SAINT LUKE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF WATERTOWN
Christmas
1. December 30, 2001 Matthew 2:13-15
When [the Magi] had gone, 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, for Herod is going to
search for the child to 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.”
Dear People of
God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in Hell by the innocent blood of the
very Lamb of God:
This is the time each
year—that we remember famous and important people who died this past year. Dr.
Christiaan Barnard—the doctor who performed the very first human heart
transplant. I wonder if he knew that Jesus gives us each a new heart—replacing
our dead as driveway gravel heart of unbelief—with a heart of faith. A very
thin little grandpa named Robert Tools died. He was the first to receive a
self-contained artificial heart. That artificial heart was able to keep him
alive for 5 months! But then he died. He died because of severe bleeding. I
wonder if he knew that Jesus bled and suffered and died so that all who live
and believe in him will never die! An archeologist named Bibby died. He
unearthed the 4,000-year-old kingdom of Dilmun in Bahrain. That’s where the
mythical guy named Gilgamish looked for eternal life. I wonder if Mr. Biddy
knew the reality of Jesus of Nazareth who gives the gift of eternal life by
grace through faith! A guy named Bill died in Chicago. He was the real life guy
at the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago that actually did the cheeseburger,
cheeseburger, cheeseburger thing. I wonder if he is at the forever wedding
feast in heaven. Emilie Schindler—the wife of Oskar Schindler—the Schindler’s
List guy died. Remember Oskar Schindler—who saved as many Jews from the
holocaust as he could. And yet—when the war was over didn’t celebrate. He
cried—as he looked at the ring on his finger—the expensive pin on his lapel and
said, “If I had sold or traded these—I might have saved one or two more!” I
wonder if Emilie knew that Jesus died for her—to rescue her from the forever
holocaust of hell! This morning we remember that Jesus came into this world—the
Christ-child was born to rescue the world from sin and guilt and death. Our
rescue from sin was not easy—not easy even from the beginning. This Sunday
after Christmas God’s Word reminds us:
Out
of Egypt Comes Our Savior
1. The
world is full of deadly danger
2. But
God keeps his Gospel promises
The part of the saving
history we are concentrating on today begins with the words, “When [the
Magi] had gone…” Wisemen—most likely astronomers and astrologers from the
East had followed a star in search of the newborn King—not only King of the
Jews—but the King of kings and Lord of lords. They had traveled a long
way—following the star the Heavenly Father had placed in the sky. They had
stopped first in Jerusalem—humanly speaking the obvious place for the Christ
child to be born. There the Scribes—the people who so carefully and faithfully
copied the Scriptures knew where the Savior was to be born. They pointed King Herod
and the Wisemen to the scroll of the prophet Micah. Micah’s name means—Who is
like the LORD? He fearlessly preached God’s Word between 739 to 693 years
before baby Jesus was born. Inspired by the Holy Spirit Micah knew some 700+
years before it happened that the Savior of all people would be born in the
little town of Bethlehem! When the Wisemen came to Bethlehem—that’s where they
found the little Lord Jesus—with his birth mother—and his like “foster” father
Joseph. The Wisemen gave Jesus gifts fitting for a king—gifts of gold and
frankincense and myrrh. When [the Magi] had gone, 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, for Herod is going to
search for the child to kill him.”
Get up! Take the child
and his mother and escape to Egypt! The LORD—the Great I
AM—the Sovereign LORD is not just the God over the land of Israel. The LORD—the
Great I AM was the ruler over Caesar Augustus in Rome—the ruler over the
Pharaoh in Egypt—the ruler over the whole planet—the solar system—the universe!
The Heavenly Father would protect the infant Lord Jesus from an earthly king
jealous of his puny earthly throne. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod
is going to search for the child to kill him. What a horrible thing—to be
willing to kill a child—to order the death of maybe 200 children in the area of
Bethlehem—two years old and under—to try to hang on to his earthly throne? How
could Herod have such a cold and cruel heart? And yet before we throw stones at
Herod ask yourself—are we without sin? When was the last time we did
anything—anything at all concrete—about the putting to death of one and a half
million unborn babies—every year in our country? Not China or Russia or some
country in Africa where people are literally dying from malnutrition—but our
country? How do you talk about your children—your infants—your toddlers—your
two-year-olds? Do you grumble and complain about them? Imagine one of your
friends has a baby in their tummy. They just found out—and they are not
married. And they come by you—to see how this whole baby and child thing is
going. Do they hear you call your children rug rats and brats and worse? Do you
talk about terrible twos and horrible fours and teenagers that are impossible?
Do we treasure God’s precious gift of children—or do we tell them—go watch TV!
Can’t you see I’m busy? Herod was horrible! Do we have much room to grow—this
new year of grace?
“Out of Egypt I called my
son.” The little Lord Jesus did not stay in Egypt. He
came back from Egypt to Israel. Jesus would grow up in Nazareth. Matthew
pointed that out too. He went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was
fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
Much of Jesus’ public ministry would be in the rocky hills of Galilee. Just
like we heard when we read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah on Christmas
Eve. Remember? Nevertheless there will be no more gloom for those who were
in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of
Naphtali—In the past the northlands were where Israel was attacked first
from her physical and political enemies. The armies would march down from the
north and the land given to the sons of Israel—Zebulun and Naphtali would be
where the first battles would be fought. Theirs were the vineyards—the wheat
fields—the olive and fig trees that would be robbed. Theirs were the flocks and
herds of sheep, goats, donkeys and camels that would be stolen or killed. Theirs
were the homes that would be burned—the wives and children that would be
captured—abused in unspeakable ways and sold into slavery. But in the future
he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan.
In the grassy hillsides of Galilee Jesus would work miracles. In the
villages—walking down the rocky, stony, cream-colored roads. In the pastures—in
the fig and olive groves—by the wheat fields—by the flocks of sheep Jesus would
share law and gospel. Before groups of thousands and to people one at a
time—Jesus would convict people of sin—and give them grace and forgiveness.
Jesus would open the eyes of the blind. He would unstop the ears of the deaf.
He would make the dead skin and flesh of the lepers softer than a newborn baby’s.
Jesus would preach the word of life to spiritual paupers—beggars and street
people would know the way to Heaven!
And so was fulfilled what
the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son. These
words of prophecy and promise were first written down by the prophet Hosea.
What does that mean to us—the prophet Hosea? If we know all the Green Bay
Packers—their uniform numbers and where they went to college—and what records
they hold. If we know all the secret information that is required to win very
difficult video games. If we know how all about Harry Potter—the names of all
his friends and relatives and all the secret stuff there is to know about
Hogwarts and Quiditch. If we know all there is to know about scrapbooks and
acid free stuff to preserve family pictures and memorabilia—then we also need
to know what is among the most important information in the whole world. We
need to know God’s Word. What a blessing it would be—if all we had to do was
say “Hosea” and everyone would say, “I know him! I know him!” He was the
prophet the LORD instructed, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and
children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery
in departing from the LORD.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim…” The
whole life of the prophet Hosea would be an object lesson—a “children’s”
devotion. Every time the people of church saw Mrs. Hosea—every time he called
the children of her unfaithfulness by name—children named Not loved—named
Not my people—named Jezreel—like naming a child
Viet Nam—the battle, the war lost—you would be reminded. Reminded of the
spiritual unfaithfulness—the vilest spiritual adultery of God’s people! Still
and again—the unfaithfulness of people cannot spoil the wondrous grace and
goodness of God. God is love—and his love will be powerful and active
and real in this sin-encrusted world! There are spiritual riches to be found in
reading Hosea and Joel and Amos and Obadiah!
And so was fulfilled what
the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Out
of Egypt comes our Savior! This past year a little grandma names Rose died. She
was 107 years old. She was the last survivor of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in
New York—in Manhattan in 1911. 146 people perished in that terrible fire.
People said—something has to be done—so there is never such a terrible fire
again—where workers are trapped and killed—so many at once. As horrible as that
fire must have been—it cannot begin to compare to the unquenchable fires of
Hell. Jesus died and rose again to save us from that fire! A little grandpa
named Michel died. He was 92 years old. He was the last male survivor of the
Titanic. That was a horrible tragedy too. But lifeboats were launched—too few
and some too full of cowards—afraid of risking their lives—to try and save
others in the icy waters. Jesus sacrificed his life—gave up his life—to save
people drowning in sin. Many of them totally oblivious—or intentionally
ignorant of all Jesus suffered to save them. A little grandpa named Fred died
at 105. He was in France 83 years
ago—when the enemy was using the chemical weapon mustard gas against him. I
wonder if Fred knew that Jesus won the battle against sin and guilt—so that he
would know the eternal peace of Heaven. Tomorrow night is New Year’s Eve. We are on the brink of a whole new year.
Whatever went wrong—Jesus washed away with his innocent blood. Whatever the new
year holds—we will be ok—because out of Egypt comes our Savior—Christ the Lord.
Amen!
To God alone all glory!