Matthew 2:13-23
During the twelve days of Christmas we read the stories of Jesus childhood for our lectionary reading. There aren’t very many days and there aren’t very many stories about that time so it’s a good match. This year we read from the gospel according to Matthew, which focuses on the story of the wise ones from the east. Because it’s our practice to celebrate Epiphany or the arrival of those wise ones on the Sunday after January 6, our stories are a little scrambled – talking today about what happens after that visit and next Sunday celebrating Epiphany.
The Gospel of Matthew was written for a Jewish audience across the known world about two generations after Jesus’ life and ministry. One of its purposes was to convince that group of people that Jesus was the expected Messiah and the prophecies about what God was going to do for God’s people had been fulfilled. That was a big task because the Messiah was expected to overthrow Rome and establish Israel as a superpower under God’s leadership. By the time the gospel was written, Rome and demolished Jerusalem and the temple there and scattered those folks who survived across the empire. Jesus’ understanding of God’s rule was about how people lived in any circumstances rather than about conventional power politics. Jesus emphasized compassion, justice, peace, generosity and all those values we so treasure as a god-like quality of life and a way to control our attitude no matter who oversees our circumstance. Since he doesn’t do or say what a Messiah is supposed to do and say, the message needs spin – and Matthew spins it by showing that Jesus fulfills all the prophecies.
Today’s scripture is a great example of what our friend Marcus Borg talks about when he says, “The Bible is full of many true stories, some of which happened.” There are actually two stories here about what’s known as “the flight into Egypt,” the first paragraph tells it one way and the second two paragraphs tell it another. There is no historical evidence from other sources of either of these stories. You’d think if the ruler killed every baby boy born in a two-year span, someone would mention it. Or if Jesus had mentioned living in Egypt for several years one of the other gospels would have also told that tale. The danger here is that we decide since we can’t verify the history, we should ignore the stories. Then Dr. Borg reminds us that the Bible isn’t about history as we understand it in our time but about truth. It’s the record of what folks who believed in God and Jesus thought mattered and why they stuck with that faith for centuries. If stories sustain people over generations, then they matter, and we can receive them as a gift to our time.
Today’s stories are about people being completely convinced that Jesus is the one whom God has sent to transform the world. They were so sure of that truth that they told tales of his childhood which proved he was the one they were expecting. The gospel writer took those stories which were circulating in this church and included them in his story. He used them to help change the expectations to match what Jesus actually taught. He insisted that Jesus’ understanding of what God was doing was correct and the hope for revolution and empowerment was a spiritual movement and not political. That assertion is the birth of what has become Christianity and is the faith we claim today. So these stories matter to us – if we believe them to be literally true or not. Either way, they reinforce how essential Jesus’ teachings are to life as God’s people.
We come to these stories on the first day of a new year. They are a gift to us as we’re anticipating what life will be like in 2023. What does it mean to us as we make a new beginning to say that Jesus is the model of the best way to live? Or that the teachings of Jesus reveal how God intends for the world to work for the benefit of all people and all creatures?
I invite you to reflect for a bit on which of the values Jesus lifted up are most important to you in this moment in your life. I have my own list which you hear from me often – compassion, justice, generosity… Would you be willing to share the words that matter most to you?
The current motto of the United Church of Christ is “God is still speaking.” That means we believe God is relevant to the way we live. That the Bible and preachers and most of all the community – all the people – can be inspired with insight into the way we should live by God’s love. So what matters to you, like you’ve just expressed, can be a way that God guides us into a better way of relating to ourselves, each other and the world.
The current motto of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is “God’s work; our hands.” There’s not a motto much more on target for this congregation than that. We put faith into action. In our daily lives and our community projects we share God’s love for the world by meeting needs and making life better for others.
Because we believe God is speaking today and we’re acting on what we hear, it makes sense for us to reflect on what we hope that might mean in 2023. So we’re going to adapt something we’ve done before to that purpose today. I’m going to give you a few minutes to think about your hopes and dreams for the new year. It can be something personal – better health, a new job, or something global - improved immigration policy, peace, or anything in between. You can write your hope on the paper we’ve provided and in a few minutes I’m going to invite you to bring your paper to the manger in the front as a way of declaring your intention for the coming year. If you wish, you may read what you’ve written to the group or you may choose not to do so. It’s a way for us to make a new beginning together and to ask God to bless the year ahead.