Text:Matthew 2:13-23
A king and a baby. One with soldiers and armies available at his summoning, the other enjoying only the safety and security offered by his peasant father. One wise to the ways of the world the other still in diapers. What chance did the baby have? Yet our text shows the baby squaring off with the king as that king seeks to destroy him, to murder him as a rival and do away with the threat to his throne. The king, it would seem certainly has the advantage.
But you and I, as people of faith, know better. We how this story goes, and while we note it miraculous nature we are not surprised. For this is the way of our God. This is how he operates. His miracles never cease to amaze, they should never surprise, but they do catch us off guard when we stop to think about it.
The miracle in our text is quite miraculous. Jesus the little baby continues to evade the designs of a very wicked and a very evil man. History tells us that Herod was a paranoid king. He ruthlessly murdered anyone and everyone whom he perceived might be a threat to him and to his power. His wife, his mother in law, two of his sons, his brother in law all murdered when Herod began to suspect they had lost loyalty to him and his throne. His atrocities are well documented elsewhere in antiquity. And it is this wicked and paranoid king who turned his eye toward this helpless and humble infant. No prophesied king would have his throne. HE would see to that. When Magi from the east came with news of a newborn challenger to his power he intended to murder this child the same way he murdered his own.
But God's salvation can't be stopped. No power in heaven or on earth or under the earth can stop the salvation God has prepared from the beginning of time. This was His Son, His own and only Son whom he sent miraculously into the womb of Mary and who would not die until he had fulfilled his purpose and come to his appointed time. No King driven by the demons of his paranoia would stand in God's way once he set his plan of salvation in motion. This child had a job to do and a mission to fulfill and God would see to it that the mission was complete.
So, God made sure that the work got done. Quietly. Unobtrusively. Almost hidden from site. While Joseph slept. God sent word that the step father, the legal guardian and protector of his Christ should take this child and flee. Get up and go. To Egypt. So he did. That very night, under the cover of darkness Joseph took his family, gathered them together and left the little town of Bethlehem as it lay still that quiet night so that he might escape the soldiers of Herod.
And they came. Bethlehem was a small town, a population of only about a thousand, probably about the size of Milford Center. How many boys 2 year and younger do you suppose live in Milford Center? Imagine if the Army showed up with guns and bayonets and murdered our children in the middle of the night. One is too many. This was maybe 15 to 20. Little babies, and a feeble attempt to rid the world of the would be king.
The words of the prophet came true. The still night was suddenly interrupted with the screams of young mothers mourning the death of their children.
But not Mary. Not Joseph. Not on that night. Mary would see her son murdered but not now. On that night he was preserved because he had to survive. For your sake and mine. He had to fulfill the law. He had to fulfill God's purpose and plan. He had to live his life to earn our place. He had to do those things we could not do because we would need his acts of righteousness to count for us and to provide for us that righteousness that is not our own. He needed to live so that he could live that life of good works that would cover us in Baptism.
And he did. The Lord saved him from this moment in view of the next. God preserved him from the swords of the soldiers and spared him for the nails and the spear and the thorns. He was destined for the cross and Herod would not stand in his way. God had in mind the salvation that this baby would provide and he would not allow it to be stopped.
The significance of today is that today follows on the heels of Christmas. A day ago you were home, probably waking up to packages and paper. Wrapped with your name printed on the tag. That gift was purchased with you in mind. Before it sat under your tree, before the tag was printed with your name on it, before it was wrapped, before it was purchased, it sat on a shelf in some store until it was selected specifically for you, with you in mind and no one else. Someone saw it and thought of you. Selected it with you in mind. Picked it up, paid for it, brought it home to give it to you.
Your salvation is no different. God knew the gift he wanted to give to you. He saw it, knew the price - just how much it would cost and so he selected it purchased it paid for it and got it ready for you. Your Christmas gifts were purchased before they were given, with you in mind, and in the same way God purchased this gift, knowing you would need it on into the future. And just like the holiday shopper who braves the crowds searching high and low until the perfect gift is found God went to extreme lengths to provide this gift to you. Nothing could stand in his way. He paid the price. And today the gift is yours. Salvation has been delivered.
But while we know this to be true, in spite of that fact that our forgiveness is for real and heaven is guaranteed, there are certainly times that it might seem otherwise. Consider the experience of Joseph and Mary. Our young parents. What must it have been like to gather up your family in the middle of the night with nothing but the belonging you can carry and run away to Egypt? How would you feel? Frightened? Nervous? Anxious? Afraid? There are those times that our salvation and our hope of heaven is a lost cause. Sure it's easy to say that God's salvation is sure and certain, that his promise of heaven is sewed up and in the bag. But our actual experience of it seems to tell us something different.
Jesus had to contend with kings and soldiers and armies. He lived through their threats and assassination attempts. He lived his life as one who would be stricken smitten and afflicted. He would be despised and rejected by men. And it began as soon as he was born. Isn't that of some comfort for us? Because we struggle too. Whether it be as individuals, in our own experience of life or as families or even as a church, as a Christian congregation. We know that we have God's blessing but there are times when it seems like it has been lost.
God saw to it that Jesus was preserved. The Lord brought him through this trial and preserved him for the cross. Likewise God lays on us a cross to carry. And so we carry it, but at the end is that salvation. That promise of eternity, heaven lying in wait. Guaranteed and unstoppable. There might be things that stand in the way, obstacles and enemies to contend with, but nothing can take from you the promise of God's salvation that He went to great lengths to provide.
Amen.
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