First Sunday after Christmas 12/30/07 Text: Matthew 2:13-23 Title: Jesus is the Promised Messiah
First Sunday after Christmas
12/30/2007
Text: Matthew 2:13-23
Title: Jesus is the Promised Messiah
Today's Gospel reading lays in direct contrast to the glory of Christmas. In Christmas we see the innocence of the manager while today we see the evil of humanity. Today, we see Jesus taking part in the most desperate facets of the human condition. We see him starting out his life in the most desperate of situations. In these few verses, we see that Jesus is displaced and homeless. He is an exile and refugee. He is pursued by a violent oppressor. He is part of those in the world stalked by injustice and death. Yes, he has taken his place where so many of his human creation live. He can certainly be counted among the poor and unwanted. There is no doubt about that.
However, before I get into what that means for us today I want to give you some background so that you might better understand the text. Due to time restraints I will only be able to hit the highlights. If what I say this morning develops a thirst in you for knowing more about God's Word; I would invite you to attend our Wednesday evening Bible study where we dig into the text, mining out those wonderful nuggets of truth that I just do not have enough time to get into in the 25 to 17 minutes or so that I have on Sunday morning.
Since this year the focus of the year is on the Gospel of Matthew, I thought I would give you a little background on the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew was a Jew who was writing to his fellow Jews. He wanted to show them that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the true king, that his people had been waiting on for so many centuries.
To do so, in a way that his readers would understand he went back to the Old Testament prophecies to prove his point, while Saint Luke on the other hand, the writer to the Gentiles, used as his proof the prophets that were living during the life of Jesus.
Matthew had to tie the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets to Jesus because by the time Jesus was born the Jewish people had gotten the prophecies of his first coming and his second coming mixed up. Which by the way is the same thing that many still struggle with today as they continue to look for Jesus to be their earthly king.
As you will see, in just ten verses Saint Matthew shows his readers that Jesus is the fulfillment of Moses, Abraham, and Jacob, all rolled up into one. He connects Jesus with Bethlehem, Egypt, and Ramah. He ties together events that took place thousands of years earlier to Jesus; the Israelites flight from Egypt to Jesus flight to Egypt. The massacre that took place in Ramah to the massacre that took place at Bethlehem when all the children two and under were murdered by Herod's soldiers. By the time Saint Matthew is finished with his Gospel he proves to the Jewish people that Jesus is the fulfillment of their history. Just as it was when Matthew's Gospel was written there are still people who refuse to believe Matthew's, actually God's words, as Matthew put them down.
I will spend just a little time on some of the people and events, so that you can get an idea of what I am talking about. Remember, the wise men, about two years after they had seen the star had come to Herod inquiring where the king was that had been born according to the prophecies of old.
Herod was not too happy about a Jewish king, for he had enough trouble with the Jews already, so after realizing that he had been tricked by the wise men, sent his soldiers to kill any boy that would have been born in the Bethlehem area around the time the wise men said that this new king was born.
In proving that Jesus was the promised Messiah, Matthew tied the murders at Bethlehem to an earlier event in Jewish history where thousands of babies and toddlers, along with the old and sick, were murdered because it would be too much of a hassle to transport them to Babylonia. We read that the name of the town was Ramah. It was an ancient city, a guard-town, on the border between Israel and Judah that Nebuchadnezzar had used as a deportation site for the Jewish people he was sending to Babylonia.
Jeremiah in his prophecy of that event wrote that Rachel was weeping over her children and could not be comforted. Now Rachel, the wife of Jacob had been dead for some time. Jeremiah used her name, since she was the mother of the two sons who ancestors had become the nations of Israel and Judah. Thus she stood symbolically for the grieving mothers of the nations of Israel and Judah whose children were being murdered.
Now this might sound like Matthew was reading more into the Jeremiah's prophecy than he should have, but as I studied the text, it became clearer that he was not, for in writing what he did in verse 18 and earlier in verses 13-18 Matthew had moved from showing Jesus as the fulfillment of the Moses, David to showing that Jesus was as a matter of fact the fulfillment of Israel. That is important for us to understand, for we are told elsewhere that in our baptism, we are united in Jesus, thus become the spiritual descendents of Abraham, the new Israel.
Remember that Israel was called by God to be his earthly children. Jesus was called by God to be his earthly son. God brought Israel out of Egypt. God called Jesus out of Egypt. God called his people to be separated from those around them and gave them the sign of circumcision. Jesus was raised in Nazareth, a small backwoods town not tied to the Jewish population, so that the prophecy that he would be called a Nazarene, which means “one who is separated for God,.” would be fulfilled. Matthew was intent on showing Jesus was the Messiah, and it is through these parallelisms and many more like them in his gospel that he proved to all those who had not hardened their hearts to God's Word, that Jesus is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament.
Though death surrounds Jesus birth and life, it is his own death just 32 years later will give his believers, that is you and me, the peace that the angels declared to the shepherds that night.
It is his presence among life's most needy and his triumph over life's adversary, death, that have given birth to hope to his followers in all times, places, and circumstances. Hope for the hopeless, comfort to those who cannot be comforted, help for those who cannot help themselves.
Today, just as in Jesus' time, the world of power is hostile to Jesus and his followers. Those who want to be in control still do not welcome the interference of Jesus and his teachings in human affairs. We should not be surprised at this, for we are told in God's Word that his message of forgiveness is foolishness to the wise of the world.
So what is it that we can learn from this particular Gospel lesson that applies to us today? First we can learn, just the people that Matthew was writing to, that Christianity is not just some abstract thought. Jesus was living, breathing, and yes, dying Savior.
He did not come down to us for his own welfare. He came to live among us for us, to suffer with us. He knows our hurts, our pain, our temptations, for he experienced what it means to be human living in a fallen world.
That is why God's words as given through Saint Matthew are just as powerful and meaningful today to us, as they were when they were written. Without God's Word, we would not know of Jesus. We need God's Word, for after all we are still sinners and without Jesus' coming to us, living a perfectly obedient life, and then willingly taking our punishment, we would stand condemned before God. God's Word is for us today. Amen
12/30/2007
Text: Matthew 2:13-23
Title: Jesus is the Promised Messiah
Today's Gospel reading lays in direct contrast to the glory of Christmas. In Christmas we see the innocence of the manager while today we see the evil of humanity. Today, we see Jesus taking part in the most desperate facets of the human condition. We see him starting out his life in the most desperate of situations. In these few verses, we see that Jesus is displaced and homeless. He is an exile and refugee. He is pursued by a violent oppressor. He is part of those in the world stalked by injustice and death. Yes, he has taken his place where so many of his human creation live. He can certainly be counted among the poor and unwanted. There is no doubt about that.
However, before I get into what that means for us today I want to give you some background so that you might better understand the text. Due to time restraints I will only be able to hit the highlights. If what I say this morning develops a thirst in you for knowing more about God's Word; I would invite you to attend our Wednesday evening Bible study where we dig into the text, mining out those wonderful nuggets of truth that I just do not have enough time to get into in the 25 to 17 minutes or so that I have on Sunday morning.
Since this year the focus of the year is on the Gospel of Matthew, I thought I would give you a little background on the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew was a Jew who was writing to his fellow Jews. He wanted to show them that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the true king, that his people had been waiting on for so many centuries.
To do so, in a way that his readers would understand he went back to the Old Testament prophecies to prove his point, while Saint Luke on the other hand, the writer to the Gentiles, used as his proof the prophets that were living during the life of Jesus.
Matthew had to tie the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets to Jesus because by the time Jesus was born the Jewish people had gotten the prophecies of his first coming and his second coming mixed up. Which by the way is the same thing that many still struggle with today as they continue to look for Jesus to be their earthly king.
As you will see, in just ten verses Saint Matthew shows his readers that Jesus is the fulfillment of Moses, Abraham, and Jacob, all rolled up into one. He connects Jesus with Bethlehem, Egypt, and Ramah. He ties together events that took place thousands of years earlier to Jesus; the Israelites flight from Egypt to Jesus flight to Egypt. The massacre that took place in Ramah to the massacre that took place at Bethlehem when all the children two and under were murdered by Herod's soldiers. By the time Saint Matthew is finished with his Gospel he proves to the Jewish people that Jesus is the fulfillment of their history. Just as it was when Matthew's Gospel was written there are still people who refuse to believe Matthew's, actually God's words, as Matthew put them down.
I will spend just a little time on some of the people and events, so that you can get an idea of what I am talking about. Remember, the wise men, about two years after they had seen the star had come to Herod inquiring where the king was that had been born according to the prophecies of old.
Herod was not too happy about a Jewish king, for he had enough trouble with the Jews already, so after realizing that he had been tricked by the wise men, sent his soldiers to kill any boy that would have been born in the Bethlehem area around the time the wise men said that this new king was born.
In proving that Jesus was the promised Messiah, Matthew tied the murders at Bethlehem to an earlier event in Jewish history where thousands of babies and toddlers, along with the old and sick, were murdered because it would be too much of a hassle to transport them to Babylonia. We read that the name of the town was Ramah. It was an ancient city, a guard-town, on the border between Israel and Judah that Nebuchadnezzar had used as a deportation site for the Jewish people he was sending to Babylonia.
Jeremiah in his prophecy of that event wrote that Rachel was weeping over her children and could not be comforted. Now Rachel, the wife of Jacob had been dead for some time. Jeremiah used her name, since she was the mother of the two sons who ancestors had become the nations of Israel and Judah. Thus she stood symbolically for the grieving mothers of the nations of Israel and Judah whose children were being murdered.
Now this might sound like Matthew was reading more into the Jeremiah's prophecy than he should have, but as I studied the text, it became clearer that he was not, for in writing what he did in verse 18 and earlier in verses 13-18 Matthew had moved from showing Jesus as the fulfillment of the Moses, David to showing that Jesus was as a matter of fact the fulfillment of Israel. That is important for us to understand, for we are told elsewhere that in our baptism, we are united in Jesus, thus become the spiritual descendents of Abraham, the new Israel.
Remember that Israel was called by God to be his earthly children. Jesus was called by God to be his earthly son. God brought Israel out of Egypt. God called Jesus out of Egypt. God called his people to be separated from those around them and gave them the sign of circumcision. Jesus was raised in Nazareth, a small backwoods town not tied to the Jewish population, so that the prophecy that he would be called a Nazarene, which means “one who is separated for God,.” would be fulfilled. Matthew was intent on showing Jesus was the Messiah, and it is through these parallelisms and many more like them in his gospel that he proved to all those who had not hardened their hearts to God's Word, that Jesus is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament.
Though death surrounds Jesus birth and life, it is his own death just 32 years later will give his believers, that is you and me, the peace that the angels declared to the shepherds that night.
It is his presence among life's most needy and his triumph over life's adversary, death, that have given birth to hope to his followers in all times, places, and circumstances. Hope for the hopeless, comfort to those who cannot be comforted, help for those who cannot help themselves.
Today, just as in Jesus' time, the world of power is hostile to Jesus and his followers. Those who want to be in control still do not welcome the interference of Jesus and his teachings in human affairs. We should not be surprised at this, for we are told in God's Word that his message of forgiveness is foolishness to the wise of the world.
So what is it that we can learn from this particular Gospel lesson that applies to us today? First we can learn, just the people that Matthew was writing to, that Christianity is not just some abstract thought. Jesus was living, breathing, and yes, dying Savior.
He did not come down to us for his own welfare. He came to live among us for us, to suffer with us. He knows our hurts, our pain, our temptations, for he experienced what it means to be human living in a fallen world.
That is why God's words as given through Saint Matthew are just as powerful and meaningful today to us, as they were when they were written. Without God's Word, we would not know of Jesus. We need God's Word, for after all we are still sinners and without Jesus' coming to us, living a perfectly obedient life, and then willingly taking our punishment, we would stand condemned before God. God's Word is for us today. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 1:31 PM
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