meditations that allow God to speak to us. Are we in fact convey the ways of God to our children, or just American pop-culture? Joseph was faithful and obedient to what he believed God was calling him to be and to do. He had in his hands the destiny of the child in a really harsh and violent world. Yet faithful and obedient he was the protector of the child that touch the world like no other in the profound expression of God' caring love for his world.