Title: The Christmas Blues, as witnessed by Joseph
Keywords: Joseph, Holy Innocents, “Christmas 1 Year A RCL”
Word Count: 2723
This sermon was delivered to St John's in Girvan and St Oswald’s in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 29th December 2013: (both are Scottish Episcopal Churches in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).
Isaiah 63.7-9 Psalm 148 Hebrews 2.10-18 Matthew 2:13-18
“Please join me in my prayer.” Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen. (Ps. 19:14)
Summary
When Christmas is all over and done with, life will return to normal; what ever normal is these days but if you think that is hard for us, look at Mary and Joseph, after the Nativity, the part we choose to ignore with Roman soldiers and dead babies. Where do we find God's will in this?
Introduction.
Christmas this year is over, but the Christmas spirit is still with us. The tree and decorations are still up and we have the carols in our service; and for us in Scotland, we still have New Year to look forward to, although I will probably be going to my bed like most of us now.
What I am really trying to say is that when it is all over and done with, life will return to normal; what ever normal is these days but if you think that is hard for us, look at Mary and Joseph … who were at the very centre of Christmas.
They had a very bad start finding a horrible smelly stable in the first place, then the birth, then the star and then the angels and then shepherd’s et al.; … and dare I say, a story completely flogged to death. Yet we still listen and enjoy; we still focus on it, and cherish it … yet choosing to ignore the parts of that story, that followed.
We as Episcopalians or Anglicans, officially refer to it as “Low Sunday”, for others they refer to it as the Christmas blues; waiting, and the long wet January that is to come.
For Mary and Joseph it was worse, and we seldom hear a sermon about what happened to them AFTER Christmas, and I want to show you this through Joseph’s eyes. … Now, some people don’t consider Joseph to be a very important character in the Christmas story; in fact the Bible doesn’t record anything that Joseph ever said, and as such he is there, but ignored.
In the nativity scene for example, the emphasis is always on Jesus, and Mary, and the angels, and the Shepherds, and even the Wise Men; but Joseph had it own part to play; particularly as his life was about to be turned upside down and nothing for him too would ever be the same again.
Matthew 2:13 “When the wise men had departed, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream”; ‘Get up, … take the child and his mother, … and flee to Egypt, … and remain there until I tell you;”
After the Wise Men’s visited, Mary & Joseph went to bed, but Joseph had a dream: (remember this was not the first dream he had had from the Lord, the last one told him of Mary’s forthcoming pregnancy and that he should support her), well this time the Lord was telling Joseph to flee to Egypt, because Herod was planning to kill Jesus. Now, there are several things I want us to look at here.
1. Joseph’s Obedience
The first is Joseph’s obedience, verse 14 says, “Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt”. Sounds simple enough, but if you think about it, Joseph recognised God’s voice, and acted on it immediately. Could we do that? Joseph didn’t waste any time, he got up in the middle of the night, he didn’t wait until morning … he woke Mary, convince her to move, pack all the bags for a long journey … with a new born baby, and head for Egypt.
There would be no shops open to gather provision, and setting out from a stable would be difficult, much more difficult than traveling to Bethlehem, a journey planned and executed with their friends and family. Mary and Joseph had no plans to move on ... in fact they were looking forward to returning home; especially after living in a stable.
Now, without a word to anyone, they are travelling to the foreign land of Egypt … a completely different country … with a different culture … and a different language.
And what about Josephs carpenter shop back in Nazareth … what would happen to that? … God said to Joseph to “move” and Joseph moved; he did not argue with God, he did not seek a second opinion from someone, he did not discuss the pros and cons, he moved and I think that is one of the reasons why God chose Joseph to be the step-father of Jesus; Joseph knew God’s voice, and when God said jump, Joseph jumped.
2. God’s Provision
The second thing we see is God’s provision, because I am saying here that when God calls, God will provide. God wouldn’t have told Mary & Joseph to go to Egypt, and then say, “by the way, you’re on your own”! In the first instance … they would need to get to Egypt ... then they would need provisions to live and survive when they got there; and yet we know the story of the Wise Men and the gold they left, was this just not coincidental.
Now, I am wary of saying this today, because some opportunities have just presented themselves to me, and for me to undertake them; I must know they are from the Lord, and as such, God will need to provide for me; both time and money. I know I am nowhere like as important as Mary and Joseph, but the principle if true must, also hold for you and me, and I take great hope from this passage.
Because when you think about it, no earthly employer, could employ us do anything, and then leave us to our own devices and expect us to do a first class job. What I am saying is that we need to make sure that what we are doing is within God’s will for us, so that we can expect blessings after blessings; rather than chase a whim or some great panacea.
If we are in the will of God, then God will have to provide and better, he will bless us. Did you notice that the Lord had also said, “remain there until I tell you;” you see, the Lord had to provide and protect Mary and Joseph. How else could they have remained there?
3. Herod’s Anger.
Anyway, to move on, verse 15 says, “for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” We certainly know this part of the story; … it is absolutely horrid, and it is properly referred to as Holy Innocents, where Herod ordered the soldiers, (probably Roman soldiers under his jurisdiction), to seek out and kill the baby Jesus. … And to give him peace of mind, they were ordered to kill every baby boy under two years old.
We never include this part in our nativity scene, we somehow leave this part out as it spoils the atmosphere; you know, could you imagine Annes crib at the back with Roman soldiers in it, and dead babies tucked round the back, yet this was part of the Christmas story.
This was Herod’s input; Herod was obviously heavily influenced by Satan, through his ambition and paranoia. Caesar Augustus once said and I quote, “it would be better to be King Herod’s pig than his son” because pigs in those days were protected by law … where as Herod’s family were not.
Now King Herod had already killed two of his own sons. … He had also killed one of his 10 wives … his favourite wife because he thought she had been unfaithful, although she was not. He also killed her grandfather, and her 80 year old uncle … an uncle who had once saved Herod’s life. Herod also killed his 18 year old brother-in-law, because the Jews liked him better, and he also killed his own uncle and of course … he killed his mother-in-law; probably for speaking back.
In fact, worse than that and although it was never enacted, that before Herod’s death, and knowing he was about to die … Herod ordered all Jewish nobility to be shut up in the hippodrome, and surrounded by soldiers. When word of his death was announced, they were all to be slaughtered as Herod wanted weeping and wailing on his death … so that his passing was truly mourned.
What an evil pathetic little man … what were a few babies to him? Yet, the slaughter of innocent children in Bethlehem was a fulfilment of prophecy in Jeremiah 31:15 quoted in our Gospel readings this morning. “Thus said the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not”.
Rachel and Ramah?
What does this have to do with “Rachel” and “Ramah”? Well Rachel was Jacob’s wife. Remember Jacob, son of Isaac and Esau, the brother whom he conned, Well Jacob’s wife Rachael was buried in Bethlehem in a place called Ramah; and Ramah was with the perimeter that Herod had said, “Kill every boy under two years of age.”
And Rachel weeping was a foretaste of the babies killed at the time of Moses, the treatment of the Jews in Egypt and a foretaste of the Holy Innocents killed by Herod.
There is so much more to this prophecy, and others associated with it that many sermons would be needed to cover it; but suffice to say, it has a very happy ending, with the Holy innocents sitting besides God in heaven.
Rant
And now for a quick rant. I am so sick of people saying that the bible is so full of inconsistencies, and that it is not logical. This is absolutely rubbish as those saying such things have obviously studied the bible, nor understood it as speaking as an old engineer I can say it is totally logical right down to the last detail.
Yes there are some inconsistencies, (and I use the word some, not many), but is that because there are, or because we do not fully understand the bible as yet, and when we do, I am convinced there are no inconsistencies.
It is our tiny minds which cannot comprehend the magnificence of God and his word. It is totally amazing to see all the prophecies from the Old Testament enacted in the New Testament; particularly as they were spoken at about 500 years before the event.
How accurate is that, and the Holy innocents were foretold long before the Jews were freed from Egypt under Moses, and before even that by Rachael and Jacob.
4. God had a plan.
Rant finished, and to move on, God had a plan all along: Hosea 11:1 says “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt”. Jesus needed to come out of Egypt to fulfil this prophecy, and so Jesus returned from Egypt … just like God’s children; the Israelites did 1500 years before under Moses. In fact there were many Jewish refugees in Egypt fleeing from Herod, that ironically the land … that had once enslaved the Jews, was now used by God to now protect the Jews.
And then Joseph had another dream, where the angel of the Lord told him to go “to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead”. Herod finally died, (and I looked this up), of a very painful and horrible disease, probably kidney related; (make of that as you will). … And so Joseph did as he did before, moved, this time to Israel, but verse 21 goes on to tell us that Joseph had a further dream; one where he saw Herod’s son Archelaus now ruling; and Archelaus was his father’s son.
I will try and show you how bad he was: because once there was a riot in Jerusalem, and Archelaus stopped it, how … by simply killing everybody in that riot, every member of the crowd rioting or not were all killed. In another incident, Archelaus went into the Temple one Passover, and executed 3,000 Jews. … approximately 3000 people were killed in 09-11, and 3000 were killed at Pearl Harbour, this guy was seriously deranged, and so Rome had to get rid of him, … and banished him to what is now France, where he later died.
But Joseph was warned.
But the bible says that Joseph was warned of him in this dream, and so they headed north to Nazareth; where they again fulfilled a few prophesies of the Old Testament, particularly some in Isaiah which I will not quote, as there are many.
Mary and Joseph, and Jesus made their home in Nazareth as you know a small town that was famous for not being famous. Nobody had ever heard of Nazareth; it is not even mentioned in the Old Testament yet, not far from Nazareth, there were two major highway crossings … both from North & South and from the East & West. Nazareth was strategically placed.
And so God had planned that His Son was to be raised in a place outside of politics … outside of prosperity … outside of notoriety … in a simple village, without fame, prestige or grandeur.
Conclusion:
To finish off, and it is difficult to get one focus on today’s reading, apart from a good History lesson, but we can all learn from this story?
The first thing is, and I have known this for years and I mention it regularly, that the safest place to be, is where God wants you, and that normally is on the front line. Yes it is hard at first but the converse is to stay at home, wrap ourselves in cotton wool, and die without living; and I cannot say that of anybody here because we have all lived, with great testing, and as such we all recognized the need for God in our lives, and we cannot recognise the need for God without living or without testing.
The second thing is to let God lead us … be conscious of him all the time … of what is happening in our lives. … We need to check that what we are doing is in agreement with God, even though it can be difficult, but it is so important … because by following the star, the Wise Men found Jesus, the son of God … and they escaped Herod’s wrath.
Joseph followed the Lord’s Angel’s instructions in his dreams, and he too was blessed. He too escaped Herod’s wrath twice, first by going to Egypt, and secondly he escaped his son Archelaus by moving north.
The safest place to be is in the centre of God’s will; and it is not an easy place to find: but you know when you are there; … even though you will have no idea where you are going. We need to find God’s will for us, and follow that path, even though, it may take us through the valley of the shadow of death; … but at least we will arrive at a place of his choosing and a place that is his desire for us.
Amen, please join me in a short prayer.
Let us pray.
Father we thank you for Jesus … that he died on the cross so that we may commune with you.
We also thank you for Joseph this morning, through whom your plans for the infant Jesus were so clearly communicated … and brought about.
Father we too want to be in your will, although it is difficult to find.
Communication is a two way process Father, and we want to hear from you. … We want to hear your voice … and we know that it is you we are listening to. … We want to know what it is you want us to do … and we want to know that you are watching and protecting over us every step of the way. …
Father we need your provisions to see us through … as we earnestly seek to do you will.
We humbly ask in Jesus name,
Amen.
PS. I am grateful to William Mouser for his help and inspiration in this sermon.
