HG015-019. Matthew 2:1-23, Luke 2:39-52
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1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
13 When they 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.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 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.”
16 When Herod realized that 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. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 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.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But 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, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
Today we are looking at the childhood of Jesus which was both traumatic and amazing. As you know these passages were chosen well in advance. In fact, I chose these over two months ago for this Sunday. It surely cannot be missed that within the passage today is the slaughter of innocents. We wonder how it is possible that anyone can kill children but this question is not the first time it has been asked. The most used word this week is the word ‘evil’. And surely this is true of anyone who kills children for their own ends.
In today’s passage we find the wise men coming to Jerusalem with their entourage, just as Trump was also there this week with his but the wise men’s entourage made all Jerusalem fear. Just how many wise men were there? Some will say 3 per our nativity plays and Christmas cards but we are not actually told, it could have been 300.
But what was it that put the wind up Herod? Jealousy. I have seen jealousy destroy people. Not only of those who get jealous but those who are on the end of the ferocity that comes about because of it. It truly is an evil. It arises out of ambition and bitterness.
These people from the East had come to worship at the feet of a new king of the Jews, not Herod, the present King of the Jews. Some have wondered about these wise men whether they were magicians or astrologers or astronomers but it is not altogether clear. What is known is that when they were in the East they had seen the star appear in the West representing a special king and this was revealed to them by God Himself. Perhaps they understood this from Balaam’s prophecy in:
17 “I see Him, but not now;
I behold Him, but not near;
A Star shall come out of Jacob;
A Scepter shall rise out of Israel,
And batter the brow of Moab,
And destroy all the sons of tumult.
They were indeed wise for they acted to come and to worship. It is odd that this story is part of the nativity of Jesus for it is plain from the text that they turned up about 2 years after His birth.
These men were indeed wise for they acted to come and to worship. It is odd that this story is part of the nativity of Jesus for it is plain from the text that they turned up about 2 years after His birth. We do have to make sure our doctrine comes from the bible first and foremost.
Herod was interested in finding out where this new King was coming from and so asked the priests and teachers and they answered directly from a prophecy in:
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
Mic
Matthew is making sure we know that Jesus was foretold in the past and is the fulfilment of the hope of Israel.
What is odd about this is that despite the fact that the priests and the teachers knew where the King Messiah was going to be born they were not interested in going along with the wise men to find out more. And Herod who had consulted the Scriptures, heard the truth of a prophecy, and even believed what it said acted upon it. Up to here this is good but the way Herod acted upon it was in an evil, hateful, bitter and truly demonic way.
What is odd about this is that despite the fact that the priests and the teachers knew where the King Messiah was going to be born they were not interested in going along with the wise men to find out more. And Herod consulted the Scriptures, heard the truth of a prophecy and acted upon it in an evil way, truly demonic.
In verses 17 and 18 we can really sympathise with what it says here. Rachel weeping for her children for they are no more. When I heard the news of the Manchester attack on Tuesday morning I, like you, wept. Such an evil, callous, and cowardly attack on the most defenceless of society demands justice and condemnation.
We weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn. Our hearts go out to those who have lost their children, their parents, their friends, their relatives. There is no reasonable answer to the ‘why’ just abhorrence of the evil perpetrated by an ideology twisting minds to think that the evil they do is good. Paradise does not await them but punishment:
6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
There are those today who think that we shouldn’t condemn others for their actions, we should not be judges of others. But their arguments break down when they, too, condemn what was done as wrong. They, too, judge the person who did this as evil. Such is their hypocrisy. It is only right and just to judge. But be careful that we judge righteouslessly for we are cautioned about judging others when we do the same things.
And it is not just the murder of children going on but abuse and we have seen the effect of the exposure of Jimmy Saville even upon us here at Mount Calvary and the mandatory safeguarding course. 7 years ago a Baptist Pastor was jailed for abusing kids in the US but was originally a Pastor here in South Wales. I wish it was just the world but it is also in the Church and why we must do our part for the protection of children. This seems to me to be mandated by Jesus Himself.
And it is not just the murder of children going on but abuse and we have seen the effect of the exposure of Jimmy Saville even upon us here at Mount Calvary and the mandatory safeguarding course and gangs sexually enslaving girls in Rotherham, Oxford and elsewhere for. 7 years ago a Baptist Pastor was jailed for abusing kids in the US but was originally a Pastor here in South Wales. I wish it was just the world but it is also in the Church and why we must do our part for the protection of children. This seems to me to be mandated by Jesus.
Jesus has strong words about judgment for such perpetrators:
6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
Back to our Matthew passage; these very wise men came and worshipped at the house of Mary and Joseph and brought their gifts:
The wise men came and worshipped at the house of Mary and Joseph and brought their gifts:
Thru the Bible Vol. 34: The Gospels (Matthew 1–13) The Visit of the Wise Men
Gold speaks of His birth. He is born a King. Frankincense speaks of the fragrance of His life. Myrrh speaks of His death.
Jesus was born to die, but there was a time for that, and that was not then when he was 2 years old.
Jesus would have been a victim of the hate of Herod had he stayed but they escaped his wrath through Joseph’s dream. However the other children, of which there may have been hundreds in a 10 or 12 mile radius of Bethlehem, did not. There clearly is no excuse for Herod. And frankly there is never an excuse for murder or terrorism as someone seemed to suggest on Friday.
We, as Christians, could not and would not justify violence against civilians or, indeed, government for any grievance or persecution. Jesus takes us away from this mentality and tells us instead we are blessed to be persecuted for great is our reward in Heaven. When Peter and John were imprisoned for their faith in they did not say ‘let us rise up against the authorities’, no, but instead they got God’s people together and prayed. Jesus makes clear what should be our response:
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
By the way the role of government is not the same as the Church - they are to protect people and come down upon perpetrators with the full force of the law.
Jesus said, in , that instead of fighting we should escape persecution and flee to another place, if indeed it is possible. And indeed Jesus knows what this is like for He Himself had escaped the hand of Herod and became a political refugee.
To the Church Jesus also says in , that instead of fighting we should escape persecution and flee to another place, if indeed it is possible. And indeed Jesus knows what this is like for He Himself had escaped the hand of Herod and became a political refugee.
We don’t know how long Jesus was in Egypt but He was still a child when they returned back to Israel and headed to the north of the Country in case Herod’s son was as bad as his father. And every year Mary and Joseph would travel south to Jerusalem with Jesus and, no doubt, with his brothers and sisters but this one year, when he was 12, Jesus stayed behind when they all travelled back north. This is about every parent’s nightmare, their child is missing. Jerusalem was swollen with the many people there for the Passover festival not only from Israel but from the diaspora of the surrounding countries. You can only think the worse and hope for the best.
Three days went by before they found Him. He was doing only what He had a passion for, to be in the Temple and to hear, listen, ask and be asked questions to the amazement of the others in the Temple for He could only be described as a prodigy. Very clever, very wise, very mature. Should have Mary and Joseph been surprised? After all, they knew their Son, they knew He had never misbehaved, never done any kind of wrong; had they taken it for granted? For it was now Jesus who seemed surprised that they did not understand that He needed to be doing what He was doing.
But because He was still young, still under the authority of Joseph and Mary, He submitted to them and went back to Nazareth despite the fact that Jesus would have wanted to stay longer. It is all the more surprising then that He was over 30 years old when He started His ministry but He knew His Father’s timing would be perfect. He was increasing in wisdom and honour, gaining a good reputation and favour with all.
A good name goes a long way to show the credibility of the things we say. But as we shall see as we go through the life of Christ, and as we see happened to Old Testament saints, other people will unjustly accuse and lie and give false testimony to ruin people’s names. Our good name is not the most important thing though but giving honour to the name of Jesus.
Jesus’ childhood certainly was eventful and reflects a horrible history that is repeating itself today. We are not given excuses for the behaviour of others but serves as a warning to us that our own hearts need guarding against jealousy and bitterness especially that which arises out of ambition. We are called as Christ followers to a different way, to respond to events that happen with prayer and a call to repentance, not compromise. Jesus, only, is the Prince of Peace. And we need to grow in wisdom in the days and years ahead and wisdom to elect the least troublesome to power next month. However, let our passion, like Jesus, be doing the Father’s work.