First Sunday After Christmas A 2010

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Matthew 2:15
Theme: To Egypt and Back

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

The jubilation of the first Christmas quickly fades. The angels ascend to heaven. The shepherds return to their flocks. Daily life goes on. Soon the Magi have come and gone also. A new reality sets in. How rapidly the plan of salvation appears to be on a knife’s edge! The infant Saviour is almost immediately under threat. The worldly powers seek His life. It’s a very precarious situation into which the Messiah has come.

Surely God allows such uncertainty to test our faith. You see, He desires that we seek Him not in His power, but in His humility. His glory will always remain veiled to us in this life. What role would there be for the Holy Spirit should God always reveal Himself in splendor and power; exercising observable control over His enemies and visibly thwarting every opposition to His will? What need would there be for the Word of grace if God simply acted by force at all times?

Our text tells us that Joseph is directed to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus. It seems to be an unlikely turn of events. How can this infant born to humble parents be perceived as such a threat? But Herod won’t take any chances. The visit of the Magi concerns him greatly. Protecting His rule and dynasty is his first priority. He doesn’t intend to let a so-called Jewish Messiah stand in his way.

The infant Saviour now has refugee status. Sometimes God provides refuge in the least likely places. But God’s people had found safety in Egypt in the past. Joseph brought Jacob’s entire family there after his brothers had sold him into slavery. It was there that Israel grew into a great nation. Egypt then became the symbol of bondage and oppression. God’s deliverance of His people through Moses stands as the primary redemption paradigm of the Old Testament. It was a preview of the final deliverance from the powers of death and hell. Now the long-awaited descendant of Jacob returns. “And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called My Son.’”1

Dear friends, all these events remind us that the circumstances of Jesus’ birth were not as carefree and lighthearted as is often depicted in nativity celebrations. Those first years were filled with difficulty, struggle, and even danger. Though the sweetness and innocence associated with the manger may provide a nice reprieve from our stressful lives it’s the hard reality of struggle that better equips us for the Christian life. One of the Church Fathers says it this way, “You, yourself need not be troubled if you are suffering countless dangers. Do not expect to be celebrated or crowned promptly for your troubles. Instead you may keep in mind the long-suffering example of the mother of the Child, bearing all things nobly, knowing that such a fugitive life is consistent with the ordering of spiritual things.”2

Consider carefully what is said here. Spiritual things are ordered in such a way that believers often experience trial in this life. Faith receives the promise of God’s truth and then immediately engages all that oppose it. Remember that all the temptations with which you may struggle- greed, laziness, apathy, selfishness, sexual immorality, vanity, falsehood- are not independent vices. They are all expressions of the self’s desire to be in control, to be self-governing, to wrest any authority from God. Dealing with sin is not simply a matter dealing with our particular weaknesses. It involves an all-out war against the powerful forces that have corrupted the heart and mind. Sin is not like a superficial wound, but an aggressive and terminal cancer. When we understand this we can see what a marvelous thing it is that God Himself, Jesus our Immanuel, destroys sin’s power in His body. Christmas was required for this to be possible. Christ overcomes sin’s wickedness at the highest level- the spiritual level- by disarming Satan and paying the penalty for humanity’s guilt.

The believer is then free. Justified by grace, through faith, the believer is no longer held in bondage to Satan’s will or sin’s power. But this freedom is often misunderstood because it is evidenced not in a carefree or untroubled life, but in struggle. From the moment of baptism the believer is led in this struggle by the Holy Spirit. The world cannot understand it and even the Christian can become perplexed and distressed by it. Since we believe, why doesn’t God just remove all of our troubles and temptations? He didn’t do this for Mary and Joseph so we can hardly expect that He will do it for us. Why, because then we would stop believing that it really all depends on the grace of Christ, and start thinking it’s all a matter of our own faith.

So what’s the reality of life under the cross? It’s exactly the life of the Holy Family from the beginning. It’s both an individual, personal struggle; and a corporate one involving our life in the body of Christ, the church. The Holy Spirit struggles against our sinful nature and our sinful nature struggles against the Spirit. And precisely in so far as the Spirit gains the upper hand in the life of a believer; precisely in that measure does the world oppose the Spirit’s work. “He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.”3 The devil cannot leave well enough alone.

The world will always be filled with the temperament of Herod. People will always harm others to protect their own interests. Herod’s decree to have the infant boys of Bethlehem killed stands as the epitome of ruthless violence against the innocent. The same evil continues today multiplied many times in the practice of abortion. Claiming it as a legal right doesn’t change the fact that a human life is being terminated. Does the worth of a human life change depending on how another values it? Certainly human life is de-valued when people abuse the power they have over others. But God’s own estimation of His creation cannot be altered by our veneration or destruction of it.

Dear friends, we easily take for granted how blessed we are to have the advantage of history. For us the uncertainty and vulnerability associated with the ChristChild’s early years have been removed. The infant Saviour who was vulnerable to earthly powers has now conquered all powers of spiritual evil. The manger stood in the shadow of the cross pointing to His future crucifixion. But the dark shadow of the cross was dispersed by the brilliant light of Easter morning. He who was born of the Virgin purifies His people. He who was hounded by Herod has bound His mentor, Satan. He who bore the unjust wrath of rulers, rules His own with grace and forgiveness. Our Immanuel, who had to abandon His home at a tender age, dwells among us as our mighty fortress. May His presence govern your lives this Christmastide and always. Amen.

+ in nomine Jesu +

First Sunday After Christmas
26 December 2010
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Matthew 2:15
2 Chrysostom, The Gospel of Matthew
3 John 1:10