December 28, 2023
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Today is the first week of the Christmas Season. Christmas isn’t just one day. The birth of Jesus is so important, so amazing, that we always take twelve whole days to celebrate it.
Our story from the Gospel of Matthew today talks about some of the places Jesus lived. If you have ever moved to a new town or space, it can be unsettling and troubling. It takes time to find friends and a new routine. When Jesus was truly little, his family moved a couple of times. But through it all the LORD was with them just as He is with you today. The Savior is always present. No matter where you go.
Sadly, even though Christmas can be an exciting and enjoyable time, it doesn't mean unfair things stop happening. We live in a broken world outside of Eden. Yet the Good News is we have a Savior who has come to us. His guidance is always sure. As the Father directed the Wise Men, Mary and Joseph and the Christ-child so too He orders your days and directs your path.
In today's story, we hear that baby Jesus, and his parents have a similar Christmas-like time -- where things are both exciting but also unfair.
After Jesus is born, "wisemen" from another country want to celebrate Jesus' birth by giving presents to Jesus and his family.
They wanted to do this because they believed that Jesus would be a new type of leader for the Israelites.
Our story starts with the Magi. The Magi had come from a faraway country to find out where the Messiah was to be born.
When they got to Jerusalem, they asked, “We have seen a new star! We believe it means a new king was born near here. What do the holy books say? Where should we go to find the new king?”
“Bethlehem” said the Bible experts.” Definitely Bethlehem.”
“Why there” asked the Magi?”
“Two reasons” said the Bible experts. “First, the Messiah is supposed to be from old king David’s family. Bethlehem was king David’s city long ago.”
“What’s the other reason?” asked the Magi.
“One of the prophets wrote about it,” said one of the Bible experts. “He wrote ‘Out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel.’”
“Ah,” said one of the Magi. “So when we find the child in Bethlehem, we’ll know it’s really true—and it will be true for always and always.”
The Magi traveled to Bethlehem, of course, and they found Jesus, Mary, and Joseph there.
But when they stop by to share this exciting news with King Herod, King Herod is not excited – instead, he’s scared.
King Herod is scared because he thought he was going to lose his title as "leader of the Israelites" to Jesus.
So instead of wanting to give gifts to Jesus, King Herod wanted to figure out how to stop Jesus from taking his job.
In other words, King Herod wanted to get RID of Jesus.
What do you think – is that very fair to Jesus and his family? Of course not.
As we can see, even the first Christmas had unfair things in it and those unfair things were happening to Jesus and his family.
But what we can also see is that the Father was there to help.
We see that God helped the wisemen find Jesus to share their gifts with him and his family.
And God told the wisemen to not return to King Herod or tell him where Jesus was.
So after the Magi had gone home, Joseph had a dream.
An angel appeared to him in the dream. “Joseph,” said the angel, “don’t be afraid. But you need to take your family far away. You need to move to Egypt.”
“Move to Egypt?” asked Joseph. “Why do we have to move to Egypt?”
“Two reasons,” said the angel. “First, King Herod is jealous. He heard Jesus is a new king so Herod plans to kill him.”
“Oh no!” said Joseph. “What’s the second reason?”
The angel said, “One of the prophets in the Bible wrote the Messiah would come out of Egypt. You need to move to Egypt now, so later Jesus can come back from there. Then it will be true for always and always.”
Also, in the story directly after today's story, God helped Joseph know when to move his family to Egypt and when to move the family back to Israel.
Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus did move to Egypt. They found a place to live. Joseph found work as a carpenter. Mary made friends with other moms. And Jesus grew.
But then one night, Joseph had another dream.
Once again, an angel appeared. “Don’t be afraid, Joseph,” said the angel. “I have good news for you. King Herod has died, so you can move back to Judea!”
“Oh,” said Joseph. “Do we have to? I mean, we’ve settled in here. I have a job. Mary has friends. Things are going well here in Egypt.”
“Sorry,” said the angel, “but you really do need to move to Judea. That’s where Jesus will grow up to be the Messiah.”
“So where do we have to live this time?” asked Joseph.
“Oh, you can pick the town,” said the angel. “Where do you want to live?”
Joseph thought about it for a minute. Then he said “We’ll move back to Nazareth.
“That’s a great idea,” said the Angel. “For two reasons.”
“What are the two reasons?” asked Joseph. “
The angel said, “For one, both of you have friends and family in Nazareth. And for another reason, the prophets said the Messiah would be a Nazarean.” In this way God is keeping his promises.
The same way God helped those people in today's story is the same way God can help you.
When things feel unfair, when we are in the middle of unfair moments, we can invite God into that time.
We can ask God in prayer for help and guidance about what to do.
And, when we listen for a response, God will show us a way forward that is best for us and others.
That's the good news for today. Let’s pray…
O LORD. when unfair things happen to us…help us to remember to seek your help so that we can see your best way forward for us.
For Christmas – Grant, Almighty God, that the birth of Your only-begotten Son in human flesh may set us free, who through sin are held in bondage.
For the Week – Direct us, O Lord, in all our actions by Your gracious fav or, and further us with Your continual help that in all our works, begun, continued, and ended in Your name, we may glorify Your holy name and finally by Your mercy receive eternal life.
Prayer for newness of life in Christ - Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness and put upon ourselves the armor of light now in the time of this mortal life in which Your Son, Jesus Christ, came to visit us in great humility, that in the Last Day, when He shall come again in glorious majesty we may rise to life immortal; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Prayers from Lutheran Service Book copyright 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
Woodcut of the visit of the Magi copyright WLS permission granted for personal and congregational use.
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