Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 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.” 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.” After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 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.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 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, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

One of my favorite stories about Christmas is from England. The children in a church there were putting on their Nativity Scene for the congregation inside of the church. In the manger was a light bulb to convey the idea we all have about Jesus, reinforced by the words of the hymn: “radiant beams from thy holy face!” At the most dramatic point of the program, all the lights in the church were to be turned off, except for the light bulb in the manger. However, when the lights went out, so did the one in that manger. After just a brief second of silence, one of the children cried “Oh no! They’ve turned off Jesus!”

That is what Herod was trying to do. He was jealous of any threat to his throne, and wanted to eliminate any possibility of someone taking it away from him. These words of Matthew here are all that he tells us about the childhood of Jesus. Luke describes one other instance, and Mark, and John say nothing about Jesus until He began His ministry. But this account was included for a reason. God inspired Matthew to write this as part of his Gospel to help us understand that Jesus truly was the Messiah.

This passage starts right after the Wise Men left. They had been there to worship this new-born king, but it was now time to return. God’s providence and protection is shown in that he warned them not to tell Herod where they had found the child. And God also gives Joseph ample warning to take his family to safety. They are told to go to Egypt. Whether they walked or Mary rode a donkey as we normally picture it, we are not told. But they did go to Egypt. They escaped the jealous rage of Herod.

It seems strange that the Promised Land was not safe for the promised Messiah. He was not safe among the people He had come to save. So God provides a refuge. This event in the life of Christ is a foreshadowing of how all the Jews would reject their Savior. The Jewish king seeks to have this baby killed, even though he has heard Him identified as the long-promised Messiah. But God had other plans. Just as He had provided for Jacob and his family long before by sending them to Egypt to escape a drought, so now He tells Joseph to takes his family to safety in Egypt. And just as God had once before brought His son Israel out of Egypt under Moses, so He brings His Son, the true Israel, out of Egypt when it is safe. Once again we see how God has acted kindly and compassionately for His people in the past.

When they returned to Israel, Joseph probably thought it natural for his family to settle in Bethlehem. That was the town of his ancestors, all the way back to David. And Bethlehem was close to Jerusalem and the Temple. Surely that would be a proper and fitting place for Him to raise the Messiah. But God had other plans. Because Herod’s son was just as wicked as his father had been, it would not be safe for them there. God once again guides Joseph to the place of safety, leading Him to settle in Nazareth of Galilee.

Jesus faced opposition early in His life, yet God protected Him. Even though Jerusalem was the site of the Temple and the focal point of worship, Jesus did not conduct His ministry there. He had been there as a child, but would not return until Palm Sunday. And just a few days later, the people of Jerusalem would do what Herod had tried to do when Jesus was still a baby — they would kill the one God had sent to save them. Yet even in this we see God’s goodness, for it was through His death that our salvation comes. Through faith, we share in that death of Jesus as payment for our sins, and salvation becomes our possession.

Merry eleventh day of Christmas.