The scriptures include Matthew 2:13-23 and Isaiah 63:79. It was preached on December 29, 2019 at Morton Presbyterian Church, Hartsville, SC
In the Midst
This is not a scripture I desired to preach.
We have spent Advent preparing and waiting
for the birth of a
Savior,
we have sung Joy to
the World for his birth and now…
Now,
we have the horror of the
slaughter of the innocents.
What a downturn;
what sadness;
what a depressing and
upsetting passage
to
encounter in the midst of Christmas.
You and I
should be celebrating!
’Tis the season of
Christmas; God with us!
Hark the Herald, Angels
Sing!
O Come All Ye Faithful!
Go Tell it on the
Mountain!
If we could only ignore the middle part
of this scripture in
Matthew.
If this scripture could only contain
the subject of dreams and
geography.
God spoke to Joseph in a dream,
go to Egypt,
come back,
live in Nazareth.
Well, if that was all there was to it,
the message would still
be important, yet,
perhaps not as
meaningful.
If the center of the scripture was only about
Joseph’s dream,
we could reflect on the
importance of dreams
in
the Old Testament:
Jacob
at Bethel,
Joseph
interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams,
and
the prophet Joel telling
about
God’s Spirit being Poured Out...
“…your
old men shall dream dreams…”
If the center of the scripture was only about
geography,
you
and I could compare how the Israelites
of the Old Testament went to Egypt
and then were brought out
of Egypt;
we could look at other times when there was travel
to foreign lands:
Naomi and her family to
Moab and her return with Ruth:
the exile and the return;
even how the disciples, especially Paul,
traveled to spread the
Good News.
If the center of the scripture was only about
Egypt,
we could focus on Egypt
as a place of refuge,
a place to go to preserve
life;
in Genesis 50, Joseph
tells his brothers…
“Even though you intended
to do harm to me,
God intended it for good,
in order to preserve a numerous people
as he is doing today.”
For Mary and Joseph and their child,
Egypt was a place beyond
Herod’s reach;
a place to escape Herod’s
anger.
That brings us back to the middle part of today’s
scripture;
a jealous king ordering
the death of children.
The Gospel of Matthew is a bridge between
the Old and New
Testaments;
we can see the
similarities between Moses and Jesus
and Pharaoh and Herod.
When Moses was born,
the Pharaoh had ordered
the death of all male children
born to the Israelites.
Yet, Moses escaped that fate,
and became a leader of
his people,
leading the Israelites
out of Egypt into the wilderness,
and on the way to the
promised land.
Herod, like Pharaoh, ordered children to be murdered.
“…killed
all the children in and around Bethlehem
who were two years old or
younger,
according to the time
that he had learned
from the wise men.”
Yet, the young Jesus escaped that fate,
there was divine
intervention
by
a message from God to Joseph in a dream.
Jesus, the young child, was saved,
and you and I know
why:
God’s plan would be
fulfilled in Jesus on the cross.
There is a question that nags at the back of my mind,
and probably does yours
too…
what about the other
families?
The families who went through the trauma and terror
of having their children
slain;
the sorrow and grief felt
by fathers and mothers
as
they could not protect their children;
the fear and anger they
felt by the chaos
brought into their lives.
As Matthew 2:18 recalls the words of 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 are no more.”
Wailing and lamentation.
Deep haunting grief and suffering.
Where may these families find hope in their sorrow?
Where can you and I see hope in the midst
of this scripture?
How might we see hope in our everyday lives,
when our lives encounter
chaos,
grief,
hardships,
fear,
adversities,
or
the unexpected.
In Isaiah 63,
we heard the words about
God’s mercy and steadfast love:
“I will
recount the gracious deeds of the Lord,
the
praiseworthy acts of the Lord,
because
of all that the Lord
has done for us,
and
the great favor to the house of Israel
that
he has shown them according to his mercy,
according
to the abundance of his steadfast love.”
Steadfast love, ‘hesed’.
God’s love for us all!
God wanting to be in the midst of us,
whether we are
celebrating, glorifying, or suffering
-God is with us!
Part of the lectionary for today is from Hebrews 2,
I did not read it
as part of the scriptures we heard
before the sermon,
however,
it ties in well with the
Isaiah and Matthew scriptures.
Hebrews 2: 11-12 and 16-18
“For
the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified
all
have one Father.
For
this reason, Jesus is not ashamed to call them
brothers and sisters, saying,
“I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters,
in the midst of the congregation I will praise
you.”
For it is clear that he
did not come to help angels,
but the descendants of
Abraham.
Therefore, he had to
become like his brothers and sisters
in every respect,
so that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest
in the service of God,
to make a sacrifice of
atonement for the sins of the people.
Because he himself was tested by what he suffered,
he is able to help those
who are being tested.”
God’s steadfast love embodied,
God made flesh in order to walk among us,
to be in the midst
of us, to be our Savior.
God divine, identifies with humanity.
Christ came not for angels, but, for the
descendants of Abraham.
Jesus calls us brother and sister.
As Moses had led his people from slavery to freedom,
Jesus Christ leads you
and me and all
from
death to eternal life.
Where was the hope in the midst of the
sorrow
for those families in and
around Bethlehem
as their children were
killed?
They did not know it,
but their hope was in a
child who was taken to Egypt
by his family because of
a warning in a dream.
Where is our hope in the midst of the chaos of
today?
when
you and I are full of doubt and fear?
Where is our hope in times of despair?
in
times of loss, grief, sorrow, and suffering?
when
we cannot see a solution?
Where is our hope when we feel depressed or lonely?
when you and I
hear the words of bullies?
when we are overwhelmed
by news of
poverty,
hunger,
random
shootings,
and
hatred of one another?
Where is our hope
when you and I
hear Rachel weeping for her children?
Our hope today…
is with that same child, the one born in a manger;
the one
who becomes the man,
fully
divine, fully human,
the one who suffered on
the cross,
died
for us and was resurrected.
Our hope began in a manger,
fled
to Egypt,
settled
in Nazareth,
became
a carpenter then a teacher,
and
then a Savior.
Our hope in the midst of everything,
our
hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood
and righteousness…
One final thought,
I have
been reading an Advent and Christmas devotional,
God is in the Manger
which includes insights
and writings of
theologian Dietrich
Bonhoeffer.
quote:
“God wants to always be
with us,
wherever we may be
-in our sin, suffering,
and death.
We are no longer
alone: God is with us.”
