The Lutheran Hour
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"It’s a Long Way Home"
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Text: Matthew 2:13-23
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PRAYER: Almighty God, in Your great love for us, You sent Your Son Jesus to rescue us from a world of sin and death. Fill our hearts and lives with the joy and peace and hope that His coming brings to us and give us faith to always trust Your love as You lead us to our heavenly home. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
The Gospel reading for the first Sunday after Christmas comes from Matthew chapter 2.
“Late at dawn, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up,” he said. “Take the child and His mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and kill him. So he got up, took the child and His mother during the night and left for Egypt where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet. Out of Egypt I called my Son. When Herod realized he had been outwitted by the magi, he was furious and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the magi.” Then what was said to the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled. A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping in great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more.
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up. Take the child and His mother and go to the land of Israel. For those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and His mother and went to the land of Israel. When he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was spoken to the prophets. He will be called a Nazarene.
In his book, “Journal of a Trapper” Osborne Russell tells the story of nine years trapping in the Rocky Mountains during the 1830s and 40s. He was a Christian, a man with a classical education. He had good relationships with the Indians among whom he lived and worked. On one occasion, he had not seen another human being for 28 days. It was the fall of the year and he had run out of supplies, and went hungry except for what he could hunt. He came down out of the high mountain valley headed for a Flathead Indian village where he had been shown hospitality in the past. Wet snow was falling and he was looking forward to a dry place to sleep and hot food prepared by his Indian host. Tired and cold, with his clothes soaked, he was longing for their attention. He came within sight of the village and the elders of the tribe came out to meet him. They informed him that even though he was their friend, he could not enter the village. Other trappers had come through some days earlier and stolen some property, and killed a young man who had discovered their thievery. Even though he was not a party to the trouble, the elders were afraid some of the angry young men in the village might try to take revenge on him if he spent the night. Osborne was deeply discouraged as he turned his horses and rode back up the valley. Searching in the dark for some kind of shelter he finally settled down beside a couple of downed trees and tried to build a fire. Although everything was wet, he finally managed to get a small fire burning. Then, just when that fire began to raise his hopes a bit, the wet snow changed to rain. The fire drizzled out leaving him in the dark, cold and wet. He wrapped himself in his cold, wet blankets and laid down beside one of the downed trees, shivering, having had nothing to eat all day. He wrote in his journal, “I laid there for a long time afraid to say my evening prayers lest I show anger to the divine.”
At first light he headed down the valley intending to pass the village before anyone was awake, but he saw so much smoke in the distance, he raced his horses across the meadowland. Down where the smoke was, he saw a sign of great disaster. He discovered during the night, Blackfoot Indians attacked the sleeping village. Many of the Flatheads had been killed and wounded and the rest had fled in panic. The Blackfoot had set tents on fire and taken many of the horses. He stayed in the village for three days tending the wounded, gathering scattered supplies and standing guard lest the Blackfoot returned. During that time he realized if he had stayed in the Flathead camp as a white man he would surely have been among the first to be killed. And furthermore, if he had been able to build the fire, the Blackfoot who traveled within a few yards of where he camped would have surely discovered him and killed him.
This gave him a new perspective on God’s protection and on the difficulty we have in sometimes understanding it. It’s easy to lose our way and lose our perspective when life doesn’t go as we plan. And sometimes we are forced to go down roads we would never choose on our own. Roads that include pain and disappointment and suffering, and in such circumstances it’s easy to misunderstand what God is doing. It’s easy to become frustrated with the detours and angered by the road blocks that challenge our plans.
Joseph and Mary must surely have known what that was like. They were compelled by the Roman authorities to take that long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem just to pay another tax, at a most inopportune time when Mary was pregnant and about to give birth. After spending some days in Bethlehem, they had gone up to Jerusalem after 40 days for the cleansing of Mary, and the offering of the sacrifice for the first born according to the law of Moses. And then they came back to Bethlehem no doubt intending to stay there. Perhaps Joseph was already finding work as a carpenter, and they were among relatives and friends. And then the wise men came; visitors from the East with precious gifts to offer the baby Jesus. Kneeling before Him they adored Him as their King. But when they left, the angel spoke to Joseph in a dream at night and said, “Get up and flee. Herod will be trying to kill the child.” They fled in the night, down an unknown road to a far away destination called Egypt. And after months, perhaps more than a year in Egypt, God again spoke telling them that Herod was no longer living and they should return home.
But when they came back to Judea to the area near Bethlehem, they learned that Herod’s son, Archelaus was in control. And knowing of his reputation for viciousness and evil they decided again to change their plans and went to Galilee to stay in Nazareth.
It might be a bit of a jolt for us to find in this story of the Holy Family and their travels, the story of the slaughter of the baby boys in Bethlehem by the wicked King Herod. Right after we celebrate the beauty and joy of Christmas we are confronted with the slaughter of innocent children. While the strains of “Silent Night” still linger in the air, we hear the agonizing cries of mothers and fathers who cannot be comforted. In the still, silent, and dark streets of Bethlehem come tanks and rockets blazing with death and destruction. If we were planning the Christmas story, we probably wouldn’t have done it this way. We probably would have eliminated all of these problems. It doesn’t seem right to have bloodshed connected with the beautiful story of Jesus’ birth.
For a time, the lessons for this first Sunday after Christmas did just that. Those who planned the readings had omitted these verses which told the story of Herod’s slaughter of the innocent children. But it is at just this point, you see, that the Christmas story becomes real. It’s just at this point where we realize that God comes to us right in the middle of a world of suffering with violence and bloodshed. He comes into a world where thousands perish in terrorist attacks, where equal numbers of unborn children are sacrificed every day in abortion clinics, and where bombs explode in market places. He comes to a world where ethnic cleansing has become a common-place phrase. He comes to a world where millions of people are forced by war to flee for their lives and become refugees struggling to survive. He comes to a world where countless thousands die every day of starvation. This is the kind of world we live in. We need a God who will come to us in the midst of all of it, right where we are, because we can’t get to God on our own. It should be no surprise that God’s coming into this world will provoke all kinds of opposition. After all, it is the invasion of occupied territory and Satan will do anything he can to stop it. Christmas is about God making a home with us. Emmanuel; “God with us.” Jesus becoming a human being in order that He might open for us a new way of hope, a way that leads to eternal life.
There was a congregation in a small city that wanted to give a Christian witness, but they were aware at Christmas time of the legal challenges of putting up anything on public property. A few weeks before Christmas they were thrilled when the owner of a vacant lot on the corner of the town’s two busiest streets, asked if they would like to decorate it for Christmas. Because it was private property there would be no legal challenges. They quickly erected a traditional manger scene with Mary and Joseph and the baby, and the manger with the animals around and the shepherds and even the wise men in the background. Behind this scene they erected a large cross. They put spotlights on it so it could be seen for blocks. It created a lot of interest. Lots of traffic went by that intersection. The people slowed down to take a good look at the beautiful display. Because it created a bit of a traffic jam, the local news media was interested and sent a reporter down to get reactions of people driving by. Almost all of their comments were favorable, except for one man who said, “They’ve ruined it by putting that big cross in it.”
That’s the challenge we face also, keeping the cross in Christmas. It’s such a beautiful story that the cross doesn’t seem like it belongs. But because this is a world of sin and death, the cross is essential. Only the cross can give us hope. Jesus came into this world for that very reason. He came to suffer and die on the cross for our sins; to shed His blood as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world; that we could be reconciled to the Father, that we could be brought back home so we can find the way through Him.
Bethlehem reminds us of just how important that is. Like Mary and Joseph, we are on our way home, too. We know the way, the destination, but the path is one God charts for us. In a world saturated with sin and plagued by problems; in a world bathed in bloodshed and covered with corruption, we are always threatened. The road which we walk is unknown to us, but not to Jesus. Sometimes it requires, like Jesus and His family, fleeing from evil into the constant refuge of His love. For the way He came to prepare for us, leads through the cross. There is no other way. We follow Jesus because He already walked that way before us. He has walked into death in our place. And then He has broken the bonds of the tomb for us. We hold onto His hand in the certainty that He knows the way–that He is the way.
Sometimes this road home leads through difficulty and pain. But we need not doubt the will and purpose and love of the One who has planned the way for us. Our plans may change, but the planner doesn’t. His love for us is constant. His will for us is always good and if we need a reminder of how much He loves us, we can always look to the cross.
As we prepare to enter this New Year, the illusion that we are always safe and always secure, insulated from harm has been replaced by the reality that danger lurks around us. As we enter this New Year each day, we have the assurance that God is with us and for us. He is with us in His love with the promise of His forgiveness and the sure and certain hope of eternal life in His Son.
It’s a long way home, but we can walk with confidence and hope knowing that Jesus is our Savior. He has come to rescue us from a world of sin and death and He is the only way to the Father. So we cling to His hand in that hope.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for December 30, 2001
ANNOUNCER: Today we have thoughts and prayers for the close of another year. I’m Mark Eischer, and joining me in the studio now is Dr. Wallace Schulz. Well, we’ve come to the end of a year marked by tragedy and uncertainty.
SCHULZ: Yes Mark, as we come to the close of 2001, I am sure many people are thinking or asking, “What’s next?” We don’t really know. What matters most, however, is that Jesus has already come and already died for our sins. He has died the death we should have died. And He has also been raised unto life again. Now, one thing we all need to keep in mind is this: Jesus lives and rules even now, whether it looks that way in the world or not. That reality has not changed. It will never change in the New Year or as long as the Lord permits this present world to continue.
ANNOUNCER: With that in mind, let us pray for those in distress.
SCHULZ: Almighty and everlasting God, You are the consoler of the sorrowful and the strength of the weak. May the prayers of all who are in any tribulation or distress cry unto Thee… may their prayers graciously come before Thee so in all their necessities, they may recognize and receive Your unending help and comfort. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Amen.
ANNOUNCER: Let us also pray for the Church.
SCHULZ: Almighty God, the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, You overcame death and the grave. Give now to Your Church renewed joy in the resurrection. Keep us, O Lord we pray, in the true faith unto life everlasting and may Your name always be praised in true worship throughout the whole world. May Your Word be faithfully preached and Your sacraments faithfully administered for the forgiveness of sins and for life and salvation of many. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
ANNOUNCER: Psalm 90 says, “Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.”
SCHULZ: This is a great psalm and it presents both the Law and the Gospel so powerfully and clearly. In fact, Luther once described this psalm in terms of music. The Law, he said, knows only one tune. It always condemns us for our sin. Its song says, “In the midst of earthly life, snares of death surround us.” But then Luther also pointed out the voice of the Gospel cheers the terrified sinner with a much different song which says, “. . . In the midst of certain death, life in Christ is ours.” And that’s why Moses calls God our dwelling place. And you know, our audience needs to have the blessed assurance that a dwelling place is not a grave but rather a home for the living. God is a God of the living. He gives eternal life and hope unto all His children through faith in Jesus Christ.
ANNOUNCER: Dr. Schulz, how do we receive this life in Christ?
SCHULZ: Well, Mark, this new life comes to us through God’s living and life-giving Word. And for many of us, that Word first came to us in our Baptism. Or it came to us in the written Word of the Holy Scriptures or in the preaching of our pastor or in the faithful witness of a friend or family member. That holy life-giving Word creates faith and continues to nourish our faith. Through the Word, the Holy Spirit grafts us into Jesus Christ, the living vine.
ANNOUNCER: What is the bottom line?
SCHULZ: Well, in closing, let me mention a hymn titled “Now Greet the Swiftly Changing Year.” This hymn says, “Jesus came to end sin’s war; this name of names for us He bore. His love abundant far exceeds the volume of a whole year’s needs. Rejoice, rejoice with thanks; embrace another year of grace.” With that as our theme, may we all go forward into this New Year with confidence knowing that God in His mercy goes before us and with us even unto life everlasting.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Dr. Schulz.