Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
[Intro]
During the seasons of Advent and Christmas, nativity scenes are
common place outside Christian Churches throughout the world. In fact, we have
a nativity scene right outside First Lutheran’s main entrance.
With each nativity scene, we remember how our Savior came into
the world as a humble baby.
But you may have noticed that in the past few years some churches
have added extra elements to their nativity scenes.
In my old home state of Indiana, Christ Church Cathedral – an
Episcopal Church in Indianapolis – put the Holy Family behind a chain link
fence[1].
The same is true at Fellowship Congregational Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma[2].
Claremont United Methodist Church in southern California
separated the Holy Family in separate chain link cages and topped each cage
with razor wire[3].
Now, you may think, “Maybe
they have crime problems?” But, that is not the case here.
The pastor at Fellowship Congregational Church in Tulsa said,
“What if Egypt had the same policies that we have now? Would [Joseph, Mary and
Jesus] have been turned away? Would they have been separated?”[4]
Well, we don’t know all the details on the journey of Joseph,
Mary and Jesus to Egypt. All we know is what Scripture tells us of the angel
telling Joseph: “Rise, 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” (Matthew 2:13b).
And so Joseph did as the angel said and departed to Egypt.
For those churches proposing changes to immigration policies
based on our Gospel text this morning, they are picking and choosing Scripture
to fit their own agenda. In doing so, they forget what this text is truly
about! Our text is about ensuring yours and mine redemption! This is not a proof text on
immigration policies. In fact, if we want to talk proof texts, the proof text is
that Jesus has fulfilled the prophecy found in Hosea 11:1: “Out of Egypt I called my son”
(Matthew 2:15b).
[From
Joy to Sorrow]
As I just mentioned, our text is about ensuring our redemption. But,
how this is done in our reading is shocking, especially during this season of
Christmas.
Just days ago, we were singing “Joy to the World” and now on
this fifth day of Christmas we hear of “weeping and loud lamentation”
(Matthew 2:18).
So, how did we get to this point? Well, the wise men visited
King Herod and Herod didn’t like the idea of another who would threaten his
power. At first it appeared that Herod would welcome the child, but in his
heart, he wanted this child eliminated. So, Herod sent off the wise men to find
the child and he waited for them to return.
But the wise men never returned to Herod. Instead, after being
warned in a dream, the wise men departed to their own country by another way.
Now, Herod had waited some time for the wise men to return. But
then it dawned on him that they were not coming back, because more than enough
time had elapsed for them to travel the few miles to Bethlehem, find the child,
and come back.
Then in his rage, he gave the order to kill all the boys in
Bethlehem who were two years old and younger. From his previous conversation
with the wise men, he calculated that the boy could not be more than two years
old. So, he believed that this boy would be among the victims in the slaughter
of the innocent boys.
But, evil kings will have no power over this Child! Herod plots
and acts in vain. Ironically, even his madness serves the fulfillment of
Scripture by Jesus for “Out of Egypt I called my Son” (Matthew
2:15b).
Sadly, it wasn’t as happy for those who remained in Bethlehem
with infant boys. But, even in the sadness, another prophecy was fulfilled of
the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and
loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted,
because they were no more” (Matthew 2:18).
[The
‘Holy Innocents’]
So, what can we say about these “Holy Innocents”? Should they be
regarded as martyrs?
From one perspective, the answer would be ‘no’, since we
normally think of martyrs as those who have been killed because they confess
faith in Christ, and that is not why Herod slew the children of Bethlehem.
Rather, Herod killed them because he feared one of them might
be the Christ.
So, the “Holy Innocents” of Bethlehem do occupy a unique place
in Christian history, because of what God was doing in Jesus at that unique
time and place.
God was at work and was even able to take up human evil and sin
and cause it to be known as part of the Scriptural plan that was fulfilled by
the Christ Child. You see, the babes of Bethlehem would not have been
slaughtered if the Christ had not been born among them. In that sense, then,
they did die for the sake of Christ.
Their deaths on account of Christ foreshadowed the martyrdom of
those who would bear Christ’s name.
But, we may ask this question: “Why did God allow the massacre
of these children?” We don’t know. Scripture only tells us that a prophecy was
fulfilled. There are just some things that we will never know.
However, Martin Luther has his opinion on why the “Holy
Innocents” died. He wrote in a sermon the following:
“To this day it
happens that when tyrants rage against the Gospel, they do no more than blow
into the ashes. Then the fire becomes greater, and the ashes fly into their
eyes. This is the success which their tyranny is to meet. When they shed
innocent blood, this blood of the Christians is to act as a fertilizer on the
field, making it rich and productive. For through persecution Christendom
grows; conversely, Christians become lazy and lax when conditions are peaceful
and quiet.”[5]
Luther believed that through the death of the “Holy Innocents”
and other martyrs, the Christian Church grew. He believed that through the
evil, God made the good.
[Redemption]
Eventually, Herod died, and behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his
mother and go back to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life
are dead” (Matthew 2:20). Immediately, the Holy Family traveled back to
Israel, but instead of going back to Bethlehem, the Holy Family traveled to
Nazareth.
Now, Nazareth was a small, hidden-away town. It was never
mentioned in Old Testament Scripture or Jewish literature. Nazareth was obscure
and this town fit well with what God the Father had in mind for the Messiah.
After all, God had the prophets point plainly to the Messiah’s obscure and
unlikely-looking beginnings. Isaiah even spoke of the Messiah as the one who
will arise out of darkness (Isaiah 9:2).
So, when we hear: “He shall be called a Nazarene”
(Matthew 2:23b), the prophecy fulfilled is the Christ’s obscure beginning. He
wasn’t from the big city of Jerusalem, but He is instead from the forgotten
town of Nazareth.
Remember Nathanael who asked, “Nazareth! Can anything good come
from there?” (John 1:46)
Yes, much good has come from Nazareth and from Bethlehem before
it. For, this is where Jesus began His ministry. And, Bethlehem is where God
the Father revealed His Son – the Promised Messiah – “when the fullness of time had
come… to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption
as sons” (Galatians 4:4, 5).
This is what our Gospel reading is all about! Our text is about
ensuring our redemption!
You see, God the Father kept His only beloved Son safe as a
child so that when the time was ready, Jesus would go on to work out the final,
full deliverance of all mankind lying in the shackles of sin.
For, we all deserve eternal death, hell and damnation for all of
our sins against God in thought, word and deed. We replace the one true God
with false gods, which only give temporary relief. We need saving!
This is why the Son of God became like us. This is why God sent
forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, so that we would be saved.
Some thirty years later, through His atoning death upon the
cross and His resurrection from the dead, Jesus redeemed all of mankind, so
that everyone by grace through faith in Christ alone would be no longer a slave
to sin, but a son – an heir through God receiving forgiveness of sins, eternal
life and salvation.
Through Christ alone, we are ensured of our redemption! Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
T SOLI DEO GLORIA T
[3] https://ktxs.com/news/nation-world/church-nativity-depicts-jesus-mary-and-joseph-as-family-separated-at-us-mexico-border
[4] https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/the-holy-family-was-a-migrant-family-fence-around-nativity/article_c5d52034-f159-5fd5-b876-29cde700965d.html
[5]
Martin Luther, What Luther Says (St.
Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), 1040.
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