"Now 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 till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, 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 which he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they were no more." But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead." And he rose and took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus reigned 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. And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, "He shall be called a Nazarene."" Matthew 2:13-23, RSV.
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and SAviour, Jesus the babe born in the manger. Amen
Take a deep breath, Christmas is over!!! It is time to relax, to look back over the hectic days past, to answer the question which everyone is asked this time of year, "Was Santa good to you?" Or in other words, did you get what you wanted and hoped for, for Christmas?
But if Christmas is only seen in this kind of way, something we have to go through , something we have to do, buy the gifts, go to the family doings, if that all Christmas is, then we have missed what this season is all about. The question we should be asking is "Was God good to you?" Do you appreciate, trust in, believe in the good news of Christmas that God sent his son to earth to save you, to save me, from sins. Our gospel lesson shows very clearly, God's plan of salvation even though Herod tried to defeat God, God, was too much of a match for him. God pursues his plan, his will r his intentions for us, no matter what.
"It is like an 80 year old lady who lived in St. Louis and at the age of 65 Miss Jenie had to retire from teaching. But Miss Jennie didn't stop teaching, she got a room in the inner city and found a job in a day nursery doing what she loved best, loving little children. One night after the school had closed, she was walking down the street in the darkness when a young boy knocked her from her feet and grabbed her purse. But in his haste, he fell backward into the window of a parked car, shattering the glass. One could hear in the night air shouts like this from Miss Jennie. "Come back! Come back!! You're hurt--you're bleeding --- want to help you!"
I suggest that our God, our Lord, who in his birth took those giant steps for us; shouts out to us in the same manner. No matter what has happened to us or what we may feel about ourselves, He still calls to us, "I want to help you." God is a god of grace. He "sent" Jesus to the world. Jesus' birth was not an accident. He did not come to the world because his parents chose to have a child. God took the initiative. God saw the pitiful plight of humankind living in the darkness of sin and he decided to come to humanity's rescue.
Our gospel lesson tells us about God's plan of salvation for the world. It shows us that God cannot be stopped even when the forces of this world seem like they are in control. Herod heard from the magi that a new king was born in his territory and he didn't like it one bit. Herod probably thought," I must get rid of this king. This is my territory, this is my turf and I must be in control."
We see the horrible decree of Herod, to kill all the children under the age of two, so that he can be in control. And we ask ourselves, why isn't God in control? Why would God permit this kind of thing to happen? This scene from Herod's life makes all our frustration with sickness, tragedy, and the horrors that people get by with cry out for God to answer, the question. If God is God why isn't he running the universe? Why isn't he in charge?
We have to understand that the project on which God is working isn't the idea that he has to be in control of everything. The project is the restoration of his family. If all God wanted to do was clean up his universe, it would be possible for him to get rid of this dirty little planet called earth. But God wants his family back as a family. And Matthew shows us how Jesus becomes the new Israel, the new child of God. Matthew gets excited about Jesus heading down to Egypt because he remembers how Israel went down there once before. Then he remembers how God called Israel out of Egypt and, Israel then became God's people. Notice, that Jesus is also called out of Egypt and he becomes God's son. God is restoring his family.
And if you noticed, Paul's letter to the Galatians has that same kind of language about family; about being , a child of God's, and about being an heir. Paul says we are adopted by God as his children. We become a child of God's which then means we receive his Spirit which enables us to cry out to God, Daddy God, We have an inmate relationship with God.
A poem says it well:
"I once was an outcast, stranger on earth,
A sinner by choice, and an alien by birth,
But I've been adopted; my name's written down,
An heir to a mansion, a robe, and a crown.
I'm a child of the King, a child of the King,
With Jesus my Saviour, I'm a child of the King'!!"
This is the gift of Christmas, this is what we have celebrated these past days. We have celebrated much more than a baby being born in a stable, we have celebrated our adoption as God' s children. We have celebrated our new life free from the bondage to sin, free from slavery to sin. We have celebrated a 360 degree turn in our lives, a turning from death through sin to new life as God adopted us through the life of his son.
The gift of Christmas means a new family for us. A new place has been made for us, we are now part of God's family with all the privileges and responsibilities that go along with that.
Are you thrilled about your new family?? Are you excited about this Father in heaven that has adopted you?
A missionary in India had sent his 12 year old son to the U.S. to attend school. When Christmas came, the boy was invited to spent the time with family friends. As the boy was unpacking , the lady of the house came into the room. She noticed on the the dresser a framed picture of the boy's father and mother. The lady trying to get acquainted with the boy asked" What would you like for Christmas?' The boy thought while, then walked over to the dresser and picked up the picture of his father and mother and said,"I'd like my father and mother to step out of this frame."
At Christmas, God stepped out of the frame of time through his son and put his arm around you and said, "You are now my child, I am now you father, "At Christmas God stepped into our live! and through his son adopted you as his very own child.
Now that we know who our father is and that we have been adopted into God's family, we can ask, what does that mean for me? What does that mean for the way I live my life??
I think we can get a handle on that as we look at Joseph's life in our gospel lesson.
Remember God came to Joseph in a dream and told him what to do concerning his wife who was with child. Joseph was to stay with her because it was God's plan.
Now God comes to Joseph again and says,"I want you to go to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you it is safe to return home." Can you imagine what Joseph must have thought "Oh, no here we go again. God wants me to do something different again. To go live in a strange country and I don't even know for how long. God you sure have had a lot of strange requests for me lately. But I will go. I will be obedient. O.K., God I am packing and I hope I can find work in Egypt, O.K. God I believe you will guide me and provide for me, okay, okay, I'm going."
I wonder how many of us would have been as obedient to God's call if we were Joseph? One aspect of being God's child is to be open to his call for obedience and service in our lives. Joseph was obedient to God because he knew and trusted in God to be with him as Joseph would respond to God's call for action. Are you obedient to God's call for action in your life because you trust God to be with you ?
Do you remember Abbott and Costello? They used to have a routine that whenever they would face a trying situation they would go through a dialogue on togetherness. "I thought you said we were in this together," Costello would question. And Abbott would respond, "We are just remember, I'm right behind you." One always got the feeling that Costello was never fully convinced of Abbott's support, that he was always right behind him.
I summit, many times we are like Costello. We don' t believe that God is behind us, above us, in front of us, inside of us, as we respond to his call of obedience and mission in our lives. But God is faithful. God is with us, we don't have to doubt, but trust. God does not forsake his children. God is with us.
In Christ Jesus, God says to us in all faithfulness, "We're in this together. Immanuel the Christmas Baby's name, means "God with us!!"
This is the good news of Christmas, Immanuel, God is with his people. He remains with his children as he calls us to obedience and service.
Amen
Written by Rev Tim Zingale
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